wonder weeks...are they true?

[nibbysmum]

What do you think? At 12 weeks and 14 weeks (still ongoing at 17 weeks) my son became fussy, rejected his bottle and doesn't sleep as well ( not awful but he wakes earlier, has nights where he wakes constantly and naps poorly). He's also learning a new trick everyday just like the book says. So what do you think? Did your los go through this...?

I dont think so our main grizzling was teething and allergy/reflux related. Same with sleep.
They can have trouble sleeping when learning to crawl and walk but otherwise. Every child is so different walking at 9m or 18m same with crawling 5m to 12m

I don't know about the earlier wonder weeks as I didn't read about them at the time, but wonder week 55 certainly fitted with my dd2 when she was around 11mo. She became more clingy and tantrummy, jealous of ds1 cuddling me - she would try to muscle in - and suddenly her sleep deteriorated and she became fussier with her eating. As with all things baby-related, it was a phase and it settled. It did fit with the wonder week description very accurately though.

No

I don't see how wonder weeks can be true. Babies are born weeks early/late, sometimes induced or planned c-sect so they wouldn't suddenly align their development.
And while they do the external things (smile/roll etc) at different times I don't see how all the less easy to recognise things all miraculously happen at the same time.

Estya it's based on due date not date of birth so good point. I read the book and the times fit in with my son ... As do the things he's learning. Mind you it's probably me clutching at straws and wanting their to be a reason for all this!!!

I found it to be spot on with DS. He pretty much has every single one.

The book has run out for us now but he still has wonder weeks. A friends DS is the same age and they go through the phases together.

Essentially it's based on 35,000 babies so it pretty solid research but won't apply every time to every baby.

Although i agree kids can get fussy every few weeks surely it is interpretation as to why.
Children get a couple of teeth a month so...
But then i suppose it depends how far from the average development your child is.
And the childs temperament some are just very sunny.
I would rather consider teething and the development the specific child is doing than an average.
As in if yours is very verbal early they are less likely to be fussy and frustrated than a child that cant be understood same if they get mobile quickly once they want to.

Superworm ..It seems solid research and I defo feel my boy had an off week at 12. Was super happy at 13 but by 14.5 was pretty hard work. That said no one I know mentions their babies are fussy at these key times although a couple of mums at baby clinic have struggled with sleep at 4 months (and have begun weaning). I haven't started to wean as he's so busy learning new tricks and being cranky that i don't want to rock the Apple cart anymore...!

Thing is though, the research isn't as good as it appears. Makes for a nice story though.

In what way is it not as good as it seems leBFG ? Genuine question.

I know lots of my NCT type people had similar grumpy, fussy phases at around the same ages.

As for teething, DS had pretty much a full set by a year and still had the phases after they came through. It was as different type of fussiness, he is usually a very happy chap so may be I noticed it more.

But an average child wouldnt have all teeth. Molars at about a year canines then second year molars.
We've had no other fussiness after 1 its always teething tiredness hunger etc.
But then her language skills are really good.
And developed gradually rather than a huge jump at 18-24 months. Ie some go from almost no words to hundreds at that point.
She is starting to get 2nd year molars and that is causing some lost naps etc

Not familiar with this particular idea - since my time, but I did notice my DD apparently coming down with bugs and then suddenly making big developmental leaps as soon as she'd recovered.

When I checked out the research it was all based on a single data set of mums in Catalonia (or somewhere else in Spain). So a lot of other cultural differences that could link to these so-called Wonder Weeks. The second point is the data (unsurprisingly) was very noisy - a lot of crying before and after these weeks. A minority of babies had no patterns.

Basically, babies cry a lot. They cry a lot over the first few months and less later. There are more wonder weeks earlier on a less later. Do you see the point? It seems the authors hooked in the idea of developmental leaps (proven) with a developmental schedule linked directly to age (unproven). Good idea to sell though

I have the book, data was collected worldwide by two well known psychologists , certainly rang true for my DS and now following it with DD. DD just out of the 26 week one and I've three friends with DC her exact age and they had sleepless nights at 26 weeks even the babies who had been sleeping 12 hours straight . It's mental leaps so not about DC walking or crawling at the same time .

I would like to see a reference to the research Yoni. Genuine interest. I recall they did the small study I mentioned then rolled it out a version of this to all the target mothers to find out their thoughts (i.e. not scientifically organised or analysed)

I have a clockwork baby. Her inexplicable moods (grottiness outside teething etc) were completely unrelated to the WW schedule. If ever a baby were to expected to be a classic WW baby it's mine. So yes, just from my anecdotal story, I'm compelled to not believe this stuff.