The Six Month Wiggle

kiddo's first selfie

There are many things about babies and movement. There's the first time a pregnant mom feels a baby move in the womb. Then these little gurgles slowly turn into breath-stealing kicks and bladder-busting punches.

Then when the baby arrives, there's a little bit of a reprieve. You don't have to worry about the baby going anywhere. You put them on their back, swaddled (so they can't move), and they sleep like 18 hours a day.

But then, somewhere around 4 months, they roll over. At first it's just one direction and their one arm gets trapped so they fuss and get frustrated. Then they add the other direction, and things get even more dangerous.

Combine this with the whole grasping and grabbing, gumming and licking, and a lack of real control and you get a kid that hits himself in the forehead regularly with a drool soaked toy. This inevitably happens right after he makes his way onto his tummy awkwardly on the couch next to you.

But none of this even comes close to the six month wiggle.

Once babies get to six months, they are distracted by everything. This means they really only want to play and have no interest in being still unless they are falling asleep (even that's debatable), waking up (almost always true), or asleep (mostly true). This is one of the reasons why I can't ever get clear face photos of kiddo. He's moving constantly.

The least convenient time for this constant moving is changing - both diapers and clothes. Diaper changes can go smoothly because only one half of his clothing has to be removed and so we can give him a toy to play with while we clean him up and get a fresh diaper on. Clothing changes are hopeless.

Inevitably something distracts him so much that he nearly twists himself. Sometimes he even gets onto his tummy. He wails as we take away his toy so we can get his arms into his shirt sleeves. He gets frustrated even if he gets laid down on the changing pad - he hates being still that much.

The only thing that seems to work consistently to keep him from wiggling right off the changing area is song. I made up a little diaper changing song which helps to calm him down if he starts to fuss over being laid on the changing pad. If he fusses over getting dressed, we do the "Hokey-Pokey" which makes him smile and laugh. While this is fairly successful, it's not an easy endeavor, especially when I have the energy level of a snail.

I just keep telling myself that it's a phase that will pass soon enough and that I should relish even the difficult moments. Besides, there's the added benefit of all that upper body work I get to do without schlepping my tired butt to a gym. Oh the hidden benefits of motherhood...

What are your tactics for dealing with a wiggling baby? Leave a comment below!