12 week wonder week or growth spurt?

[YouMaySayImADreamer]

Hi - firstly apologies if this has been asked before buy im having trouble finding a definate answer to this online. My ds is 13 week on wednesday and for the past few days has been displaying some out of character behaviour.

I loosely follow EASY so he usually feeds, has some activity and then a nap. His naps during the day are usually very short - only about 20 mins as no matter what i do he wont sleep longer. He is ebf and has been going 3.5 hours between feeds since around 8 weeks. For around 3 weeks we have been giving him his 'last' feed at 8pm before putting him down for the night and he will usually go down fine, waking only to feed at 12.30am and 3.30am.

The last few days however, he has almost reverted to a newborn type behaviour. He has been very sleepy, especially straight after feeds, falling asleep on me, which he hasnt done since he was tiny, and staying asleep for up to 2 hours if i let him stay on me. He has also been sleeping longer at night, and last night fed at 8, was asleep by 9.30 after a bit more fussiness going to sleep than usual, and didnt wake up for a feed until 5am! He has also been very clingy, wanting to he held a lot and not liking being left alone in his cot etc. He is feeding slightly more often but i think only because he is sleeping more and he likes to be fed when he wakes up.

Along with this, he started sucking his thumb literally overnight which hes never done before, he laughed for the first time, is making a lot more noises/copying noises that we make, and has started blowing raspberries - all in the last few days of last week. At first i thought it was a growth spurt, but his eating hasnt been excessive or erratic. I have heard of wonder weeks and it does seem more like this, but i wouldnt say he has been unhappy or crranky as some of the online resources suggest, infact he has had periods of being very content and alert, but has mainly been a lot sleepier and clingier than usual..

Thanks

t

[cathan]

Sounds to me as if your "newborn" has matured a bit - not only as far as his digestions goes, but also behavior wise. You say that he's acting "out of character" but I'm afraid that's entirely normal! The baby you knew is simply maturing - in another 12 weeks he'll be different again. As long as he's feeding enough to produce wet/dirty nappies and seems content (even if he needs/wants things done differently) then you just have to go with it and enjoy! With my DD, she changed her sleeping/feeding "habits" at around 11 weeks, but my DS was later. By the time I got to him though, I was expecting things to be unexpected. Hope this helps.

[YouMaySayImADreamer]

That is great thank you! To be honest if this is permanent it will be amazing because it is actually better! I was battling to get him to nap during the day so if hes starting to nap better thats great. I wasnt even trying to get him to sleep longer or drop feeds at night as jve never been fixated on this, but as it seems to have happened by itself, i am more than pleased with the increased sleep im getting!

Thanks for your help