Six week old newborn

[Anonymous]

Thank you so much for all the validation. I cried writing this because I am so exhausted. I really appreciate it.

[Anonymous]

For my first I personally felt that weeks 9-12 were the hardest, but she was born a month early so maybe for many the peak is just a bit earlier? At any rate, all the adrenaline wears off and all the sleep deprivation is so high. She didn’t sleep more than 6 hours at a time until after 12 weeks and even then it was hit or miss.

My second I lined up a lot of help (MIL came and stayed a few weeks). But she was such a different experience anyway. She would eat (the first wouldn’t and we were at the hospital or lactation consultant multiple days a week) and she slept 7 hours around the 6 week mark. When you get to being able to catch a solid 4-5 hours of sleep the world starts to change!

[Unjenesaisquoi]

For those of us who don’t know, what happens at 6 weeks? 👀👀

[Anonymous]

Yes, month four was when things finally felt doable, but baby was also a month early and had colic and eating problems. It definitely gets better soon (exactly when will vary, but it will get better!).

[Anonymous]

At 6w6d, I was broken. Crying to DH that I can’t do this. It was a Wednesday and he took Friday off. I just had to get through Thursday. All day I kept repeating “just get through today”. Then in the late afternoon, he smiled at me. Like saw me and smiled. It’s exactly what I needed. Something about that made things easier.

I think having an eating, sleeping, pooping lump was just so hard. Once I had that interaction, it got better. But I agree that it wasn’t until sometime during 12-16w that we got out of that newborn survival mode.

[Anonymous]

sleep train at 4 months for both naps and nights and combo or bottle feed. You will feel like a new person.

[Anonymous]

It gets so much better. Hang in there. After 8 weeks it starts to get more bearable, then gradually better and better. Enough that you can keep going. Somewhere around 6 months you finally realize you’re having fun.

In the mean time, remember that crying will not scar your baby for life. Don’t worry about tummy time, or doing anything “extra.” Just get by.

If you can, work on building up baby’s ability to be independent from you - ie, when calm and fed, put baby on the other side of the room from you and let them just be. Start with just a couple minutes at a time and build up. This builds their level of security and will eventually make sleep easier. It is too early to sleep train now but you can do awake independent time which leads to easier sleep training soon.

[Anonymous]

Also at week 6 and reading these helped me. It’s my second and I do remember that sometime in the next two weeks my first started smiling and sleeping better and I felt like it might all work out for the first tome.

[Anonymous]

My college roommate hated the infant stage. She adopted #2 an #3, so she could request a toddler.

She was so much happier when I visited her with the second and 3rd child.

[Anonymous]

I gets better hang in there

[Anonymous]

I stumbled across this in the wee hours last summer and helped me a lot. https://www.abcdoula.com/blog/2015/11/12/wish-you-had-a-timeline-for-the-most-fussy-weeks#:~:text=Usually%20by%20week%2010%2C%20babies,make%20it%20to%20week%2010.

My son is 10 months now and I was a shell of a human at 6 weeks. I literally put these dates on my calendar and they were spot on. It gets soooo much better. I think I was slowly becoming human by 8-10 weeks, felt way better by 12 weeks, and I would say by the time he was 5 months - when he started sleeping through the night - I felt like everything was just the new normal.

[Anonymous]

Unjenesaisquoi wrote:For those of us who don’t know, what happens at 6 weeks? 👀👀

The cumulative effect of sleep deprivation + the baby hasn't yet turned the corner on sleep or predictability. At 8-12 weeks it is much different.

[Anonymous]

Have a 6 week old and needed this, too. Keep sharing your stories

[Anonymous]

6 weeks is your baby's first big growth stage. Your baby will be constantly hungry. You will think you don't produce enough milk. Most parents quit nursing at 6 weeks for exactly this reason. But it's only because your baby is growing. Also, your baby is starting to wake up and notice the world around. You used to be able to nurse anywhere or put the baby down for a nap in the living room. Now the baby won't sleep unless it's pitch black. Give it time and your milk will adjust to your baby's needs. Your baby will get used to sleeping with a bit of distraction, etc. It's only 1-2 weeks and then it gets better - until the next growth phase at 4 months I think ...

[Anonymous]

Oh goodness. Of course it gets better. You are still at the very beginning and I’m sure you are tired AF. Soon you’ll get smiles, more sleep, feeding will get easier. It all gets better. As I tell friends, you aren’t doing anything wrong, it’s just hard.