Just as it was the first six months of your baby’s
life, these next six months will include many more new experiences, challenges,
and milestones. These changes will require adding new gear and accessories to the mix to make
yours and your baby’s life easier. Some mothers and fathers may have a
different idea of what “essentials” they will and will not need for their baby,
but below are some of the items that my family used to make life a little easier
and less stressful.
ESSENTIALS
Toys
The first six months of a baby’s life they don’t play
with many toys, if any at all. At least mine didn’t. But sometime between the 6-12
month stage is a good time to get things like blocks, books, balls, and other
small toys. To be honest, my daughter is 13 months old and she still isn’t a
fan of toys, but there are some that she likes to play with on occasion. My
favorites are her wooden toys like her activity cube, blocks, and musical puzzle.
One of her favorites is her walker that she got for Christmas, which is
something that I would recommend getting for your child. It exercises your
child, helps with the walking process, and increases their balance and
stability.
Baby
Proofing Items
This is probably the most important of everything I
will be discussing. Baby proofing items could include outlet covers, door
handle covers, baby gates, cabinet and drawer locks, or something along those
lines. This may also mean reorganizing the house or buying new furniture, like
a TV stand with doors so the baby can’t drag things out of it. Whichever way
you decide to baby proof your home, this is a must because once they are able
to crawl, climb, and walk, they can and will get into everything they see and
could potentially harm themselves if your house is not “baby friendly”.
Pack
n’ Play
If you follow my blog or watch any of my YouTube
videos, you may be tired of me talking about our pack n’ play, but I always
include it because it has been an essential her entire life thus far. We use is
as a bed mainly. It was her bed the first 3 months of her life, we’ve used it
for babysitters so they have something to put Amelia down for a nap in, used it
outside if we’re doing something like working on the car so she can be beside
us but contained so she wouldn’t go anywhere, and used it as a bed in the
countless hotels we’ve stayed at.
Teething
Supplies
Another really important one is the need for teething
supplies. Your child may already have had teeth coming in before, like ours did,
but after the seven month mark they may start to come in at a faster rate, a
few coming in at the same time even. This will cause a lot of pain for your
child so it is important to have teething supplies to help them through this
natural, yet painful, process. Some natural remedies for teething we use are
putting frozen fruit, or even ice, in a pacifier/food feeder and letting her
chew on it. The counter pressure along with the cold helps sooth sore and
throbbing gums. We sometimes use gripe water to help with fussiness. During the
teething process, your child to be will be cranky and some babies end up
getting a fever, In this case, the best thing to do is make sure your child is staying
hydrated and getting plenty of rest. You may use natural remedies or you may
use medication, but whatever teething pain treatment you use, have some ideas
or supplies on hand because this is something every parent will have to go
through and being prepared is best.
Shoes
Shoes are pretty standard, but your baby never needed
them before as they could not walk yet. Most likely your baby will be walking
sometime between their 6 and 12th month, so when that happens, shoes
will be a necessity.
Dishwashing
Basket
Even though our dishwashing basket was gifted to us, I
probably would have ended up getting one anyway after realizing how hard it
would be to get all my daughter’s tiny bottle pieces clean. Before using the
dishwashing basket, bottle pieces would fall off the top shelf of the
dishwasher to the bottom and melt, and washing everything by hand would get
time consuming, so having a dishwashing basket helped make the cleaning process
smoother.
High
Chair
Another pretty common and standard item once your baby
begins solid foods is a high chair. This was an essential for us because having
a high chair meant the mess stayed in one spot of the house rather than letting
our child run around the house free with food, leaving crumbs and puree behind.
It’s also nice to have a place to set your baby to eat so that way you can eat
beside them peacefully.
Eating
Utensils
The six month mark is when it is recommended to feed
our babies solids, so along with needing a high chair, feeding utensils, such
as sippy cups and baby spoons, will be needed. Make sure to hand the baby the
spoon. It will be messy but good fun for your child!
Toothbrush
and Paste
At the start of your baby’s sixth month they may not
have many teeth, if any at all, but by the end of the year they will have a
mouthful! Keep your baby’s teeth and gums healthy by brushing them. Make sure to use a soft-bristled toothbrush and safe-to-swallow
toothpaste.
NICE-TO-HAVES
Baby
Carrier
Although the next two items were not “essentials” for
us, meaning we could live without them, they were nice to have. I love baby
wearing but my daughter was always too small for her baby carrier and I
couldn’t use it the first eight months of her life. After she could fit into
it, though, I used it a lot. I would mainly use it to take her out on walks,
but I also would use it around the house when she wanted to be held but I was
in the middle of something that required two hands, like cooking and doing the
dishes.
Shopping
Cart Cover
The last I will mention is a shopping cart cover. We
didn’t use this every shopping trip, but we always kept it in the car “just in
case”. However, this was especially good during flu season as shopping carts
are a very germy device. So many babies sit in the cart and chew on the seat
buckles and everyone’s hands touch the bar handles to push the cart. You never
know if someone is sick or how often they wash their hands, so putting a cart
cover on the shopping cart helps minimize the risk of catching something.
I hope this list helped someone out and gave some
helpful tips on what you might and will be needing for your baby during this
time. Thank you for reading this post and leave down
in the comments what your baby’s 6-12 month essentials are!
