6 months Week 4

Who’s calling my name?

Your baby knows her name and understands that you are speaking with her. When you call out to her she’ll probably respond by turning to your direction, she understands your voice too. When you sound cheerful she’ll react in a joyful manner and when you speak sharply she’ll become distressed and may even cry.

She’s also beginning to understand simple requests. Say no when she pulls you by your hair, she’ll pause and look at your face then gently pull her hands away. Whenever you say no to baby say it with a firm but not harsh tone and always offer another distraction, for example if she plays with your phone say “no that’s mommy’s phone” and offer her the dummy phone to play with.

Introducing a Sippy cup

Take advantage of your baby’s natural desire and curiosity to imitate adults, buy two or three brightly colored cups and start drinking from one, she will soon want one just like yours. Since your baby can’t drink from a cup yet, you’ll have to get the ones with a cap, a Sippy spout and handles on the sides. Don’t feel discouraged if your baby doesn’t seem interested in using one, some babies only get the urge around their 1st year.

Some babies take a Sippy cup immediately while others take a while to get used to it. Here are some tips on making the transition easier:

• Start with a soft nipple like spout, which will feel more familiar to baby than hard plastic.
• Have patience, show your baby how to raise the cup to her mouth and tip it up to drink.
• Give it some time, your baby might not learn to use the Sippy cup correctly for a while and you might want to give it to baby after feeds or during snack time rather than when she’s hungry and hysterical, to avoid a mess only put water in it until she masters the skill.
• Familiarise your baby with the cup, even though she can’t use it properly yet, keep it in sight, it makes a fine toy too.
• Try different models until you get one that suits your baby. Try finding ones with bright exciting colours.
• Babies reject Sippy cups for many reasons and of course, there is no rule saying she ever has to have one. Some babies graduate from breast or bottle straight to a regular cup. If you’d rather she learns the Sippy for convenience or because you think it will make the transition easier for her then note she might or might not take interest in it.