However, many babies tend to get "easier" around 3 to 4 months old. Around this age, infants may begin to sleep longer stretches and feed on a more predictable schedule.
1-3 Months
The first three months with your baby often seem the hardest.
Newborn development at 1-2 months: what's happening
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.
However, most babies get easier between eight and 12 weeks.
From there, babies get easier as they age, but each stage has complications and problems to face. Here's why the range of eight to 12 weeks seems to be the magic time when babies get easier.
Between 1-3 months of age, babies begin the transformation from being a totally dependent newborn to becoming an active and responsive infant. Many of the newborn reflexes are lost by this age. At this age, a baby's vision changes dramatically; he becomes more aware and interested in his/her surroundings.
In fact, many parents on our Instagram page characterized the toddler and teen years as especially challenging. While each age definitely comes with its ups and downs, those of you who are in the throes of year 8, we see you.
The newborn phase is full of both physical and mental challenges — from interrupted sleep while your body is recovering from birth to pouring yourself into a being who doesn't yet interact with you, bringing home a new baby turns your world upside down overnight.
If months two, three, and beyond are tougher than you expected, you're not alone. From going back to work to changing sleep schedules, there are many reasons you may feel parenting becomes increasingly difficult after an initial honeymoon period. However, many babies tend to get "easier" around 3 to 4 months old.
Of course, every baby is different, but many Moms find it's the first 6 weeks that are the hardest. Particularly once the novelty has worn off, visitors are dying down and Dad is back at work. This often coincides with a more alert baby that tires easily, is more prone to fussiness and colic and harder to settle.
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.
The standard infant fussiness usually starts at about 2 to 3 weeks, peaks at 6 weeks and is gone by 3 to 4 months. It lasts on “average” 2 to 4 hours per day. Of course, there is a wide variety of normal.
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.
But generally, babies and kids do tend to get easier the older they get. They're able to communicate, are more independent, and can better understand their environment over time. Babies get easier to entertain, and having a baby actually becomes fun.
Looking in more detail, the study found is a consistent pattern of maternal distress peaking when kids are in middle school. Moms of middle schoolers report more stress, emptiness, loneliness, life dissatisfaction, and lack of fulfillment, and they viewed their middle school children's behavior in less positive ways, ...
Transition phase of labor
It's when the cervix completely dilates to a full 10 centimeters, and is the shortest – but generally considered the hardest – part of labor. If this is your first time giving birth, transition may take up to a few hours, or it may progress quickly.
1. Lack of sleep. It's really no surprise a number of you put this as one of the toughest bits of being a mum; no one feels good when they're getting half the zzzzs they used to and looking after a baby to boot. "I could cope with the daytime tasks easily after being well rested and fresh," Maria K told us.
While newborns have an “indiscriminate attachment” – meaning they can easily accept comfort from anyone, after about 2-4 months, babies' parental preference often leans towards their mother.
A 3-month-old baby can show some signs that she is aware that there are moments when you might not be there, but separation anxiety usually starts later, at around 8 months.
Your baby may now sleep for longer periods (stretches of seven to eight hours) and, if she was fussy, she might even be beginning to calm down. Now that you've made it to 3 months, hopefully you and your baby can really come alive.
If you feel like giving up, just know that you are not alone. Don't feel guilty if you think you are not enjoying the newborn stage of your baby. This is completely normal, and it does not mean you don't like your baby – it just means that you don't like this stage.
Around this time, your baby might still cry and fuss – this is a typical part of development and will pass in time. Crying and fussing usually peaks at around 6-8 weeks and starts to settle around 12-16 weeks.
With more and more women choosing to put off having children until later in life in pursuit of a career, the age of giving birth hit 30.9 in 2021. Data from the Office of National Statistics — which goes back until before WWII —shows this is nearly five years older than in the 1970s.