I know I wrote about this when Monkey was little, but I didn't find this until she was a little older. I like having it from the beginning of Lil Bit's life. This book was written by a couple of Dutch researchers. Their theory is that if calculated from due date, each child reaches developmental leaps around the same time in their first year of life. The developmental leaps are usually when they are learning a new skill.
With these developments come along some typical symptoms. Babies are usually more fussy, they eat less, they sleep a lot less, they need to be held more, etc. Basically you have a very clingy baby for a little while. They fussy time can last from 1 day - 6 weeks. Thankfully Monkey's never lasted that long. Monkey was usually pretty easy with her leaps - it messed with her daytime sleep and that was usually it. (She was an awesome sleeper at night and eater - nothing usually messed with either of those much thankfully!).
The first leap usually happens around 5 weeks. Lil Bit is 5 weeks old today, but she was also born 2 days late, so I imagine her leaps are going to happen a little earlier than they predict. At the beginning of this week, I think it started. She has just been a little more fussy - most of her naps are very unpredictable right now - she sleeps best when I am wearing her - she wakes early from naps and wants to eat early because she is awake. Thankfully, it hasn't really messed too much with her night sleep (YAY!!!). She is still doing good with that. So very thankful for good sleepers.
The purpose of this book is to help parents not go insane!. You can't do anything about a wonder week - they happen - you deal. But knowing they are coming, or being able to tell you are in one helps you not be too insane. It helps you not to feel like you are crazy bc your usually peaceful child who loves her schedule is just not on one!
The amazing thing is that once the wonder week is over you have a few peaceful weeks where everything is usually bliss. They sleep great and are happy because they get to practice their new skills. We should be out of our wonder week soon - in fact today she has been even better. Looking forward to some down time because in the first few months, you don't get much downtime in between mental leaps.
The greatest thing out of this leap comes the social smile - we have seen evidence that it is coming soon. She actually smiled at her daddy the other day and I think it was real. We are getting to the interactive infant stage which is one of my favorites. I can't wait to see how Monkey reacts when her sister interacts with her.
All that long blog is to say that I'm very thankful for this book. I go a little crazy in the first few months anyway (I can have an obsessive personality ;) ). This book helps me curb it a little and even more this second time around. If you are new mom or know a new mom - I highly recommend this book! It's a must in my opinion!
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