Ok I made a promise to myself to avoid delaying this post for months (just like I have for some other ones) so I took advantage of a week where I went to visit my parents and a day with my in-laws to tell you everything about baby Isabel and her 6 months update. All of this a day shy of 7 months, but hey, at least I’m publishing it!
There are just too many things I could tell you about how Isabelita’s mood, behavior and development have changed in these past 6 months so to make things simpler, I found a good template of questions to answer regarding her milestones. If you’d like to know anything else, remember to comment!
Height? Weight? Size of clothes?
Isabel is 27 inches long and 16 lbs. She’s above average in height but average/a below in weight. She wears 6 to 9 month clothes (why aren’t there intermediate sizes?)
Eating solids?
Yes! We started right at the 6-month mark. We had the opportunity to talk that day with a team of pediatrician/nutritionists, Dr. Maria Fernanda Gonzalez and Vanessa Hernandez, who have this thorough method for starting solids called “Step By Step”. I’ll tell you all about it, our good and bad experiences and improvements, in a future post.
Sleeping through the night?
Isabel has been sleeping through the night since she was almost 3 months old. She usually goes to bed from 8pm-8:30pm until 7am- 7:15am, but she calls me to go and pick her up after 7:30am. How did we do it? Well it was a mixture of trying to keep a steady feeding schedule so that she gets all of her caloric intake during the day, a tip I got from this book (which many friends have told me it’s worked for them!), and the fact that we moved her to her own room when she was around 11 weeks old. Since she doesn’t feel me or smell me close at night, even if she might wake up she is able to go back to sleep on her own if there isn’t anything bothering her. It’s amazing how moving her to her nursery helped to establish a good night sleeping schedule. It’s also very noticeable how each time we change this, say whenever travel with her and have to sleep in the same bed, she starts waking up once and twice a night to eat. The important thing every time we make an adjustment to her sleeping habits is just to follow the same routine we had before traveling and keep it consistent at least for 3 days – after that, if successful, she’s can be on her own!
And naps?
That’s a difficult territory. When we visited Panama, the hot and humid days made her put in extra hours of sleep. That and the fact that she was very stimulated with my family all around her (this is happening too with my in-laws). she’s very stimulated with my family and the hot Panama days make her put in extra hours of napping but at home she usually just sleeps 1 nap mid-day, around 11am or 12pm, for less than an hour and a short nap mid-afternoon, around 5pm.
Rolling on her own?
Rolling in the deep! Ha! I was a bit worried Isa was going to be a late-bloomer (according to the general milestones, babies should roll on their own by 6 months) but it turns out she just needed to be on the floor for longer. My mom got her a giant floor mat that she loves and once she starts she can’t stop! She’s also started to roll in her sleep, it’s hilarious!
How about crawling?
She’s starting to “propulse herself” with the help of a grownup! We have this game for the floor mat where we try to get her interest in different objects for her to reach. Our tip is to put her favorite toys within a distance short enough for her to stretch and try to reach for them but far enough so she can’t reach them. Then, at the same time, we bend her legs into frog-like position and put our hands on her heels. That way she straightens up her legs and moves, reaching the toy! I’ve held off buying her a standing walker because I really want her to crawl before she walks — I didn’t do it, probably because of using a walker around her age, and I truly believe that omission is behind my clumsiness. Hey, it’s also a fact!
Any teeth?
I’ve been swearing to everyone she is teething since she is 3 months old. I’ve seen all of the signs: excessive drooling, munching on everything… but nothing. Nada. Nadita. Until the end of this trip we are currently in! At 6 months and 3 weeks, 2 little white pearls, her two lower central incisors are slowly creeping on to the surface. She has definitely bit me a couple of times now while nursing. If it hurts now, how will it be with teeth? Aaah!! Any tips?
And words?
Besides constant “uuuhhs” and “oohhs” whenever she sees something or someone new, she still hasn’t muttered a word. One day I swear I heard her say “papa” and when she was 3 months old I caught a video of her cooing in a way that sounded like an “hola”, but not yet. She does love yelling every now and then when she gets excited and can speak “Wookie” with her father by making hilarious gurgling sounds.
Favorite toys?
She really enjoys munching on everything, but especially on an elephant toy’s ears (soft fabric) and on plastic. Yes, let’s admit it, sometimes she gets a hold of the wipes bag or the small Ziploc bag where I keep some of her toys, anything that makes that sound. I’ve never let her unattended with a bag of course. She doesn’t have a favorite toy but has mostly animal toys (lots of giraffes, not on purpose!).
Has she gotten sick?
Oh yes, unfortunately, she’s gotten cold symptoms at least twice and she once had a cough for about 2 weeks. As I type this, she is currently sick with bronchiolitis, but is almost out of it. The constant change of hot humid Panama air versus cold air conditioning started a cold with fevers and I’m guessing it got worse because she’s teething.
The most amazing thing is that even though her coughs are pretty bad, and they sound as if she’s scratching her throat with a rake in each cough, and has a couple of uncomfortable moments here and there, she’s still mostly happy! She has the amazing ability to smile and be cheerful throughout the day. What I hate the most of these sick times is the fact that there really isn’t much you can give a baby this young. I’m used to solving a headache or sinus with pills, but babies aren’t supposed to have cough syrups (they’re not ready for them) and there are few options to soothe their sore throats, since you can’t give them honey before they’re a year old. I found this natural Zarbee’s cough syrup that helped her throat the first few days but after 5 days I think she was immune to it. So far, we’ve given her infant Tylenol and infant Ibuprofen, and an extra dose of cuddles.
Any traveling?
Isa has traveled ever since she was 2 months old. We are currently touring around different Mexican cities (Mexico City, Oaxaca, Mayan Riviera) with my in-laws, Alvaro’s family who came from Spain to meet her. Even though she’s still a bit sick, she’s enjoying the trip to its fullest and is happy most of the day. Seriously, this girl is happiness personified! Every single place we’ve traveled to she has turned heads and made friends with strangers, from Miami to Mexico, she excels in her baby people-person skills! So far we’ve been to 7 cities and she’s hopped on 13 flights.
And that is it for now! Don’t want to delay this update even more now, so hope you enjoyed the photos and our experiences living with Isabel in her first 6 months…and some! I Let me know if you have any similar experiences or any questions!
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