Must-have products for baby's months 4-6 - Cara McDonald

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Memphis is 7 months old! I feel like he's growing up so fast but I also feel like I was pregnant 5,000 years ago.

I shared our favorite baby products for months 1-3 in this post, and I promised I would keep on sharing as he aged. Well, I blinked and he aged. So here are our favorite products for eating, playing, bathing, sleeping and (gulp) teething during months 4-6. A lot of the products I mentioned in the 1-3 months post I still use on the reg, so check that out if you missed it.

Meals

We started feeding Memphis solid foods at 5 months, per our pediatrician's recommendation. His first food was a sweet potato puree and he was not into it. But since then he's grown to enjoy food and now he fusses when it's all gone! These are the things I've been loving for meal times.

Silicone Bibs

These are so much smarter than cloth bibs. The pocket catches what his mouth doesn't and when he's finished eating I can just rinse the whole thing off in the sink. Easy peasy! There are several different brands. I'll link to the set we have below.

Silicone Baby Food Freezer Tray

I make all of Memphis's baby food, and I find it easiest to make a large batch and freeze his food, then store it in gallon-size ziplock bags. This silicone tray holds about 3 oz of food in each pod, and since it's silicone it's pretty easy to pop the food out once it's frozen to store in bags for future use.

Baby Food Cookbook

What I like about this cookbook is that the recipes are broken out by developmental stage, so I feel confident I'm making Memphis food that's good for him.

Bumbo

This Bumbo has a tray that goes with it and we love how easy it is to take him in and out of it.

Toys

Crinkle Toys

Crinkle toys started being rad in Memphis's world right around 4 months. He has crinkle books and I also made him a crinkle toy using soft fabric and a cereal bag! I'm not linking to any specific ones but do a search for "crinkle toy" and you'll find plenty!

Light-up Rattle

Nothing captures Memphis's attention like sound and light. So combine the two and: Magic. This thing has calmed Memphis down many times.

Activity Center

This activity center is advertised for ages 4 months and up. Memphis can rotate around and play with different toys and play music, though right now his favorite part of it is the snack bowl. Go figure. There's a bottom piece that can be lowered and eventually removed as he gets taller, and then once he's outgrown that part it becomes a table for coloring or ... I dunno, doing other toddler activities.

Bath, Body & Diapering

We still use all the same bath products I shared in this post, but there's one important addition that's been a real lifesaver.

Aquafor

Memphis has had a few awful breakouts. I tried a lot of things. Breast milk, coconut oil, unscented Aveeno, Vaseline ... nothing worked. One of the nurses at Memphis's pediatrician's office suggested trying Aquafor mixed with a tiny bit of hydrocortisone cream and that did the trick! Now I use Aquafor on his face every night and add the hydrocortisone cream if he has a breakout, but his breakouts are much tamer than before.

Here's a photo of his worst breakout, before trying Aquafor. It looked awful but fortunately it didn't seem to bother him.

Nighttime Diapers

Now that Memphis is bigger, his diapers are bigger, too. And since he sleeps through the night he wakes up with a diaper full of pee. We started using these overnight diapers and they've helped prevent leaks. It still happens sometimes, but it's less frequent.

Memphis wears a size 4 and we order them on Amazon

Sleep

Memphis (knock on wood) is still sleeping through the night! He had two exceptions total but it was right before his first two teeth popped through the gums. I was worried it was the dreaded sleep regression but I think he was just really sore. Poor buddy.

If it ain't broke, don't fix it. We haven't changed up his sleep routine but now that he's more mobile and is able to roll over (and over and over and over), we had to transition him out of the swaddle. Here are the transitional sleep sacks we've liked.

Woombie Love to Sleep

This one was perfect as his first transitional swaddle. It kept him wrapped up nice and snug but with the "wings" he was still able to roll over and self soothe. He's now a little bit big for this one but it got a ton of use and I still use it if both of his other ones are in the wash.

Zipadee-Zip

We're big Shark Tank fans in our house, and this appeared on the show. It's looser than the Woombie but transitioning from the Woombie to this one was not an issue at all. It's essentially just a soft wearable blanket that gives him arm access. We have two so that if one is in the wash, we have another. Although sometimes I get behind and they're both in the wash. Merp.

Teething

DIY Drool Bibs

Holy drool. Buckets of drool. Teething is no joke. I like bandana bibs because they look cuter than the traditional shape. However, a lot of store-bought drool bibs are too small for my son's massive amount of drool and 100th percentile head.

I decided to make my own instead. I tried three different patterns but those were still too small. Finally, I found one I liked here. It's fun to whip these up because they go together quickly and I can pick fun fabrics like this Sporting KC one.

If you decide to make these, here are a few tips:

For the back, I use Terry cloth.
For the front, I use cotton, flannel or knit. Cotton is easiest to work with.
My son has a huge head and a lot of chins, so I actually modified this pattern by adding about 1/4" all the way around.
Iron-on Velcro will come off in the wash (I learned the hard way). Get the sew-on kind if you're going the Velcro route. You can buy it by the yard at JoAnn.

Sophie the Giraffe

There's a reason she's been around for 30+ years. I don't know what the science is behind it but Memphis chews up her ears and her legs. In this photo he looks like he's about to do some damage.

Cold Teethers

When Memphis was really in pain, these helped a lot. I will say some people warn against these because there's a chance they can break open, but when your child is crying in pain for 24/7 and this works, that slight risk seems like no big deal. Just make sure you put it in the fridge, not the freezer.

Of course there are many other things Memphis has enjoyed over the past few months ... these are just the items he or I found most spectacular. Isn’t it amazing how a little person can acquire so many things? I feel like I live in baby land.

Next time I write one of these he will be eating three solid meals a day, hopefully have a couple more teeth and maybe even be crawling around. Wish me luck. :)

Our favorite baby products for months 4-6