Sleep: Your baby still spends the majority of their time sleeping, but may be progressing toward some longer stretches of sleep at night. Food: Your baby is still feeding frequently, and needs to be fed at night; you may notice that your baby is gassier than before.
Smile, stick out your tongue, and make other expressions for your infant to study, learn, and imitate. Use a favorite toy for your newborn to focus on and follow, or shake a rattle for your infant to find. Let your baby spend some awake time lying on the tummy to help strengthen the neck and shoulders.
Newborns need a lot of sleep – about 14 to 18 hours a day. It's normal for newborns to sleep almost constantly in the early weeks, waking only long enough to eat and then fall back asleep. All that rest plays a critical role in their rapid growth and development.
If your newborn is extremely fussy and will not stop crying or sleep, some possible causes include: Your baby is still hungry. Your newborn may be too hot or cold. Your newborn may have a dirty or wet diaper.
These growth spurts typically happen when your baby is around 2-3 weeks, 6 weeks, 3 months, and 6 months old. But your baby's growth spurts may not happen at these exact times. Growth spurts can happen at any time, and every baby is different. Growth spurts usually last a few days.
Cluster feeding is common, and this may be the week for a growth spurt that vaults your baby out of their tiny newborn clothes and into the zero-to-three-month outfits that seemed huge just two weeks ago. Your baby may also uncurl a bit and seem a little longer, even if they haven't actually grown that much.
During the first month, babies will spend around 16 hours a day sleeping. This will usually happen in the form of three- or four-hour naps evenly spaced between feedings. After a newborn has been awake for one to two hours, he or she will need to sleep again.
The term newborn is often used for babies under 28 days or even up to 2 or 3 months of age, according to experts. After this period (and even during the newborn stage), your little one may be referred to as a baby or an infant up until they're around 1 year of age.
Others suggest waking to feed during the first five to six weeks if your baby sleeps longer than five hours at a time. Usually, babies younger than 6 months wake up every three to four hours because they're hungry, so the question of whether to wake them (and lose precious rest yourself) may not be a concern.
The key message here is that it is ok to put a baby to sleep without burping. For many babies, parents find they don't notice an improvement in sleep if they purposefully relieve gas before putting their baby down to bed. However, some babies do tend to sleep better by burping their baby before falling asleep.
You should stop swaddling your baby when he starts attempting to roll over. Many babies start working on this move at about 2 months old. Swaddling once your baby can roll over may increase the risk of SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome) and suffocation.
Hiccups are a reflex that happens when the diaphragm causes a prompt opening and closing of the vocal cords. They usually happen when eating, drinking, or dealing with stressful events. Hiccups are common in babies. Most newborns hiccup quite often, which can be a sign that your baby is healthy and developing well.
3-Week-Old Baby Schedule
In time, most babies end up enjoying tummy time, because it's a chance for them to freely move their bodies and engage with their parents. Another favorite activity to do with your baby at this age is to go out for a walk in a stroller. You can also wear your little one in a baby carrier.
It may be possible for your baby to smile at 4 weeks but usually only while sleeping, or by chance as he or she tries out new facial expressions. Your little one may not flash a true 'social' smile until about 6 weeks old or even a little later.
But the AAP doesn't recommend any specific amount of playtime – that's up to you. As you get to know your baby, you'll learn to read their cues and know when they want to interact and play – and when they'd rather rest. Responding to your baby's signals will help the two of you bond and learn to communicate.
Around this time, most babies cry and fuss more. This is a typical part of development and will pass in time. It usually peaks around 6-8 weeks and starts to settle at around 12-16 weeks.
Most people find the first six to eight weeks to be the hardest with a new baby. And, although people may not openly discuss many of the challenges in these early weeks of parenthood (if at all), there are a number of common hurdles you may face at this time.
1-3 Months
The first three months with your baby often seem the hardest.
How often does my newborn need a bath? There's no need to give your newborn baby a bath every day. Three times a week might be enough until your baby becomes more mobile. Bathing your baby too much can dry out your baby's skin.
MYTH: Babies are scared of the dark.
If you have a young baby who is overstimulated or overtired, putting them in a pitch black room (with white noise) will be very calming for them. Babies do not need night-lights, as any light will be stimulating for them and can prevent them from falling asleep or staying asleep.
Sleep regression is a period of time, usually about two to four weeks, when a baby who's sleeping well suddenly has trouble settling down for sleep or wakes up fussing in the middle of the night.
Second Night Syndrome
Generally occurs about 24 hours after birth for almost every baby. Your baby will want to be on the breast constantly but quickly fall asleep. If you put him down, he will probably wake up. If you put him back to breast, he will feed for a short time and fall asleep.
Colic often begins suddenly, with loud and mostly nonstop crying. This constant, extreme crying can be very stressful and difficult for parents. Babies with colic are often fussy, gassy, and don't sleep well. But in most cases they grow and gain weight normally.
Cluster feeding ages vary for each baby, but it usually happens around 3 weeks and 6 weeks, when they have growth spurts. 3 It may last for a few days at a time. Talk to a lactation consultant if cluster feedings spans much longer because your child might not be consuming enough calories.