To think Wonder Weeks is a load of bollocks?

[EleanorofProvence]

I've not read the book or got the app but have seen bits and bobs posted on FB and it just seems like a right crock of shite to me. Is there actually a research basis for it or is it just a money spinner?

[FellOutOfBedTwice]

I have the book and in my DDs first year if she was being difficult I would look up and there seemed to be a reason for her being difficult. That said every week had a "reason" so I think you can probably apply something to any symptom if you know what I mean!

[EmzDisco]

I have the app and it's often spot on. As with all things babies though I expect it isn't for everyone. Bit odd to take against something you know nothing about though?

[drspouse]

No research base at all. A good way to tell is to look on Google Scholar. It will give you published academic papers, and books, mentioning a particular topic. If the main or only mentions are the person who wrote the money-spinning book, there's your answer -.researchers don't take it seriously.
Other such one trick ponies: Steve Biddulph and "testosterone surges", parent facing buggies for attachment, The Primal Wound (an adoption concept).
Also good to check old wives tales e.g. sugar and hyperactivity, though sometimes they are so OBVIOUSLY wrong researchers don't really bother with them.

[eurochick]

I have the app and it was spot on.

[EleanorofProvence]

Thanks dr, that's just what I thought. I have looked for the evidence and couldn't find it (other than on their own website). Not something I'd read about when I studied infant developmental psychology but thought I was maybe a bit out of date as that was a long time ago now


(Hadn't realised the parent facing buggies thing was bollocks too - I shall google it as I fully believed that one!!)

[TremoloGreen]

I agree with drspouse. Also if you look at the chart, it predicts your baby will be going through a fussypatch for approximately half the time for the first year of their life. No wonder that's correct some of the time. And that's without the issue of interpretation bias (looking at the chart and deciding if your baby's behaviour corresponds with it vs keeping a diary of their behaviour blind).

[AndTakeYourPenguinWithYou]

Its like reading your horoscope, if you want to find something in there that is relevant to you, you will. Because its vague enough and wide ranging enough that most of the time you can make it fit you if you want to.

[StrawberryQuik]

Re parent facing buggies...I did early years education for my MA and one of my professors said that if she'd give us one piece of parenting advice for our own children it'd be to get a parent facing pram.

I'm wondering now if it was just personal opinion or if she'd done research on it.

[EleanorofProvence]

It certainly sounds plausible Strawberry - I haven't actually googled it yet (8 month old DS is keeping me busy!!).

[BendydickCuminsnatch]

I've found it to be spot on so far, DS is almost a year.

[weeblueberry]

I've found it to be accurate. My second daughter is very calm and chilled. The times she's been very unsettled and cried have always coincided with the difficult periods they suggest. And after having a bit of a bad time she pretty much always has a bit of a breakthrough afterwards with speech, movement, sleeping etc.

No idea if it's bollocks tbh but it does seem to match for us.

[AndTakeYourPenguinWithYou]

I've just looked at the website. It's just a lot of established child psych theory tarted up and made to sound very definite. "Your baby will be thinking X at exactly 19 weeks".....wbat a load of horseshit!

[EleanorofProvence]

Forward facing buggy research:

suzannezeedyk.co.uk/wp2/2014/04/03/how-buggies-shape-babies-brains/

[SaucyJack]

I hadn't heard of it, but I've just Googled and the app is £1.49.

If it can help a parent by suggesting a cause or a solution to a problem that they might not have thought of themselves, then there's probably very little harm* in it.

*Disclaimer: I haven't read any of the solutions so if it's stuff like locking the baby in a cupboard to stop them climbing on the furniture, then there possibly is harm in it.

[Itsseweasy]

It was almost 100% accurate for my daughter and 2 friends who had babies the same age as her. My husband and I used to count down the days to the end of each one!
(Wish the chart continued to toddlerhood!)

[Bravada]

Total rubbish IMO. I read the first bits before I gave birth and it said something like, 'at five weeks, this will be the first time your baby is fussy and clingy'. Threw it in the bin at 9 days!!

[KondosSecretJunkRoom]

Oh, yeah, proper bollocks. Like tarot readings. It gives just enough vague bullshit that allows you to weave your baby's behaviour into the narrative. But useful inasmuch as it is soothing to think that your baby's poor sleep and gumpy behaviour has a useful outcome.

[PansyGiraffe]

How on earth is that supposed to work with prem babies, or even with babies who just come out in the usual full-term window? To the week? DD was 7 weeks early. Made sense that in some respects (eg her weight) we should use her corrected age but at the same time other things count from the moment they do arrive in the world (eg vaccinations). They are being fed milk (whether ff or bf), they are using their muscles differently, they are being stimulated differently. That's before you even get into their being, y'know, individual human beings, not Baby v3.4.

To the week? Sounds like horoscope writing to me, ie bollocks.

[drspouse]

Eleanor that's two studies and they have no info on a) what else the babies are doing/looking at (it's really important for example to talk about what babies are looking at, and they can see more facing forward) or b) how much the parents talk the rest of the time.

[Mamabear15]

Pansygiraffe, it does take prematurity into account, as they count the weeks from the expected due date not the actual birth date. Although I also think it's bollocks, my ds was fussy all the time and not just when he was "supposed" to be! Totally agree that it's like horoscopes, people will find stuff in it that explains their situation.

[EleanorofProvence]

It seems to be quite a divisive subject!! It irritates me when people bring it up in real life - I really have to bite my tongue because it just seems so ridiculous - e.g. this week my baby (aged 8 months) is meant to be learning about 'categories' (e.g. big dog is not a horse) and will be busy investigating everything in his path in order to categorise it!! Mine is obviously a bit of a dunce as he seems more interested in trying to eat everything in his path instead Oh and he will love going out and about with me to explore the world around him - er, yeah I can work that out for myself!

Seems to be a rather strange mix of the very specific things that are difficult to prove along with broad generalisations that are bound to fit for months on end.

[EleanorofProvence]

Yeah it's not exactly scientifically rigorous drspouse but was the most I could find from a quick google.

My DS spends most of his time in his pushchair either asleep or totally ignoring me to look at all the interesting stuff going on around him in any case.

[xinchao]

Load of rubbish with my DS. Never matched!

[Natsku]

It did seem to match with DD (I didn't have the app, I just looked up the chart because I'm cheap), confirmation bias or whatever, I don't care, it was just reassuring to think that this too shall pass. Plus I made a lot of online mum friends bitching about those damn wonder weeks - we got each other through some hellish times.

[lavenderdoilly]

Couldn't afford a parent facing buggy when ours was in one so we, chatted to her as we went along - all the "systems" ones were to pricey and we focussed on one where she could lie flat. If she was awake and alert, we stopped, crouched down, pointed stuff out . I remember a parent and newborn clinic where I , with my dreadful facing away buggy, was the only one chatting and singing and gurning to my baby. It's not all about the buggy time.