In the first month of Caroline’s life, another mama that I had been talking to introduced me to the Wonder Weeks. If you haven’t heard of this before, the quick version is that every baby goes through the same mental developments around the same time in their lives. They experience sudden changes in their mental developments- these are called leaps. Caroline is currently in leap 5 and I am so glad we learned about this book!
The Wonder Weeks is a book that describes what these changes are and predicts the time that they will happen in your baby’s life.
There is a book and an app. I would highly recommend both.
The book goes into detail about the developments and changes occurring in your little one.
The app is a summarized version, but it allows you to track when these changes are occurring, very easily.
The time frames that are predicted, have been SPOT ON for Caroline! The book predicts when your little one will be in what they call a “fussy phase”.
Caroline is currently in her 5th leap. It is the “leap of relationships”.
She will learn that things can be further away- mama can be further away, toys, etc. She will be much more aware of when I leave the room, or when a toy is out of her grasp.
I usually read about these leaps right before Caroline is about to enter it. I file the info in the back of my mind, and watch for clues that she is experiencing this.
Well, leap 5 has been obvious! Our sleep training has gone out the window at the moment! Actually, that’s an exaggeration.
The sleep training is still working in some ways. She is still sleeping through the night. That is HUGE.
What is struggling this week, though…is her being able to put herself to sleep at night. She did this so well for several weeks.
Now, she is so aware of the fact that we are far away, that she is starting to cry and scream the minute I start walking towards the door! Thank you leap 5! haha
I am not strong enough to let my baby cry and scream for very long, so I have been going back in the room and helping her get to sleep.
I have heard from other mamas that this phase passes, and they easily go back into their normal routine of putting themselves to sleep.
So, while Caroline is in this extra fussy leap… I am going to help her however she needs.
I am noticing these changes during the day too. She is learning so much right now, that she is getting tired earlier.
I still manage to keep her on schedule by 15 minutes or so, but she is definitely losing a lot of her energy just learning.
The biggest change this week is she has learned how to sit! However, my once calm, quiet baby, is now crying and screaming when she drops a toy! If I give it back to her, she is happy again.
I’m trying to show her that she can reach the toy still, so that she learns that she can still get to it, but honestly this week seems to be really taking it toll on her…so for the most part I am simply helping her out.
Once these mental developments settle in, I will start working on getting her to put herself to sleep again, and not give her the toys immediately so that she can learn to grab them herself.
I am so glad that I have had the Wonder Weeks as a resource, though…otherwise I feel like I would be so lost and confused as to why my little observer has turned upset all of the sudden!
Through all of her tears though, it is amazing to see all that she is learning!
One thing that hasn’t waivered this week (amazingly), is her naps. The nap training that we did is working so incredibly well! She still puts herself to sleep for naps with NO crying at all.
She is asleep within 1-2 minutes. She’s been waking a tiny bit early this week, but she is still getting good lengthy naps.
I am so glad that I put the time in to do the nap training with her. I certainly can’t imagine what this week would be like if she wasn’t getting good naps!
