What can your newborn do this week? Get a week-by-week guide to newborn development milestones for weeks 1-12, plus how each stage affects sleep and schedules.
The first time you have a newborn, you really spend a lot of time wondering what is normal and what to expect. Even if it is your third baby, you can wonder what is normal because every baby is different.
Newborns change really, really fast. One week your baby is a tiny sleeping burrito and a few weeks later she is looking at you smiling. They change fast! But you don’t know what to expect and what to worry about. Having something to reference for a week-by-week peek at what your newborn can do, what is coming next, and how each stage affects your eat/wake/sleep routine is super helpful.
Remember babies are not machines. There are ranges of what is normal, which is why even with a third baby, you don’t really know for sure what is normal and what is concerning. Always look at the ranges, but also always trust yourself. If something seems off, it never hurts to bring it up to the pediatrician.
If you have a baby who was born prematurely, remember to go off of your baby’s adjusted age for reaching milestones and not their exact age (I go into this more in How To Calculate Baby’s Age, so see that post for more details).
>>>Read: Your Babywise Baby: First Year Overview
Weeks 1-4: The Fourth Trimester
The first month of your baby’s life is all about transition. Your baby just left the only home she has ever known, and nearly everything she does is built around two jobs: eating and sleeping. If you feel like you are not doing much, you are doing just what a newborn needs. You will enjoy Surviving the Fourth Trimester for more on this.
Week 1: Reflexes and Recovery
In week one, your baby is running mostly on reflexes. Stroke her cheek and she will turn toward your finger and open her mouth (her rooting reflex). Put your finger in her palm and she will grip it surprisingly hard. Make a sudden noise or move her quickly and she will throw her arms out in a startle. None of this is intentional. It is all part of how her brain and body are wired.
Her vision is blurry beyond about 8-12 inches, which happens to be about the distance from your arms to your face. She is built to study you. She also already knows your voice, so talk to her even if it feels silly.
Most newborns lose a little weight in the first few days and then begin gaining it back, and many are back to birth weight by about two weeks. Sleepy feeders are very common this first week, so if you are fighting to keep your baby awake long enough for a full feeding, you are not alone. Read Keeping a Newborn Awake During Feedings for help.
Focus on recovery from birth for both mama and baby during this week.
>>>Read: Brinley Newborn Summary: Week One
Week 2: A Few More Alert Moments
Week two is often when you start to see tiny windows of calm alertness between the eating and sleeping. Your baby might look at a face or a high-contrast pattern for a few seconds before drifting off again. Her movements are still jerky and uncoordinated, and her hands stay mostly in fists, but she is slowly getting stronger.
Your baby will mostly still be quite sleepy this week, but will start to become more alert toward the end of this week.
>>>Read: Brinley Newborn Summary: Week Two
Week 3: Faces Become Fascinating
By week three, your baby is increasingly interestsed in faces, especially yours. She may hold your gaze for a few seconds at a time, and you might notice her calming when seh hears your voice. This is the very beginning of the social connection that will blossom over the next couple of months.
Many babies hit a first growth spurt somewhere around three to four weeks old, which can mean frequent hungry feeds that make you wonder if you have enough milk or if something is wrong. Usually nothing is wrong. Your baby is just doing her job. I have a whole guide to Baby Growth Spurts, so you know what to expect and how to keep your routine from falling apart.
You will likely start to see some fussiness this week, especially in the late afternoon or evening. The sleepiness of birth is wearing off and more “real life” is starting to happen. This might be the start of witching hour. Not every baby has witching hour. Some babies start witching hour at an older age.
>>>Read: Brinley Newborn Summary Week Three
Week 4: One Month Old
Happy one month! Your baby’s neck is still wobbly, so keep supporting that head. She may be able to lift it briefly during tummy time and turn it from side to side. She can follow a close, slow-moving object or your face with her eyes for a moment, and her cries are starting to sound a little different depending on whether she is hungry, tired, or just fed up. You are getting to know her language!
You omight also catch a fleeting smile. These early smiles are often reflexive, especailly in sleep, but they are so sweet that I say enjoy them anyway. If tummy tim is a battle at your house, I have a helpful post on how to do tummy time even if baby hates it.
>>>Read: Brinley Newborn Summary: Week 4
Weeks 5-8: Waking Up to the World
This is the stretch where I feel like babies really starst to show up. Awake time slowly gets a little longer and a lot more interesting. You are no longer just feeding a sleepy bundle. You are starting to get a baby who looks back at you.
Week 5: Longer, Calmer Stretches Awake
In week five, many babies have more awake time taht is actually enjoyable. She may hold eye contact longer, track your face as you move across the room, and look at a toy or a pattern with real interest. Her arm and leg movements are still wiggling and random, but they are slowly smoothing out.
Babies at this age are still very easily stimulated, so short and sweet is the rule. A few minuts of face-to-face talking or looking at a black-and-white card can be plenty before it is time to sleep again. If you want help reading her signals, Understanding Newborn Cues breaks down the overtired, hungry, gassy, and overstimulated versions of “I am done.”
I recommend you start independent playtime at this age if you haven’t started it already!
Babywise Milestone to Look For: Baby might be able to do 2.5-3.5 flexible schedule. Baby might not be ready for this until 8 weeks or older, though.
>>>Read: Brinley Newborn Summary: Week 5
Week 6: The Big Smile (and the Crying Peak)
Week six is a bit of a roller coaster. On the bright side, this si often when the real social smile arrives, the one taht is a response to your rather than a reflex. If you talk or smile at your baby and she smiles back, you will forget every sleepless night for about thirty seconds. It is best.
On the harder side, crying tends to peak around six weeks, and it often gets worse in the evening before it gets better. Some babise also have another growth spurt around this time. I know it is hard to believe when you are in the thick of it, but truly does get better. Both 9 Reasons Newborns Cry and How to Help and Newborn Soothing Methods are good to have bookmarked this weekend.
Babywise Milestone to Look For: Baby can be allowed to sleep longer stretches at night. 7-8 hours is okay.
>>>Read: Brinley Newborn Summary: Week 6
Week 7: Cooing and Conversation
This is the week I love for sound. Your baby may start making little vowel sounds and gurgles that ar edefinitely not crying, almost liek she is trying to join the conversation. When you talk to her and then pause,she may even “answer.” Respond ot every coo and have a conversation with her. You are teaching her that communication goes both ways.
Her hands may also start opening more often instead of staying clenched, and she might calm down when you pick her up and spseak to her. It is also a great week to introduce simple play. Our Best Toys for Baby: Ages 0-3 Months post has ideas that actually work for this age.
Babywise Milestone to Look For: Baby might start sleeping 7-8 hours at this age. Many babies do not do this until older, though. This would mean your baby does not have a night feeding after the dreamfeed.
>>>Read: Brinley Newborn Summary: Week 7
Week 8: Two Months Old
Two months is the first age where the CDC has an official milestone checklist, and it is a helpful snapshot of how far your baby has come. According to the CDC’s milestones for 2 months, most babies by this age calm down when you speak to them or pick them up, look at your face, smile when you talk or smile at them, and make sounds other than crying. They also react to loud sounds, watch you as you move, look at a toy for several seconds, and move both arms and both legs.
If your baby is not doing every one of thoes things on the exact day she turns eight weeks old, please do not panic. The CDC descripes milestones as the most babies can do by a certain age,and every baby has her own timing. What matters most is the overall direction, which is forward. if you have concerns, bring them to your pediatrician at your next visit.
Babywise Milestone to Look For: Baby might be ready to drop to 6 feedings in a 24 hour period. Most babies will no longer be sleepy during feedings and are easier to keep awake. Some do this younger.
>>> Read: Brinley Newborn Summary: Week 8
Weeks 9-12: Hello Little Personality
By the end of the fisrst three months, you are no longer parenting a “newborn” so much as a tiny person with opinions. Her strength, her coordination, and her sleep are all taking a leap.
Week 9: Stronger on Tummy Time
Around week nine, tummy time often starts to pay off. Your baby may be pushing up a little on her arms, holding her head up for longer, and looking around from taht new view. Her neck is stronger, and you can see her woring hard at it. Keep tummy time short, supervised, and while she is awake, and build up gradually.
She is also becoming more intersted in her own hands. You may cathc her staring at them, or bringing them toward her mouth, and taht is a very good thing. She si learning that those things belong her to her.
Babywise Milestone to Look For: Baby might be ready to drop the dreamfeed. The range is 9-15 weeks, and yes, many times baby is older than that. Baby also might be able to go 9-10 hours at night between feedings if breastfed. If bottle-fed, it can go up to 11. Keep mind many babies are still not at 7-8 hours at night yet. 2-3 month old babies might wake up in the 5 AM hour and talk to themselves for a while before falling back to sleep.
>>>Read: Brinley Newborn Summary: Week 9
Week 10: Reaching and Batting
Week ten is when many babies start swiping toward dangling toys, even if they rarely connect yet. She si learning cause and effect: I move, and something happens. A baby play mat or a toy held just within reach is perfect for this stage. She is also getting better at following you with her eyes as you walk across the room, and she may squeal or vocalize more when seh is excited.
Her awake windows are probably stretching, too, and that si where your Babywise Routine starts to feel easier. A baby who can handle a little more waketime is a baby who often takes fuller feedings and long naps. If you want to review the basics, Wake Time Length (Wake Windows) is the place to start.
>>>Read: Brinley Newborn Summary: Week 10
Week 11: Smoother Movements and More Giggles
By week eleven, your baby’s movements are smoother and more purposeful. She may hold her head steadier when you hold her upright, kick with more energy, and have longer stretches of happy, alert play. You may even catch a gurgly, breathy almost-laugh. Real belly laughs usually comes a bit later, but these early sounds are a preview.
Many babies also begin stringing together longer stretches of night sleep arond this time, though every baby is different. If you are workign on nights, my post on Baby Nighttime Sleep Guidelines: 9-15 Weeks Old is a good one to read now.
>>>Read: Brinley Newborn Summary: Week 11
Week 12: Three Months Old
You made it through the fourth trimester! At twelve weeks, your bay is typically more setteld, more predictable, and a whole lot more fun. She is likely smiling easily, cooing back and forth with you, watching you across the room, and holding her head up more steadily. Many babies are also starting to get glimpses of their own personality, whether that is serious and observant or sunny and chatty.
Some babies have one more growth spurt around the three month mark, so don’t be surprised if feedings temporarily ramp up again. You are also getting closer to the next big checkpoint, the CDC’s four-month milestones.
>>>Read: Brinley Newborn Summary: Week 12
How Milestones Connect to Sleep and Schedules
Here is something I have noticed with my babies and with helping parents with their babies for two decades. Development and sleep are linked together. When a baby is growing in alertness, she can handle more waketime. When she is going through a growth spurt, she will need either extra feedings or more food at each feeding. When she is learning a new skill, she may be a little more wakeful or fussy for a few days. She might not sleep well. Almost every bad sleep week I have had with a newborn had a developmental reason behind it.
That is why I love the eat/wake/sleep cycle so much for newborns. It gives your baby a predictable rhythm to grow inside of, and it gives you a way to see what is happening. If naps suddenly get short or your baby starts waking more at night, ask yourself whether a growth spurt or new skill might be the culprit before assuming something is broken. A short stretch of disruption is normal. A consistent routine is what helps you get back on track.
If you are new to this, check out these posts:
- How to Successfully Do “Babywise Sleep Solutions”
- Newborn Sleep Patterns
- Babywise Sample Schedules: The First Month
When to Talk to Your Pediatrician
Milestone lists are meant to be a guide, not a source of worry. That said, I never want a mom to sit on a concern. Talk to your pediatrician if your baby is not meeting several of the milestones for her age, if she seems to have lost a skill she once had, or if something just feels off to you. The CDC encourages parents to speak up early, share concerns with their child’s doctor, and ask about developmental screening.
Also, call your doctor if your baby is under three months and has a fever, if she is very hard to wake, if she is feeding poorly, or if she seems unusually floppy or unwell. Newborns can get sick quickly, and it is always better to call.
>>>Read: Your Newborn’s Body: A Calm Guide to the Things That Scare New Parents Most
Conclusion
The newborn months can really be exhausting physically and emotionally. A week suddenly feels like a month. Some days feel like you are barely hanging on. Other days your baby will smile at you, and your heart will explode. Both are normal, and both are part of becoming her mom. Keep feeding, keep loving, keep watching her, and keep your routine simple. Your baby is growing exactly the way she is supposed to, one tiny milestone at a time.
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