How Your Family Is Doing

• Take time for yourself.
• Take time together with your partner.
• Spend time alone with your other children.
• Encourage your partner to help care for your baby.
• Choose a mature, trained, and responsible babysitter or caregiver.
• You can talk with us about your child care choices.
• Hold, cuddle, talk to, and sing to your baby each day.
• Massaging your infant may help your baby go to sleep more easily.
• Get help if you and your partner are in conflict. Let us know. We can help.

Feeding Your Baby

• For babies at 4 months of age, human milk or formula remains the best food. Solid feeding is discouraged until about 6 months of age.
• Avoid feeding your baby too much by following the baby’s signs of fullness
  • Leaning back
  • Turning away
• Ask us about programs like WIC that can help get food for you if you are breastfeeding and formula for your baby if you are formula feeding.

If Breastfeeding

• Exclusive breastfeeding for about the first 6 months of life provides ideal nutrition and supports the best possible growth and development.
• If you are still breastfeeding, that’s great!
• Plan for pumping and storage of breast milk.

If Formula Feeding

• Make sure to prepare, heat, and store the formula safely.
• Hold your baby so you can look at each other while feeding.
• Do not prop the bottle.
• Do not give your baby a bottle in the crib.

Safety

• Use a rear-facing car safety seat in the back seat in all vehicles.
• Always wear a seat belt and never drive after using alcohol or drugs.
• Keep small objects and plastic bags away from your baby.
• Keep a hand on your baby on any high surface from which she can fall and be hurt.
• Prevent burns by setting your water heater so the temperature at the faucet is 120°F or lower.
• Do not drink hot drinks when holding your baby.
• Never leave your baby alone in bathwater, even in a bath seat or ring.
• The kitchen is the most dangerous room. Don’t let your baby crawl around there; use a playpen or high chair instead.
• Do not use a baby walker.

Your Changing Baby

• Keep routines for feeding, nap time, and bedtime.

Crib/Playpen

• Put your baby to sleep on her back.
  • In a crib that meets current safety standards, with no drop-side rail and slats no more than 23/8 inches apart. Find more information on the Consumer Product Safety Commission Web site at www.cpsc.gov.
  • If your crib has a drop-side rail, keep it up and locked at all times. Contact the crib company to see if there is a device to keep the drop-side rail from falling down.
  • Keep soft objects and loose bedding such as comforters, pillows, bumper pads, and toys out of the crib.
  • Lower your baby’s mattress.
  • If using a mesh playpen, make sure the openings are less than ¼ inch apart.

Playtime

• Learn what things your baby likes and does not like.
• Encourage active play.
  • Offer mirrors, floor gyms, and colorful toys to hold.
  • Tummy time—put your baby on his tummy when awake and you can watch.
• Promote quiet play.
  • Hold and talk with your baby.
  • Read to your baby often.

Crying

• Give your baby a pacifier or his fingers or thumb to suck when crying.

Healthy Teeth

• Go to your own dentist twice yearly. It is important to keep your teeth healthy so that you don’t pass bacteria that causes tooth decay on to your baby.
• Do not share spoons or cups with your baby or use your mouth to clean the baby’s pacifier.
• Use a cold teething ring if your baby has sore gums with teething.
• Clean gums and teeth (as soon as you see the first tooth) 2 times per day with a soft cloth or soft toothbrush with a small smear of fluoride toothpaste (the size of a grain of rice).

What to Expect at Your Baby’s 6 Month Visit

We will talk about

• Introducing solid food
• Getting help with your baby
• Home and car safety
• Brushing your baby’s teeth
• Reading to and teaching your baby