3-6 month Must Haves

I can hardly believe my little man is already 6 months old. It seems just yesterday I watched his Dad hold him for the first time, eventually got a cuddle myself and spent the night in hospital just watching him sleep, totally in love and amazed this little boy was all mine.

Yet somehow 6 months have passed and my little man is constantly growing, changing and learning. 

If you haven't already seen my Newborn and 0-3 month must haves, click on the links to check them out. Here's my 3-6 month must haves, there's 3 new additions this month, and 1 wish I hadn't bothered purchasing.

1) ELC wooden highchair toy. This keeps the little one amused while I am preparing food, or cleaning up after food. The bright colours, wooden beads and mirrored base make for an intriguing toy (well as far as a 6 month old is concerned). It occupies him and you can see the cogs turning as he learns to move the beads around the track.

2) Door jumper/bouncer. I have the Bright Starts playful pals door jumper. Babies seem to love door bouncers and my little boy is no exception. He's been pushing on his feet trying to stand, on & off since he was only a few weeks old. So once he was able to hold his own head up we got him a door bouncer. He's always liked it but I would say it's been since he was about 5 months that he's properly enjoyed the bouncer. I couldn't be without it, especially now he's outgrowing the bouncers and swings and wants more activity during play time.

3) Pretty much all of the linkable rattle, teething, hanging toys for play gyms. But in particular the Fisher Price Funny Feet Zebra.

The linkable toy makes it perfect to add to a play gym, toy bar on a bouncer or attach to the car seat/pram. The soft toy is a hit with my son, he loves biting and chewing on teddy's and soft toys. The 2 teethers are definitely a hit. The rattle is a fun little noise maker... but also a teether as far as my 6 month old is concerned! As is the clacker. Suitable from birth, but most definitely been reached for a lot more since my son was about 4-5 months. 

Wish I hadn't purchased?

The Bumbo, bear with me if you have and love this product! It's absolutely nothing the Bumbo has done, it is a good quality product and excellent in theory. Sit your child in so they can sit up and play. 

The reality with my little Tinker? He just doesn't like it. He begrudgingly goes in the Bumbo, can't wait to come out. He shows little to no interest in toys while in the Bumbo, and even though he is more than capable of holding his head and sitting upright, he starts to slouch and refuses to sit upright in protest. I have no idea why he has such a dislike for this product, but after a few almost successful uses, a few not so successful and then a few very unhappy attempts we finally gave up and the Bumbo has gone to it's final resting place... on top of my fridge freezer until I figure out what to do with it.

That's it for my must haves for now. Let me know below what your must haves for any age group of child are, if you've tried (loved or hated) any of the products mentioned in my posts. And let me know if there's anything you'd like to hear my opinions on. I'd love to get some feed back from you all to help me continue to improve my blog! Say hello in the comments below! :)

As always thanks for reading xoxo

0-3 Month Must Haves

If you haven't already then check out my Newborn Must Haves by clicking here.

Babies grow so quickly, and as they grow they seem to need even more 'stuff'. Things that were 'life savers' for our newborns don't necessarily have the same importance as our babies learn & grow and their needs change. As parents, we find ourselves buying many different things to fulfill those needs. Some things work out and some not so much. Here are my 0-3 months Must Haves.

1) Bright Starts Snuggle & Teethe Giraffe - The perfect cuddle/teething toy. At 6 months old my son still loves his 'George'. It was originally purchased as a gift for my son off his Auntie. It's soft and cuddly but also has a crinkly material in parts that babies love to scrunch. Silky patches, which just like labels seem to make babies very excited, and the 'feet' are a plastic that they can chew on. I loose count of how many teething items I bought and tried on my son. He still has no teeth but has been teething since he was 2 months old. George was the first toy he put in his mouth and used for teething. I love that he uses it for comfort, play & teething. It's the perfect take a long item if you are going out... although possibly I should have bought a toy ring to attach George to the pram. George #1 fell out of the pram on a very rainy day and was never seen again. George #2 was accepted and loved with no issues. Thank goodness!

2) Baby Einstein TV - Found this Youtube channel while looking for nursery rhymes and lullabies to play for him (as my son loves music... or maybe it's just noise he likes!)  I stumbled across Baby Einstein TV and my son loves it. His attention span for watching anything isn't great usually but he will watch these videos. Or if he's playing and this is on in the background he seems more content to play. I don't feel as bad about playing these to him as I would if he was sat infront of a cartoon as they introduce music, art, maths, science and language to infants. 

3) Baby lotion - Once the initial newborn perfect skin was replaced with milk spots and baby acne slowly my sons face started to get very dry. It didn't take long for dry patches to emerge on his arms, legs & body. I tried baby oil, it did nothing for him. I tried different bath products to ensure it wasn't a reaction to his bubble bath. But there was no change. So I pulled out the Johnsons Baby Lotion and after every bath I rubbed in some lotion all over making sure to cover the dry patches. Within a week the dry patches were gone. I use the lotion after every bath now and although he does sometimes still get dry skin, it's nowhere near as bad.

4) Bibs - Initially I began to wonder why I had so many bibs. My son didn't really dribble much and was rarely sick after a feed. That all changed around 8 weeks when he had a double bout of bad luck. First off his teething began super early (and with still no teeth to show for it, I can't help but feel for the poor boy), drool covered clothes were no fun. So the bibs were a must have.

In addition to this he started showing signs of reflux out of nowhere. He was sick, and I mean really sick. It didn't matter how well he was winded, or how long I sat him up for after a feed. He would start being sick anywhere from 5-20 minutes after a feed and would continue being sick for the full 3 hours between his feeds. I went through bibs like there was no tomorrow, but at least I didn't have to change his clothes every single time he was sick!!

I only have 1 'I wish I hadn't bothered - The Clevamama On The Go Bottle. It was a 'lets give it a try' moment. I suspected the issue my son had was reflux but was trying to get the help I needed to solve the problem. I thought this might be an interim solution. If he could take a bottle sitting up then maybe he wouldn't be so sick? 

In theory it's a great idea. Except the straw system pulls apart way too easily for little hands and milk goes everywhere. In addition to this it seemed to require a lot more 'work' for my son to drink his bottle and after three separate attempts with this bottle he point blank refused to even try. Maybe it was just me & my son, maybe it just didn't work for us, but I really wish I hadn't bothered with this purchase.

That's it for my 0-3 month must haves. As my son is 6 months in just 4 days I will soon have a 3-6 month must haves post for you. 

Hope you enjoyed, and as always thanks for reading! xoxo