Wonder Weeks
Okay! So you may have already heard of wake windows from a friend, and you definitely will have already heard about them from my Newborn 101 class and I am here to give you a little more information about them.
So, first and foremost, I think it’s really important I be honest about what you will find on wonder weeks if you Google it. So, if you google my beloved Wonder Weeks, you will read lots about people who believe all of this is a crock of you-know-what. That studies haven’t been done on a wide-enough scale, they haven’t been reproduced, blah blah blah. I am always for evidence-based information so it bums me out that this hasn’t been proven evidence-based-wise by science but I do believe I have evidence-based proof of it because I work with babies and their families all the time and I feel like this just saves people.
So, Wonder Weeks is based on the idea that there are milestones that all babies meet and they all meet the milestones around the same time. And when they hit these big milestones, they enter a ‘leap’ -- as in, they are making a big ‘leap’ forward developmentally -- and they often become a lot more fussy because their brain is exploding with information. So when parents can be extra attentive to wake windows and stimulation and make sure that baby has lots of quiet and downtime and rest during these leaps, everybody is happier. Because if we aren’t, then baby is going through this big leap that is often hard and mind-blowing and requires so much energy and attention to process and integrate, and we throw in extra stimulation and other things to process then we double their work and they become very cranky and fussy and don’t eat well and don’t feed well and that can lead to some long, long, long days and long, long, long, loooong nights.
Your baby’s “week” is determined by their estimated guess date -- so if your baby is born at 38 weeks, then they’re not in “week 1” until they’re 3 weeks old. And if your baby is born at 42 weeks, then they’re already entering “week 3”. I will be sure to make sure you know what week your baby is at if this confuses you don’t worry haha. And! The app will do that for you!
So! Wonder Weeks comes as a book, which is great, and as an app which I rate like a 7/10. The app will calculate where baby’s at, so please be sure to put in the estimated guess date rather than their actual birth date, and will show you using pictures what’s going on. Down below I’ve got a screenshot for you to see the very cute little sunshines and clouds and rainstorms, which are only really cute now because they won’t be cute then. I give the app a 7/10 because I don’t find the actual information in the nap to be so helpful, so down below I’ve linked other sites that I look that talk about the leaps, what you can expect with baby, and the ways you can help them through this big, amazing milestone.
But! Baby’s big leaps are around week 5, week 8 and week 12. And knowing this can be so freeing for so many people. So if your baby is super ‘quiet’ and ‘good’, which I very strongly dislike the words ‘good’ to describe a baby but that’s literally in another video linked before, I digress... If your baby doesn’t cry a lot and sleeps independently really well in the first 4 weeks and then doesn’t do that, it’s not your fault! It’s a leap! They’re supposed to be doing this! It means they are neurologically intact, which is amazing. It means their brain is working and firing and they’re developing just like they should. So let’s tighten up their feeds, tighten up their wake windows, offer them a great space to sleep (dark room, swaddle, white noise, etc.) to help them through this. And then things may get a little better in week 6 and 7, and then bam another leap at week 8. Month 2, weeks 5 to 8, is the hardest month with a baby so, again, it’s not you! It’s the leap! Keep focusing on those feeds and tired cues and appropriate wake windows and good sleep hygiene and soon enough the sun will come out!!
Accept the leap. Embrace the leap. Savour the leap, because it means your baby is growing and learning and is perfect perfect perfect.
As always, check out the resources below and please let me know if you have any questions!
Okay! So you may have already heard of wake windows from a friend, and you definitely will have already heard about them from my Newborn 101 class and I am here to give you a little more information about them.
So, first and foremost, I think it’s really important I be honest about what you will find on wonder weeks if you Google it. So, if you google my beloved Wonder Weeks, you will read lots about people who believe all of this is a crock of you-know-what. That studies haven’t been done on a wide-enough scale, they haven’t been reproduced, blah blah blah. I am always for evidence-based information so it bums me out that this hasn’t been proven evidence-based-wise by science but I do believe I have evidence-based proof of it because I work with babies and their families all the time and I feel like this just saves people.
So, Wonder Weeks is based on the idea that there are milestones that all babies meet and they all meet the milestones around the same time. And when they hit these big milestones, they enter a ‘leap’ -- as in, they are making a big ‘leap’ forward developmentally -- and they often become a lot more fussy because their brain is exploding with information. So when parents can be extra attentive to wake windows and stimulation and make sure that baby has lots of quiet and downtime and rest during these leaps, everybody is happier. Because if we aren’t, then baby is going through this big leap that is often hard and mind-blowing and requires so much energy and attention to process and integrate, and we throw in extra stimulation and other things to process then we double their work and they become very cranky and fussy and don’t eat well and don’t feed well and that can lead to some long, long, long days and long, long, long, loooong nights.
Your baby’s “week” is determined by their estimated guess date -- so if your baby is born at 38 weeks, then they’re not in “week 1” until they’re 3 weeks old. And if your baby is born at 42 weeks, then they’re already entering “week 3”. I will be sure to make sure you know what week your baby is at if this confuses you don’t worry haha. And! The app will do that for you!
So! Wonder Weeks comes as a book, which is great, and as an app which I rate like a 7/10. The app will calculate where baby’s at, so please be sure to put in the estimated guess date rather than their actual birth date, and will show you using pictures what’s going on. Down below I’ve got a screenshot for you to see the very cute little sunshines and clouds and rainstorms, which are only really cute now because they won’t be cute then. I give the app a 7/10 because I don’t find the actual information in the nap to be so helpful, so down below I’ve linked other sites that I look that talk about the leaps, what you can expect with baby, and the ways you can help them through this big, amazing milestone.
But! Baby’s big leaps are around week 5, week 8 and week 12. And knowing this can be so freeing for so many people. So if your baby is super ‘quiet’ and ‘good’, which I very strongly dislike the words ‘good’ to describe a baby but that’s literally in another video linked before, I digress... If your baby doesn’t cry a lot and sleeps independently really well in the first 4 weeks and then doesn’t do that, it’s not your fault! It’s a leap! They’re supposed to be doing this! It means they are neurologically intact, which is amazing. It means their brain is working and firing and they’re developing just like they should. So let’s tighten up their feeds, tighten up their wake windows, offer them a great space to sleep (dark room, swaddle, white noise, etc.) to help them through this. And then things may get a little better in week 6 and 7, and then bam another leap at week 8. Month 2, weeks 5 to 8, is the hardest month with a baby so, again, it’s not you! It’s the leap! Keep focusing on those feeds and tired cues and appropriate wake windows and good sleep hygiene and soon enough the sun will come out!!
Accept the leap. Embrace the leap. Savour the leap, because it means your baby is growing and learning and is perfect perfect perfect.
As always, check out the resources below and please let me know if you have any questions!