What does/did your 4 week old do?

[SundayTwizzle]

Mine just seems to never want to be off my boob, especially in the evenings. She sleeps fairly well at night but the day times seem to just be her wanting to be fed until she falls asleep, then she needs changing which unsettles her so she demands to be fed again. We have tried tummy time with her but that seems to unsettle her to so she ends up back feeding.

My baby book says she should be interested in looking at faces and high contrast patterns by now but she just isnt - she is interested in milk and that seems to be it. I dont know what I'm doing wrong

Does anyone else have a 4 week old right now? What are they like?

My 4 week old fed, slept, cried and shat on repeat. She rarely had her eyes open for more than 15 minutes at a time. We didn't start tummy time until she was at least 8 weeks old (she got slightly distressed and, being my PFB, I thought I was going to break her).

Please don't start worrying about milestones or the "should be" stuff - not this early, and preferably not at all. It'll drive you mad! Just enjoy the peaceful bits, try to hang on for the hard bits, and remember that this stage lasts for barely a second.

Congratulations!

Mine did nothing expect sleep, feed and fill nappies! We’d no tummy time (expect for the 80% of the day they spent cuddling on my chest) until 8 to 12 weeks

I remember taking DD2 out to a museum with Dd1 when DD2 was 5 weeks. Obviously DD2 was in the pram. She literally slept for 5.5hrs straight until I woke her up to feed her. I remember being amazed, as prior to that she’d spent all day fussing at the boob and grizzling. And definitely not allowing me to do anything focussed with Dd1. Not sure if that helps but hope it does! They basically just sleep and feed.

My mum, when I said to her that my baby wasn't doing the things listed in my baby book, said "well, he hasn't read the book has he?". 4 weeks old is so so so tiny still - all your baby needs at that very young age is to eat, sleep and poo. As long as that's going on then all is well I'd say.

Your baby is probably just going through a growth spurt. Give her what she wants. As long as she is eating, sleeping and filling her nappies then no need to worry. All is as it should be.

Sleep and feed. That's all mine did.

You mentioned in the evening she really wants milk. Both mine did this. They cried and fed constantly from 7pm to 9:30pm. On the dot, every night. It's called witching hours and totally normal. It tends to peak at around 9 weeks and ease from about 12.

I found with both it was easier to deal with when I knew it was coming. I'd eat before it started and then settle down on the sofa until I took them to bed with me at 10.

Don't worry about tummy time either. Mine hated it and it really isn't that important.

Do you have a book called your baby week by week? I found that super useful as it was more 'might do this' rather than 'should do this' and focused a bit more on the actual taking care of baby at those ages.

You are doing nothing wrong. My baby at that age seemed glued to my bosom.

Babies might do all sorts of things on schedule but most likely not. Children ditto. Nothing at all to worry about I dont think. Just try and enjoy the gorgeous cuteness that is a 4 week old (when they arent wailing at 3am of course!)

Enjoy it while it lasts? (how I miss the 2-hour daysleeps) You'll be exhausted once he/she starts actually takes an interest in stuff. And especially once they start crawling or walking and need constant supervision.

And do try not to obsess about milestones. We're all individual, if the health visitor(s) say all seems well enough then you can probably go with that for now.

4 week olds don’t do very much apart from eat, sleep, poo and wee.

Sleep.
Shit.
Suckle.

Repeat.

Echoing what everyone else has said above. Mine would show a little interest in some sensory toys that my friend gave me for all of.. maybe 2minutes, occasionally. Then we'd go back to eat and sleep during the day and more feeding at night. I think the cluster feeding in an evening started to ease up around week 4 for us but fussy evenings continued until about week 6. I used to get a lot of anxiety in the lead up to an evening as I found the cluster feeding so draining at the time but the trade off was always that she slept well. But it does soon pass - my baby is 10 weeks now and I already wish I could go back to those early days again. Enjoy it as much as you can 🙂

You’re not doing anything wrong but you are being a perfect parent responding to her needs. There is a whole lot for a 4 week old to get used to, temperature changes, sounds, smells etc it’s exhausting for them. Sleep, food and the comfort of having you close by are the top priorities for now. The rest will come