So what exactly is supposed to get easier after 6 weeks?

[HelgatheHairy]

So I've read/heard about how the first 6 weeks are the worst, things get easier after 6 weeks etc

Well DD is 6.5 weeks and no one has told her! She's exactly the same as before, cluster feeds, won't nap unless held, wakes every 2 hours at night, has a fussy hour (or two) in the evening when I have to walk around while feeding her. Why is 6 weeks supposed to be this magical number - what's supposed to happen??

Not exactly helping melonbreath

It is supposed to get easier as that's when your body has healed / hormones calmed down after birth. The baby only gets trickier (but and lovelier) I'm afraid!

10weeks is when it all turned round for me. He got a bed time suddenly, he made it clear he was being disturbed in the living room so we put him to bed! Bliss! Evenings to ourselves!!

It's YOU that gets better after 6 weeks. She gets better after 12:)

That makes sense! I am feeling way better (was anemic and had stitches after birth) and I'm feeling way more confident with DD. I had no experience with babies before her.

my dd is 10 weeks and dare I say it, things are getting a bit easier albeit still rather unpredictable on the feeding/sleeping front.....she's my 2nd and I still feel out of my depth! but I've noticed more smiles, finding fingers, looking about more very encouraging - I can see a little character emerging.

It took 4 months for DS to get better and a year until he was a happy baby... sorry to say that but everyone kept telling me it would get better at 6 weeks then 12 weeks then once he was weaned then once he crawled it wasn't until he could walk at 11 months he stopped being very very demanding.

4 months was the time with both of mine when I had a fair idea what they would do when. Around 8 weeks I almost found hardest because I felt things should be getting easier but they weren't!

6 weeks on the dot was when DS started to sleep in the bedside cot for a few hours at a time and at night, rather than only on one of us and at completely random times (rarely till the small hours). For six weeks he slept a fairly reliable 4+2+1 hrs at night which was bliss. Then from 12 weeks it all went to shit until 9 months (initially due to CMPI). Now at 11mo he is finally sleeping through, or only waking briefly.

For me the magic age was 18 months for both of mine when they slept through properly went to bed at 7 and could communicate without just crying and whinging

I remember thinking the same thing OP last year when mine was a newborn. Nothing magic happened at 6 weeks and I was annoyed! I think its an old wives tale to keep up the spirits of new parents.

The baby actually gets harder...they get mobile, they can roll off sofas and climb stairs etc etc. BUT if someone had told me that at the newborn stage i'd have cried and cried. But the magic thing that happens is YOU get better. You recover, you get (almost) a full nights sleep by the time baby is getting harder and you're more laid back. So it all works out OK!

The only thing that gets easier is you get used to the lack of sleep! Sort of.

I'm only at four weeks but I can say its genuinely got easier each week.
First two weeks it took dh and I both 100% of our time to handle ds's needs and we barely left the house. I was sore and bleeding.
Week 3 dh went to work four days, I cried twice and counted the minutes till dh was home.
Week 4 I was managing on my own in the day (though eating and showering is tricky logistically) and we went out a couple of times to places other than baby group.
Next week (week 5) I'm actually looking forward to a couple if social meets rather than dreading them.

Ds is still bf every two hours and having bouts of bad wind but I'm learning to cope and to be less stressed which makes me less exhausted.

Unless you were VERY chilled out about the first couple of weeks and had a very easy birth recovery I'd be very surprised if week six isn't easier than the earlier weeks.

definitely more like 9-10 weeks. I found this was when my DD got better at burping/passing her wind etc. so was more comfortable, and she was also able to drink more in one feed so managed some longer stretches of sleep. I remember thinking exactly the title of your thread:nothing at all felt different at 6 weeks! Give it just a few more weeks and your baby should start to settle down a bit. :-)

I counted down to 6 weeks as well, OP. I was so disappointed when she didn't magically turn into a self-sufficient mini-adult! Only half joking
DD is now 10.5 weeks. Things did seem to get easier at around 9 weeks - she was eating regularly and even had a few nights sleeping through. Things have since gone tits up again, though. So even when you think it's getting easier, it may just go and get harder again.
But I think you're more able to deal with it. My MW told me to think about how you felt 2 or 3 weeks ago. If you're feeling better or the same then you're ok. It's only if you're feeling worse that you need to worry.

I'd say 12 weeks is when they start coming out of that newborn phase. I personally didn't start to feel human again until 18 months! The first year is a series of challenges and its easier from there, if you are lucky enough to have a happy healthy child. its tough and don't worry if you find it getting harder sometimes.