Week 3

Days 15 to 21 · 2 weeks 0 days to 2 weeks 6 days old · about 2 weeks At the start of this week, a typical baby measures about 52 cm (20.5 in) and weighs about 3.9 kg (8.5 lb). Babies vary widely, and what matters is that your baby follows their own curve on the growth chart. Most have now regained their birth weight and are gaining steadily. Your baby is more awake for short stretches, watching faces and turning toward voices, and many babies start to feed in long, hungry clusters. For you, bleeding is usually lighter, stitches and wounds are healing, and the adrenaline of the first days has worn off. This week covers cluster feeding and growth spurts, how your baby sees and hears, constipation and hemorrhoids, spit-up and reflux, the warning signs to watch for in your own body, days and nights, and the first tummy time.

Day 15 · 2 weeks 0 days old

Feeding all evening is normal

Somewhere around now, many babies start to feed again and again in the late afternoon and evening, sometimes every 30 to 60 minutes for several hours. This is called cluster feeding. It can make you feel as if something is wrong with your milk, but it is one of the most normal newborn behaviours there is. Cluster feeding often comes with a growth spurt. Many babies have one at about 2 to 3 weeks, another around 6 weeks and another around 3 months, though the timing varies. For a few days your baby seems hungrier and fussier, then settles again. If you are breastfeeding, the extra feeding tells your body to make more milk, and supply usually catches up within two or three days. Formula-fed babies go through growth spurts too and may want a little more at each bottle.

The best guide is the diaper count and weight. From the end of the first week, about six or more heavy wet diapers a day, and for breastfed babies several yellow stools a day in the first weeks, mean your baby is getting enough.

Call your baby's doctor if your baby has fewer wet diapers, seems sleepy and hard to wake for feeds, or has not regained their birth weight by about 2 weeks.

Try this: Set up an evening feeding station today: water, a snack, a charger, the remote and a pillow, so a long cluster feed feels less like a siege.

Day 16 · 2 weeks 1 day old

Your face is your baby's favourite sight

Your baby can see from birth, but not far. Vision is sharpest at about 20 to 30 cm (8 to 12 in), roughly the distance from your arms to your face during a feed. Beyond that, the world is a soft blur. Your baby prefers faces over almost anything else, and strong contrasts such as black and white, or the edge of your hairline against your forehead.

Colour vision is still developing, so bright, bold colours register better than pastels. Over the coming weeks your baby will learn to follow a slow-moving face or object from side to side. You may notice the eyes drifting or crossing now and then. That is common in the first few months while the eye muscles learn to work together.

Hearing is well developed already. Your baby knows your voice from the womb and will often quiet or turn toward it. Sudden loud noises bring a startle. Your baby had a hearing screen in the first days (see week 1), but keep noticing how they respond.

Call your baby's doctor if an eye seems to turn in or out all the time, a pupil looks white or cloudy, the eyes look watery and very sensitive to light, or your baby never startles at loud sounds.

Try this: Hold your baby face to face at feeding distance today and slowly move your head to one side. See if their eyes follow you for a moment.

Day 17 · 2 weeks 2 days old

Easing constipation and hemorrhoids

Many people find bowel movements uncomfortable for weeks after birth. Pregnancy hormones, iron supplements, pain medicines, less food and drink during labour, and fear of straining over stitches all slow things down. Hemorrhoids, swollen veins around the anus, are also very common, especially after a long pushing stage.

Start with fibre and fluid. Whole grains, beans, lentils, fruit (prunes and pears are good), vegetables, and plenty of water make stools softer. If you are breastfeeding, you may notice you are thirstier than usual: drink to thirst. Short walks help your bowels move too.

On the toilet, rest your feet on a small stool so your knees are higher than your hips, lean forward and breathe out rather than holding your breath and pushing hard. Do not put off going when you feel the urge.

For hemorrhoids, a shallow warm bath (sitz bath), cold pads and keeping the area clean and dry can ease the itch and ache. Many stool softeners and soothing creams are fine while breastfeeding: ask your pharmacist which suits you.

Call your care provider if you have not had a bowel movement for four days or more, you have severe pain, a hemorrhoid becomes hard and very painful, or you see more than a small streak of blood.

Try this: Add one fibre-rich food to each meal today and keep a full water bottle wherever you usually feed.

Day 18 · 2 weeks 3 days old

Most spit-up is just laundry

If your shoulder always seems damp, you are not alone. About half of young babies bring up some milk after feeds, sometimes a lot. The muscle at the top of the stomach is still immature, the stomach is small, and babies lie flat and drink a lot of liquid.

This is called reflux, and in most babies it is harmless. Doctors call them "happy spitters": they feed well, gain weight and are mostly content. Spitting up tends to peak around 4 months and fades as babies sit up and eat solid food, with most outgrowing it by about their first birthday.

You can try smaller, more frequent feeds, burping partway through, and keeping your baby upright for 20 to 30 minutes after a feed. Always put your baby down to sleep on their back on a flat surface, even if they spit up. Healthy babies protect their airway, and wedges, raised mattresses and positioners are not safe.

Call your baby's doctor if your baby is not gaining weight, refuses feeds or arches and screams with every feed, or the spit-up becomes forceful and shoots out after every feed (especially between about 2 and 8 weeks). Get help right away if the vomit is green or yellow, contains blood, or your baby is very sleepy, floppy or struggling to breathe.

Try this: Keep a muslin cloth on every chair you feed in, and give your baby a few minutes upright on your shoulder after each feed today.

Day 19 · 2 weeks 4 days old

Know the warning signs in your own body

Most recovery goes smoothly, but serious problems can appear in the weeks after birth, even once you feel better. They are also in the quick reference at the back.

By now, bleeding is usually light. Bleeding that becomes heavy and red again is not normal.

Infection can affect the uterus, a wound, stitches, the breasts or bladder. Blood clots are more likely for about six weeks, especially after a caesarean. High blood pressure and pre-eclampsia can appear for the first time after birth, usually in the first week, but up to six weeks later.

Get help right away if you soak through a pad in an hour or less for two hours in a row, pass clots larger than a golf ball, or feel faint or your heart is racing; you have chest pain, sudden shortness of breath or cough up blood; you have a severe, lasting headache, blurred vision or flashing lights, or pain under the ribs on the right; or you have a seizure. Call your local emergency number.

Call your care provider if you have a fever of 38.0 °C (100.4 °F) or higher, chills, foul-smelling discharge, a wound that is red, hot, oozing or opening, worsening pain, burning when you pee, or one leg that is swollen, red, warm or painful. Call the same day.

Try this: Write these signs on a card and stick it on the fridge, so anyone in your home can recognize them.

Day 20 · 2 weeks 5 days old

Your baby does not know night from day yet

Newborns sleep about 14 to 17 hours in every 24, but in short pieces scattered around the clock. Their internal clock is not working yet. The hormone that makes us sleepy at night only starts to follow a daily rhythm at around 2 to 3 months. Until then, many babies are wide awake at 2 a.m. and sound asleep at noon.

Newborn sleep cycles are short, about 40 to 50 minutes, compared with about 90 minutes in adults. Your baby also spends much more time in active sleep: grunting, twitching, smiling, eyes moving under the lids, even opening them briefly. It can look as if they are waking up. Often, if you wait a minute or two, they drift back into a deeper sleep on their own.

You can help the clock along. In the day, open the curtains, go outside, keep normal household noise, and chat and play during awake times. At night, keep the lights low, voices quiet, and feeds and diaper changes calm and businesslike. Change the diaper only if it is dirty or very wet. Keep following the safe sleep basics from week 2 for every sleep, day or night. Try this: Take your baby outside or sit by a bright window for a while this morning, and use only a dim lamp for night feeds tonight.

Day 21 · 2 weeks 6 days old

Tummy time can start small

Babies sleep on their backs, which is the safest way. But when they are awake, time on their tummies helps them build the neck, shoulder and back muscles they will need to lift their head, roll, sit and crawl. It also takes pressure off the back of the head, which helps prevent a flat spot (more on that in a few weeks).

You can start now, if you have not already. At this age, tummy time can be as simple as your baby lying on your chest while you recline, chest to chest. Many babies like this best because they can see your face. You can also lay your baby across your lap, or on a firm blanket on the floor.

Begin with a minute or two, a few times a day, when your baby is awake, alert and not just fed. Gradually build toward a total of about 30 minutes a day, spread out in short sessions, over the next couple of months. Lots of babies fuss at first. That is normal: stop before they get too upset, and try again later.

Always stay with your baby during tummy time, and never let them fall asleep on their tummy. If they doze off, turn them onto their back in their own sleep space.

Try this: After a diaper change today, lie back and settle your baby on your chest for two minutes, talking to them so they try to lift their head toward your voice.