3-6 months
At about 3 1/2-4 months we transitioned Malachi to his own room and his own bed at night. and around 5 months we started baby food with him. there are big changes during this time! so these are some of my "essentials" for the 3-6 month stage.
1. a sound machine
this is probably not an "essential" but we have found it to be soooooo helpful for malachi to sleep well. as he has gotten older and more aware he is much more alert to sounds during the day and at night. this has helped with his naps and now we even use it at night and have found it helpful for him to sleep more soundly at night. we were gifted this one by Homedics and we really love it because it will stay on all of the time if you want it to (which we do for nighttime use).
malachi wears these every night and i love them because i know he is warm and snuggly, even though i don't put him in a sleep sack anymore. and really, is anything cuter than a baby in footed pajamas?!?!
these are my absolute FAVORITE shoes for a baby. when malachi was a newborn it was summer and he never wore shoes or socks. but once it started getting cooler i knew he needed to have something on his feet. but he moves his legs so much that socks never stay on his feet without some kind of shoe. so these are my favorites because they are soft and flexible and have a stretchy heel. so it makes it super easy to put them on a squirmy baby who can't "help" you get his feet in. the ones i have are discontinued, as i bought them both from consignment stores, but these are on my wishlist for christmas and for the next 6 months!
when we started malachi on solids, this seat was a lifesaver! we don't have a traditional highchair (and don't really want one) but this seat with the tray was the perfect size! i bought it at a consignment store and paid a good price and it has been worth every penny. and its great because its really supportive for smaller babies and kept malachi upright when we first started babyfood. i'm not sure a big highchair would have been the right size, as he was still pretty small at 5 months.
once we started malachi on baby food i realized why families with babies have so many bibs stashed around! haha... and now that he eats twice a day we go through two bibs a day - i think we're going to have to get more soon! this one is jeff's favorite! haha...
honestly, we have had our swing since before malachi was born but only did it get a lot of use when he turned about 3 months old. he slept in it for about the first week of his life but then after all of our company and after we moved he just didn't seem to like it anymore. i guess he just didn't like being put down or whatever. so after several weeks of working with him on the whole "i don't want to be put down" thing, we tried the swing again. he still didn't really like it and would only sit in it for about 10 mins. but once he was about 3 or 4 months old he started to like it again. and i tell you what, that thing has been a lifesaver on more than one occasion. it sits in our kitchen currently and he sits in it and watches me cook or do whatever in the kitchen on a daily basis. i'm so thankful that he likes it now, as it allows me to get stuff done while he's content. ours is not this one specifically but very similar - small, portable and can fold up for transporting it or storage.
i think this is especially important if you cloth diaper like i do, but good diapers will save you lots of headache when babies get to this stage. they wet more heavily and soil more in consistency. so a diaper you trust is a must! i want to eventually do a cloth diapering "essentials" list, but i feel like i am still learning so much, so maybe i need to wait for that a little bit. but since we started cloth diapering regularly at 3 months, the Kawaii baby diapers have been my instant faves! they are absorbent, fit malachi well, and are not too bulky (even when double stuffed at night!). good diapers will make your life so much easier in the 3-6 month stage.
i know i included this in yesterdays post but in this stage it is just as important! at this point malachi was eating and sleeping more regularly which meant one thing for me - freedom! :) i was able to plan outings and not have to worry about feeding while i was out, it was awesome! so here are my essentials for mama during the 3-6 month stage -
- regular date nights: these are so much easier at this stage because i can be away from malachi for more than jsut a few hours at a time. it doesn't happen every week, but when we do go out it is so nice! :)
- babysitters you trust: so important, especially if you're like us and don't have family close. but when you have some babysitters you trust your times away are so much less stressful!
- regular times to just get out: staying home with a baby can be a lonely time for some people. planning times just to get out and do something outside of your house can be so refreshing! even going to the store can be a pick-me-up somedays :)
so take it or leave it, but these are some of my favorite things for baby (and mama!) during the 3-6 month stage. hope you got some great ideas for yourself or someone else!
what are some of your favorite 3-6 month baby items?!?!
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