Mamahood

Joey’s 6 Month Update

Posted on March 19, 2021

Happy 6 months to my sweet baby boy! I can’t believe it’s already been half a year of loving you and getting to be your mama! If you’re new to my blog, I do Joey updates once a month talking about how he has grown and what new things he learned in the past month so let’s just get into it!

Overall How Joey is doing

Joey is doing so amazing you guys. He is laughing like crazy and is definitely starting to learn that I can leave the room and he is left by himself… sometimes he’s content but other times he pouts and that pout turns into a cry. He is usually really good at being left alone or with someone other than myself but it is when I come back home or he realizes I was gone that he cries. I love that we have bonded so much but at the same time I like having a little break here and there, you feel me mama?!?

Joey has also started to roll! This has been the biggest milestone we have been working on and we finally have a roller! He started at a really average time so there was nothing to worry about but I was just getting anxious to see him do it. As moms we just have to remember that every baby is different and the right time comes when they start doing different things. We are also still doing physical therapy with Joey once a week for his head tilt. If you are not sure what I am talking about, I have a highlight saved on my instagram which explains this. Overall though, his tilt has improved so much and we are actually hopefully he will not have to wear a doc band.

Joey is still currently in size 3 diapers but I think one we finish up this last box we are going to transition into size 4 because Joey is growing like crazy. I’m excited to find out how much he has grown at his 6 month checkup this upcoming week!

Another exciting thing is that Joey is getting a tooth! I think this is so crazy because now my little boy will be smiling with a whole one bottom tooth. He has definitely been a little fussier because of this but just giving him some tylenol and wellements baby tooth oil seems to be helping!

Feeding

Joey is currently eating 3, 5 oz bottles a day in addition to eating two big bowls of oatmeal. One first thing in the morning and the other, right before his bath. Since the oatmeal is so filling, Joey does is not as hungry and he does not want to eat as frequently as he did when he was strictly on bottles. We have also tried mixing in peanut butter or yogurt into the oatmeal and Joey really seems to like this combination as well! He also takes multivitamins daily, we choose the wellements vitamin drops, to make sure he is getting all his needed nutrients.

Since oatmeal seems to really be the only thing he really likes eating, we are still working on introducing more foods. The only problem with that is that he does not really like to eat much else. I think it’s more so that he just has to get used to the tastes and textures but some things that he actually does like are: yogurt, avocado, eggs and frozen strawberries. We got the munchkin feeder net and we will put in the frozen strawberries into it so it is easy and safe for Joey to munch on it! I really recommend this if you are starting to introduce solids to your baby! Not to mention if your baby is teething, the cold really helps relieve the pain.

Bedtime/Sleeping

Joey’s bedtime is still around 8pm because it seems to be working the best in terms of him staying asleep the longest. Over the last three weeks we have really been working on self soothing techniques and Joey is doing great. We have been following taking cara babies and have not formally had to sleep train Joey. There have been some nights that we do let him cry but I think Joey has picked up on soothing himself back to sleep because now even when he stirs awake, after about 5 minutes of fussing he goes back to sleep. If you are struggling with sleep, definitely look into taking cara babies, her tips are awesome!

So when Joey goes down for the night around 8pm he usually wakes up around 6:30-7am. This is a full night of sleep and usually requires no intervention on Joe and I’s part. Of course all nights are not perfect but Joey is a good nighttime sleeper! Can’t complain but when Joey wakes up in the morning we do give him paci and he does usually end up falling back asleep until 8-8:30am (depending when he woke up.)

The one thing we are still working on in terms of sleep is naps… Joey has never been the best napper and he still currently is not haha I think we are going to have to drop a nap because up until now Joey has been taking 4 naps each about 30 minutes. However as of about two weeks now, the 4th nap is not always a go. Sometimes he falls asleep but usually now he won’t take the 4th nap. So we have been transitioning his wake windows accordingly.

As far as time lengths of his naps, if Joey takes a nap in his crib (9/10 that is the case) he only sleeps for 30-45 minutes. We are still working on lengthening those naps…. BUT if Joey sleeps in the car or in his stroller, the nap is usually a 2 hour nap. Now since the weather is getting so nice, he is averaging about one nap a day in his stroller (of course we supervise him) but he falls asleep on a walk and then stays asleep when we get home so we just let him sleep until he either eakes up or its been two hours and we then decide to wake him up.

Joey’s typical daily routine looks something like this:

9am breakfast – oatmeal
11am first nap – 45 minutes
11:45 wake up and play
12:30-1 first bottle
1:30 – if weather is nice we go for a walk and Joey falls asleep, his second nap
3-3:30 wakeup
4 – second bottle
Joey plays for a while now because he most likely took a longer nap on his walk
5:30-6pm 3rd nap – 30 minutes
6:30- second bowl of oatmeal
7:15 bath
7:45 he gets his final bottle
8pm Joey is asleep for the night

The last few hours of the day are a little bit crunched and the time intervals are not equally spaced out between feedings but this is just what works for Joey and he seems to be doing really well with this new routine!

Joey’s Favorite Toys/Activities

Going on walks
Baby Einstein
He has two baby activity jumpers and loves them both linked the first one here and second one here
Loves grabbing his feet and eating them
Rolling over
Laughing all the time now
Reaching out his arms really well and trying to grab things
He loves being held and cuddled
Grabbing at your face when you are playing with him
Blowing bubbles with his mouth is his favorite too

Honestly Joey changes so much everyday and it is just crazy to see what new things he picks up on day to day. Being a mom is the most rewarding thing and I love seeing Joey grow!