How can it possibly be that a six-month-old baby can know, without a shadow of a doubt, exactly what she wants and persists on getting exactly that? It is astonishing!
Reaching the six-month milestone was both exhilarating and frustrating. I have been constantly amazed by Mia’s development. How many new things she has learned and how well she can apply it. Her physical development is skyrocketing. She is not crawling yet, but she can basically get around by rolling, creeping and pushing up on all fours. Mia can sit with great confidence and look around without tipping over. She reaches her hands out to me to indicate that she wants to be picked up. It seems as if she understands everything.
On the other hand; she is fussy and cranky and experienced a total sleep regression. At first, I thought it was due to teething. Then, no teeth showed up. I was at my wits’ end and decided to do some research. I found this amazing article about the concept of Wonder Weeks, written by Frans X. Plooij. In the article, it describes the link between developmental growth and fussiness. In short: When babies go through a phase of intense development, they will be prone to fussiness. One of these wonder weeks is typically around 6 months of age, and I finally understand the frustration that I went through with Mia this month.
Fussy weeks – ‘Wonder’ weeks“Changes in thinking can show up in changes in what a baby can do, and how she behaves. During these times, when a baby’s ability to understand the world around her is changing, she may need more attention.
- She may cry more, be fussier and need more comforting. (This may be due to other reasons, such as being unwell.)
- Some babies lose their appetite.
- Some babies who have been sleeping well may take more time to go off to sleep and wake more often.
- Some young children who have been happily exploring their world may tend to be clingier and become upset much more easily.
- They may show an increased need for body contact with their mothers or other caregivers.
Sometimes, when these changes are happening, babies or young children will seem to have gone backwards in their development. In fact, they are making a big step forward, but this step is confusing to them, and they may behave more like a younger baby or child. Some babies have developmental delays or major health problems, which could alter the times that they go through these mental developmental milestones.â€
The above is an interesting extract from the article. Please click on the link below to view the full article.
http://www.cyh.com/HealthTopics/HealthTopicDetails.aspx?p=114&np=122&id=2312
MommaMia Tip: This month, I realised the value of understanding. If I can just manage to understand what Mia is going through, I can handle everything much better. I guess that is true for any situation. When you find meaning in your circumstances you can make sense of it and then make peace with it. I am absolutely thrilled that this difficult time turned out to be a time of growth. Isn’t that true for life in general – during tough times we tend to grow the most.