6 Months Old!

Yeah! You've reached the light at the end of the tunnel! Your baby is physically able to sleep through the night at this point. If they aren't, give them more to eat during the day. Perhaps meals when the rest of the family eats or adding a couple of extra ounces to their feedings. This way you know that they aren't really hungry at night. Don't change the diaper unless they have wet their clothes. Turn off the monitors!

Another thing you can do is get them off of the bottle or nursing! You don't have to do it this early, but you can if you want to. They will drink their sippy cup faster than they will a bottle or nursing. They will still need their formula or breast milk until at least 9 mos. Most doctors say 1 year. The best way is to keep a cup out and let them play with it and get used to it. Then one day, take the bottles away or stop nursing. Just let them have the cup. They will cry. Be prepared for at least one day of crying. However, my experience is after they take the cup, they won't even think about the bottle or nursing. If you can be around other kids that use sippy cups, it helps reinforce things.

This is also the time you want to get rid of the pacifier. Put the pacifier in their bed and perhaps in the car seat (for sanity sake). Those are the only 2 places the pacifier needs to be and stay. Don't let the bottle be the new pacifier, though. This is also a good time to let bed time buddies, like blankets or animals, be just bedtime buddies. Keep these items in the bed or put them up in the closet until bedtime or nap time. If you are going to be out of the house during nap time, make a nap time bag that has the things that they will want to make nap time smoother.

It's never too early to start thinking about potty training either. Their are some methods that say you can potty train by 1 year old. Feel free to choose this method. Most people choose to potty train between 15 mos. (girls) or 18 mos (boys) and 2 years. After that it becomes very difficult. Start changing the diaper as soon as it gets wet. Get potty training children's books and/or videos and let your child get familiar with going to the bathroom. Get a training toilet that they can play with and get familiar with. I would recommend going to http://www.thepottytrainer.com . You can download a book for $7. You can also get charts and potty journals sent to you.