Week 8

Days 50 to 56 · 7 weeks 0 days to 7 weeks 6 days old · about 7 weeks This week many babies measure about 57 cm (22.5 in) and weigh roughly 5.1 kg (11.2 lb). Babies vary widely, and what matters is that your baby keeps to their own curve on the growth chart. Your baby is starting to make sounds on purpose, soft coos and gurgles that invite you to answer. Some babies begin to give their parents one slightly longer stretch of sleep at night. For you, the weeks after your postnatal check are a natural time to think about moving more and rebuilding your core. This week covers cooing, a simple bedtime routine, returning to exercise, abdominal separation, introducing a bottle to a breastfed baby, longer night sleep and what corrected age means for babies born early.

Day 50 · 7 weeks 0 days old

Coos and gurgles are your baby's first conversations

Until now, crying has been your baby's main way to make a sound. Around 6 to 8 weeks, many babies start to coo: soft, open vowel sounds like "ooh", "aah" and "eh", often with gurgles and little sighs. They tend to come when your baby is relaxed and looking at you.

Cooing is the very beginning of speech. Your baby is discovering what their mouth, tongue and breath can do, and they are learning that sounds bring a response. When you answer, and then pause for them to reply, you are teaching the rhythm of conversation: one speaks, the other listens, then they swap.

You do not need special words. Copy their sounds back to them, add a few of your own, describe what you are doing as you change a diaper. Higher, sing-song speech with stretched-out vowels, the way most adults talk to babies without thinking, catches their attention and helps them pick out the sounds of your language. If your family speaks more than one language, use whichever ones come naturally.

Babies start cooing at different times, and some are quieter than others. If your baby does not seem to react to loud sounds or voices, mention it to your baby's doctor or nurse.

Try this: At your next diaper change, wait for a coo, copy it back exactly, then pause and see whether your baby answers.

Day 51 · 7 weeks 1 day old

A gentle bedtime routine can start now

Your baby is too young to be trained into a sleep schedule, and that is not the aim. But many babies at around 6 to 8 weeks begin to notice patterns, and a short, predictable sequence before the longer night sleep can help their body learn that night is different from day.

Keep it simple and doable on your worst evening. A routine might be a warm bath or a wipe down, a fresh diaper, pyjamas or a sleep sack, a feed, a song or a few quiet words, then into the crib. The exact steps matter less than doing them in roughly the same order each night. Bath time does not have to happen every night.

Move the routine to a dim, quiet room, and keep your voice low and your movements slow. Avoid bright screens and lively play in the half hour beforehand. Bedtime at this age is often later than parents expect, sometimes 9 or 10 p.m., and it moves earlier over the coming months.

A routine will not stop night waking. Young babies still need feeds overnight. What it can do is give the evening a shape, for your baby and for you, and lay foundations for later on.

Try this: Choose three steps for your baby's bedtime, such as diaper, sleep sack and song, and do them in the same order every evening this week.

Day 52 · 7 weeks 2 days old

Moving again, one step at a time

Gentle walking and pelvic floor exercises can start in the first days after birth, as you read earlier. Somewhere around 6 to 8 weeks, once your care provider is happy with your healing, many people begin to build up to more. A caesarean birth, a significant tear or a hard recovery can mean waiting longer.

Start with low-impact activity: brisk walks with the stroller, swimming once bleeding has stopped, stationary cycling, postnatal yoga or Pilates. Over time, aim for about 150 minutes of moderate activity a week, in bouts as short as ten minutes.

High-impact exercise, such as running, jumping and heavy lifting, puts a lot of pressure on the pelvic floor. Many pelvic health experts suggest waiting until at least 12 weeks after the birth and building up gradually, once you can walk briskly, balance and do simple strength moves without symptoms. Exercise does not reduce milk supply. A well-fitting supportive bra helps, and some people feed or pump before a workout for comfort.

Call your care provider if you notice leaking, a feeling of heaviness or dragging in your vagina, pain in your pelvis, back or scar, or bleeding that returns or gets heavier during or after exercise. These are signs to slow down and get checked, ideally by a pelvic health physiotherapist.

Try this: Plan three 20-minute walks this week and put them in your calendar like appointments.

Day 53 · 7 weeks 3 days old

A gap in your belly muscles is common and often improves

During pregnancy, the two long bands of muscle down the front of your belly stretch apart to make room for your baby. This is called diastasis recti, or abdominal separation. It affects most people by the end of pregnancy, and many still have some separation at 6 to 8 weeks after the birth. For many, it narrows over the first months.

You can check yourself. Lie on your back with knees bent and feet flat. Place your fingertips across the middle of your belly, just above your belly button. Lift your head and shoulders slightly off the floor and feel for a gap or a soft dip between the muscles. Repeat below the belly button. A gap wider than about two finger widths, or a ridge that bulges up like a dome, is worth mentioning to your care provider.

What helps most is learning to engage your deep tummy muscles with your breath, then gradually adding strength exercises. Avoid straining, and roll onto your side to get up from lying down. Leave full sit-ups, crunches and heavy lifting until the deeper muscles are working well. The width of the gap matters less than how well the tissue supports you.

A pelvic health physiotherapist can assess the separation and give you a tailored program.

Try this: Do the self-check today, write down roughly how many fingers fit in the gap, and check again in a month.

Day 54 · 7 weeks 4 days old

Introducing a bottle to a breastfed baby

If you would like your breastfed baby to take a bottle sometimes, for a night off, an outing or a future return to work, now is often a good time to start. Breastfeeding is usually well established by about 4 to 6 weeks, and babies who meet a bottle in these weeks tend to accept it more easily than those introduced months later.

Choose a slow-flow nipple and use paced bottle feeding, as you read in the first two weeks, so your baby works for the milk the way they do at the breast. Offer it when your baby is calm and only a little hungry, not frantic. Many babies take a bottle more readily from someone other than the person who breastfeeds them, ideally with that parent out of the room.

Refusal is common at first. Try a different position, a different nipple shape, or milk warmed to body temperature. If it is not working, stop before anyone gets upset and try again another day. Once your baby accepts a bottle, offering one a few times a week helps them keep the skill.

Each time your baby has a bottle instead of a breastfeed, pump or hand express at about the same time to protect your supply and stay comfortable. For your partner: Take on the first bottle feeds. Hold your baby fairly upright, let them draw the nipple in themselves, and pause every so often so they can take breaks.

Day 55 · 7 weeks 5 days old

A longer stretch of night sleep may be coming

At this age, babies sleep a total of roughly 14 to 17 hours in 24, still in short pieces. But somewhere between 6 and 12 weeks, many begin to give one longer stretch at night, often the first sleep after bedtime. It might be four hours, sometimes five or six. Other babies keep waking every two or three hours for months, and that is normal too.

The change comes from your baby's body clock maturing. Their bodies start to make more of the sleep hormone melatonin in the evening, and daylight and darkness begin to shape their rhythm. Bright days and dark, quiet nights, as you read a few weeks ago, help this along.

If your baby is gaining weight well and your baby's doctor or nurse is happy, there is usually no need to wake them for a feed during the night. If your baby was born early, had a slow start with weight gain or has a health condition, ask before letting them sleep longer stretches.

Longer sleep does not change the rules of safe sleep. Your baby still belongs on their back, in their own crib or bassinet, in your room, with nothing loose around them.

Rather than using that long stretch for chores, try going to bed soon after your baby does.

Try this: Tonight, go to bed within half an hour of your baby's bedtime, and see how it feels tomorrow.

Day 56 · 7 weeks 6 days old

If your baby was born early, use their corrected age

Babies born before 37 weeks often reach milestones later than babies born at full term, simply because they have had less time to develop. To judge their progress fairly, doctors use corrected age, also called adjusted age. To work it out, take your baby's age from their birth date and subtract the number of weeks they were born early. A baby born 6 weeks early is 8 weeks old tomorrow, but their corrected age is 2 weeks. So it would be no surprise if that baby has not smiled socially yet. Most children catch up by around 2 years, when doctors usually stop correcting.

Corrected age is used for development: smiling, head control, rolling, sitting and so on. It is also used when deciding when to start solids. But vaccines are different. Babies born early are vaccinated by their actual age from birth, because they need protection as soon as possible. Your baby's growth may be plotted on a special chart, or on the standard chart using corrected age. It is easy to compare a premature baby with others born on the same day. Try to compare your baby only with their own progress from one month to the next.

Try this: If your baby was born early, write their corrected age next to their actual age on the inside cover of their health record, so it is ready for every appointment.