Wonder Weeks

You always hear about babies having growth spurts.  I thought this was true.  You hear about the 4-5 week spurt and the 8-9 week spurt.  Babies will be fussy, have difficulty sleeping, and just be more difficult.  Well that simple explanation was not enough for Ryan.  At 8 weeks Colin was really fussy.  He wanted to nurse all the time and he was pretty clingy to me.  So Ryan got online and did a little research and here is what he found...

Babies go thru what are called the "Wonder Weeks" which is the time during when significant mental development is taking place.  Here is the website we found and gave us so much insight into Colin's ever changing, developing world.  During these times of mental development, Colin will want to sleep less, nurse more, likely will want Mama more, and will be more difficult to console.  Let me tell you how incredibly helpful it was to have some reasoning behind this fussiness and it gave Ryan and I some answers for what Colin needs.  

It ALSO gave us a heads up on when the next "wonder week" would happen so we could be prepared and more attentive to Colin's development.  This explanation was spot on for week 8- Colin loved watching changing lights (in his activity gym), he was excited by voice inflections, and he began using his arms in a jerky motion.  I took the advice to nurse him more often, snuggle him more so he would sleep, and take more time with me (sometimes it didn't matter what Ryan did- I could do the same soothing mechanism he was just doing and Colin would calm down for me, but not Ryan).  Within a few days, Colin seemed to be back to his normal self and we could return to our normal nursing and napping schedule.

Colin at 8 weeks, loving the lights and music in his gym!

Colin just turned 12 weeks old on Saturday so we have been anticipation the 12 week 'wonder week' however many of the skills expected in this phase of development, Colin seems to have already developed.  However he nurses much longer- this is a change in the last week.  We used to nurse for 9 minutes but now, we are taking 12-14 minutes.  Colin seems happy and I'm happy to say, his whole meal stays in him (no puking!).  I'm not sure if this is a new way of eating for him or if it is just a phase but it has coincided with the 12 week 'wonder week' none the less.  I can't say he has been fussy lately- no more than normal at least.  His napping has been a little different, not too much though.  He just isn't sleeping as much but I do think his awake time is stretching in general.  

I hope other new mamas can find some insight from this post and the Wonder Week website.  Whether you believe this to be true or not, it did help us by giving some tangible explanations to Colin's every growing and developing world.  I feel like I can better give Colin what he needs when he has these mental leaps.

Today I've linked up with Kristin...

Cheers,