The Six-Month Wishlist: Gifts for When Your Baby Gets Moving

Picture the scene. It is week two, the doorbell has rung four times today, and your kitchen table is buried under tiny sleepsuits, scratch mitts and a fourth knitted cardigan in size 0-3 months. 🎁

Fast forward to month six. Half of those clothes are already in the loft. Your baby is suddenly sitting up, grabbing at your toast and trying to launch themselves off the sofa. And the gifts? They have long since dried up.

That is the funny thing about baby wishlists. Almost everyone builds them around the first few weeks, but the biggest shopping list of the first year usually lands around the half-birthday. Eating, drinking, crawling and cruising all tend to arrive within a few months of each other, and each one comes with its own kit.

So here is our case for adding a "six months and up" section to your wishlist now, while friends and family are still asking what you need. We have organised it by the new skill your baby is about to unlock.

Skill unlocked: eating real food

Weaning usually starts at around six months, once your baby can sit up with support and hold their head steady. It is messy, hilarious and surprisingly kit-heavy.

The high chair is the big one. It is also the perfect group gift, because a good one is not cheap and it will be used three times a day for years. Look for a seat that wipes clean in seconds (fabric seams are where porridge goes to live forever), a footrest so little legs are supported, and a five-point harness.

A chair that converts into a toddler seat or a child's chair later on stretches your money much further. That is why we like the 4-in-1 style, which starts as a baby high chair and grows into a seat that pulls up to the family table.

Then come the bowls. Here is a fun fact about six-month-olds: they will throw any bowl that is not stuck down. A silicone suction bowl grips the high chair tray, which means more food in the baby and less on the floor (and the dog will have to find a new hobby).

Other weaning bits worth popping on the list:

• Long-sleeved coverall bibs, at least three, because one is always in the wash
• Soft-tipped weaning spoons that are easy for little hands to grip
• A splash mat for under the high chair if you have carpet or a rug nearby
• Small freezer pots or an ice-cube tray with a lid for batch-cooked purees

Skill unlocked: drinking from a cup

Here is one that catches loads of parents out. Babies can start practising with a cup of water at mealtimes from around six months, and it is generally recommended to go for an open or free-flow cup rather than one with a hard valve.

Open cups sound terrifying. Water everywhere! But babies pick it up quicker than you would think, and it is good practice for sipping rather than sucking.

The Doidy cup is a bit of a cult classic for this. It has a slanted shape, so your baby can tip it to drink without having to throw their head back, and you can see exactly how much is going in (or down their front).

Tip: ask for two. One for home and one that lives permanently in the changing bag.

Skill unlocked: getting around

Rolling turns into commando-crawling, which turns into proper crawling, which turns into pulling up on every bit of furniture you own. Some babies do all of this by eight months, others take their sweet time. Either way, you want the kit ready before the day they suddenly vanish from where you left them. 😅

A big, wipeable play mat gives them a soft, safe patch of floor to practise on. The newborn play gym with dangling toys does a great job early on, but by six months most babies want space to roll, scoot and topple. An extra-large foam mat cushions the inevitable faceplants and wipes down when snack time happens on it (it will).

Stair gates come next. They are not glamorous, so hardly anyone thinks to register for them, but most families end up needing two or three. A pressure-fit gate is brilliant for doorways and the bottom of the stairs, because it goes up without drilling into the walls.

One important note: the top of the stairs needs a screw-fit gate, not a pressure-fit one. Pressure-fit gates have a bar along the bottom that little feet can trip over, which is not what you want at the top of a staircase. Always check the manufacturer's instructions for where each gate can be used.

A few smaller baby-proofing bits to add alongside:

• Corner protectors for low coffee tables
• Cupboard and drawer locks for the kitchen
• Furniture anti-tip straps for chests of drawers and bookcases
• Cable tidies for anything trailing behind the TV

Skill unlocked: growing (fast)

This one is less of a skill and more of a fact of life. By six months, a lot of babies are moving up a size in everything at once.

• Clothes in 6-12 months and 9-12 months. Generous friends love buying newborn outfits, so gently steer them older.
• The next sleeping bag size. Check the size guide, since many move up from 0-6 months to 6-18 months around now.
• Bigger nappies. Never a thrilling gift, always a useful one.
• A car seat for the next stage. Infant carriers are often outgrown somewhere in the first year, depending on your baby's height.

How to add all this without overwhelming anyone

The trick is to keep your wishlist feeling manageable. A list with 140 items on it can make gift-givers freeze. A few ideas that help:

• Use sections or notes. Label the six-month items clearly so nobody buys a high chair thinking you need it next week.
• Mark the big-ticket items for group gifting. The high chair is a classic one for colleagues or a group of friends to share.
• Keep it live. Your list does not need to be finished before the baby arrives. Add to it as you learn what you actually use.
• Share it again around month four. Grandparents and godparents are often looking for half-birthday and first Christmas ideas right around then.

The newborn weeks get all the attention, but six months is where baby life gets properly busy, and properly fun. A little planning now means you are not panic-ordering stair gates the night your baby discovers the stairs.

Ready to start your "six months and up" list? You can add everything above, and organise it however you like, on your BubsNest wishlist. 💛