Wonder Weeks are a time period in which your baby experiences a developmental leap. As parents its imperative you know and understand all there is about wonder weeks (for your mental health).
She’s crying again…for the third time today.. . and I don’t know why. She isn’t wet, she isn’t hungry, she isn’t scared/cold/hot/etc. She is almost inconsolable and just wants to cry into my shoulder. Minutes later, she is smiling…
I don’t recall when I first heard about Wonder Weeks, but I do remember what was happening in my life. Annabelle was started sleeping less, crying more, and acting strange. While complaining to fellow first time Mom about Annabelle’s behavior, Nikki asked if we were in a wonder week.
A wonder what?
After some research, I learned Wonder Weeks are the time period during which your little one goes through developmental changes. These changes are referred to as Mental Leaps.
“It’s not your imagination– all babies go through a difficult period around the same age. Research shows babies make ten major, predictable, age-linked changes – or leaps – during their first 20 months. During this time period, babies will learn an insane amount. With each leap comes a drastic change in your baby’s mental development. This also affects his mood, health, intelligence, sleeping patterns and the “three C’s” (crying, clinging and crankiness).”
Wonder Weeks can be purchased as a hard cover book or an eBook. I downloaded the Wonder Weeks eBook and started frantically reading the chapter describing Mental Leap 3 (which Annabelle was currently experiencing). Then I went back and read about Mental Leap 2, which Annabelle had experienced around 8 weeks. I couldn’t believe my eyes. Almost all of the skills the book described would appear at the end of her Leap were evident in Annabelle’s behavior. For example, at the end of Leap 2, A would be able to “hold her head up better, turn her head towards sounds, and make short explosive sounds with her voice.” I swear when she hit 10 weeks, all of those skills were mastered.
Fourth Mental Leap
Currently, Annabelle has just completed her fourth mental leap called Events. It started around 14 weeks and supposedly ends around 19 1/2 weeks. This leap was extremely difficult – for it lasted over a month. There was a lot of crying, clinging, and crankiness going on over here – and a lack of sleep (thank you four month sleep regression). However, the changes in Annabelle that we have noticed are amazing.
Clearly she is thrilled with her new skills!
Abilities Gained
Annabelle hardly misses when she tries to grasp something.
She puts my hand in her mouth.
Annabelle is busy with an activity center.
She reacts to a mirror image.
Annabelle responds to her name.
She notices animals, toys, items that she wants to put in her mouth – and she reaches for them!
With each mental leap, Annabelle becomes more of a little person. She becomes more active, more curious, and more exciting to watch. While I don’t look forward to the stormy behavior that accompanies each mental leap, I do anticipate the new little milestones she reaches!
This is amazing. I am learning so much about babies through your posts about Annabelle. Thanks friend!
I am so glad that you are reading them! Hopefully I can help out when its your time!
It helps to know you and/or your baby aren’t just going all out crazy, right? My baby didn’t follow the Wonder Weeks exactly but every so often her mood shifts would align. Interesting to read nonetheless.
I’ve read that all babies are different… and as to when they go through the mental leaps, it is all relevant to their due date, as well as a few weeks give or take. I think it is all pretty amazing though!
Haha. I woke up down today. You’ve chereed me up!
I downloaded the app after your reccomendation…. Thank you!
Your welcome! I hope it helps!
Wow, I had no idea this happened! The baby I nanny is a little bit older and she went through something like this about a month ago. It all makes sense!
I hope with all hope this event is about over for Victor, who is 20 weeks. He’s so clingy, cranky and tired. For the last four weeks, his crib will only do about 80% of the night. From 3-5 a.m. on, he acts like it’s some kind of torture chamber every time we try to lay him back down in it. So, back in the rock n’ play he goes, where he’ll sleep for hours.
But with all this, he suddenly decided he likes to stand. Before, he’d bear weight on his legs for a few seconds at a time, but now he just wants to stand, stand, stand and jump! I swear it happened overnight!
Annabelle is doing the same thing in her rock n play after about 5 hours… she sleeps 3, wakes up to eat, sleeps 2, then eats again, and can’t get comfortable. She kicks and does this back bend thing and freaks out until she gets to go in bed with me. Then she sleeps on her side next to me, looking like a tiny version of myself. It’s crazy!
So awesome that he is standing now! Isn’t it amazing how they can learn something new so quickly?
The four month sleep regression is real too – I don’t know how long it lasts (I’ll have to do some research), but I do know that when it is over, your baby will go back to “normal.”
This is a great post on the 4 month sleep regression that I read while up in the middle of the night with my 4mo. I send it to all my friends now. Hang in there mamas!
Duh, link: http://www.mannlymama.com/2012/12/wonder-week-19-aka-4-month-sleep-regression/
Wonder weeks are so spot on, its crazy! We went through the final wonder week about 2 months ago.. My son is now going through a tantrum stage and I don’t know what to do without my wonder weeks info!
I did find that the Wonder Weeks seem to be pretty on track with a lot of my son’s behavior. I don’t have the app or book, but have heard a lot about it and read up on it online. Every time my son starts acting not so much like himself or difficult, its usually a leap.
C has always been spot on with the wonder weeks! i heard about them when pregnant so we downloaded that app in the hospital and even now at 9 months i refer to it a lot!
I LOVE THAT APP! Beckett was super fussy for about a week & when I asked my fellow mommy friend about her baby, who’s like 2.5 months older than B, she told me about the app. I DL’ed it and sure enough – he was right in the middle of Leap 1. It’s even spot on based on his due date. Since he was a week and a half late, he hits the leaps about a week and a half before his actual age. It’s crazy how accurate that thing is.