Fourth trimester is a term for the first three months after your baby is born. Your newborn is adjusting to the sights, sounds, and feelings of a world outside the womb. Expect your baby to sleep, cry, and eat a lot during this period. You’ll go through significant physical and emotional changes in the fourth trimester, too. Give yourself time to adjust to parenthood and bond with your new baby.
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What is the fourth trimester?
You might have thought you were finished with fourth trimesters when you had your baby. But the word “trimester” can also be used to describe the first three months after birth, from day one to the day your baby turns 3 months old.
In the fourth trimester, your tiny newborn has just moved from the familiar comfort and noises of your warm, dark womb to a bright environment full of unsettling new sights, sounds, smells, and sensations, as well as shifting temperatures.
This period of adjustment to the world outside your womb is a time of enormous change and development. There’s so much for your little one to get started on, from refining and developing their senses and controlling their reflexes to learning how to interact with you and your partner.
The idea behind the fourth trimester comes from pediatrician and author Harvey Karp. In 2002, he postulated that human babies are born three months too early compared to other species. That earlier arrival allows their head to fit through the birth canal, but means that newborns aren’t ready for the world.
Dr. Karp suggests that parents recreate the nurturing sensation of the womb to soothe their newborn and help them adjust. You can do this by swaddling, rocking, and making shushing sounds to your baby.
The fourth trimester for your baby
Newborns have only their instincts and reflexes to control their behavior and movement. Some of their senses are still developing, and they have to start learning to interpret the sensory information that’s flooding in.
They can see, but their vision is blurred.
They can hear, but they can’t yet understand the meaning of the sounds they’re hearing.
They can feel, but the reassuring and snug comfort of the womb has been replaced by disconcerting open space.
Your baby’s brain is well developed at birth, but it’s far from mature. It’s like a sponge, soaking up everything that happens. The more the brain is stimulated at this stage, the more synapses (connections) will form. (Synapses are the pathways between brain cells that enable us to think.)
At some point in the fourth trimester, you’ll probably notice your baby:
- Breathing more steadily, startling less, and developing more controlled movements.
- Settling into more consistent sleep and feeding patterns.
- Learning to self-soothe.
- Interacting with family members or toys with greater attention and for longer periods of time.
By the end of your baby’s fourth trimester, you will have seen a remarkable physical, mental, and social transformation take place.
Here’s a snapshot of just a few of the important behaviors and abilities you can expect from your baby in the first three months when it comes to crying, sleeping, feeding, and beginning to move. To find out more about baby growth and development during the fourth trimester, read up on baby milestones month by month.
Crying
Your baby is likely to cry more during the fourth trimester than at any other time in their life.
Crying helps babies survive and thrive in various ways:
- It’s the closest thing they have to verbal communication, giving them a way to ask for help when they’re hungry or uncomfortable.
- It helps them block noises, visual stimulation, and other feelings that are too intense.
- It releases tension.
How you can help: The best way to deal with crying in these early months is to respond quickly. You can’t spoil your new baby by attending to their needs – in fact, this will help them feel more secure. And if you’re there to help when your baby needs it, according to the Pediatrics , they’ll probably cry less overall. Find out more about why babies cry and how to soothe them
Sometimes otherwise healthy babies cry more than expected, and for no apparent reason, which is called colic. In babies with colic, crying is a marathon. They cry for three or more hours a day on three or more days each week. The crying doesn’t have any obvious cause, like a wet diaper or hunger. And no matter what methods you try, you can’t console them.
While these unexplained bouts of extreme crying can be upsetting and frustrating, they’re usually nothing to worry about if your baby doesn’t have any other symptoms like a fever or rash. And the crying usually has an end date, tapering off by the end of the fourth trimester.
Sleeping
New babies sleep a lot, especially in the early weeks. Sleeping is good for them. It helps the brain process all the wonderful sensory stimulation they’re taking in from you and their environment when they’re awake. The youngest babies have little sense of day and night, and they rarely stay asleep for more than two to four hours at a time. Sleeping more at night instead of on and off around the clock is a new habit that takes time to learn.
By 6 to 8 weeks of age, babies typically start sleeping less during the day and more at night. But most babies will still wake up for middle-of-the-night feedings for some time to come, meaning no relief for sleep-deprived parents.To get the shut-eye you desperately need, check out these ways for new parents to get more sleep. Also find out how to cope when you’re nodding off and you need to be awake.
How you can help: Be patient. After the first couple of weeks, you can start teaching your baby the difference between day and night and gradually establish a reasonable sleep schedule. In the daytime, keep your home bright, active, and full of household noises. As evening falls, aim for calm activity, subdued light, and a dark room to sleep in.
Believe it or not, you can begin to establish a bedtime routine when your baby’s as young as 1 month old. For example, a simple routine might include a song, a bedtime book, and a kiss goodnight. Get more ideas for baby bedtime routines. Feel silly reading to your baby when they’re teeny-tiny? It’s not really as strange as it might seem. Your baby loves hearing your voice, and hearing words spoken is the beginning of language learning. Here are some baby-friendly board books to get you started.
Establishing a bedtime routine will help your baby relax before sleep. Feeding Newborns are too young for a feeding routine. They have tiny stomachs, so they eat (and by “eat” we mean “drink”) small amounts frequently.Gradually, as their tummy gets bigger, babies can take in more at each feeding and eat less often. If your baby suddenly seems hungrier than usual, they’re probably having a growth spurt.
Growth spurts will happen periodically. For example, babies typically have growth spurts around seven to 10 days after birth and between 3 and 6 weeks of age. Don’t be surprised if your little one spits up. Your baby is just learning to eat, and – considering how tiny they are – they’re swallowing and digesting a ton of nutrient-rich breast milk or formula. Your baby is bound to overflow from time to time.
How you can help: Feeding your baby on demand, also called responsive feeding, helps your baby feel secure. It’s the method the Pediatrics recommends, because it helps babies develop healthy eating habits and learn how to feed themselves. If you’re a nursing mom, it also helps your milk supply adjust to be in sync with your baby’s needs.
Formula feeding? Find out how much formula your baby needs. Mealtime isn’t just about feeding, of course. It’s also a great opportunity for cuddling, eye contact, and just being together. Physical development At birth, your baby is almost completely helpless physically. But babies start developing motor skills and muscles from day one.When placed on their tummy, babies naturally learn to lift their head, push up with their tiny arms, roll over, and so on – developing strength and coordination as they grow.
You can start tummy time in your baby’s first week of life, whenever your baby is awake.How you can help: Daily tummy time from the very beginning is hugely important for helping new babies develop their muscles so they can move in various ways, such as pushing up with their arms, raising their head, rolling in both directions, sitting up, crawling, and so on.
Tummy time should happen only when your baby is awake. (On their back is the safest sleeping position for babies younger than 12 months because it reduces the risk of SIDS.)Helping your baby through the fourth trimester. Every child is different. Some babies adapt more easily to the outside world than others, so experiment with these ideas to see what your little one seems to need and want. Swaddling: Safe swaddling gives babies the feeling of being snugly contained, the way they were in the womb. Make sure you know how to swaddle safely:
Learn these simple swaddling techniques.Massage: Most babies love gentle massage and other kinds of skin-to-skin contact. Massaging a baby is easy and relaxing for both of you. Baby wearing: Using a baby carrier (such as a sling, wrap, or front pack) creates physical closeness between you and your baby, strengthening your bond even as you go about your daily chores and errands. Wearing your baby mimics the gentle movement and snug comfort your baby experienced in the womb.
The fourth trimester for parents
The fourth trimester isn’t just a time of transition for your baby. Parents are learning, growing, and changing, too – both physically and emotionally. Physical recovery Growing and delivering a new human puts a mom’s body through a lot – and you’ll need the fourth trimester to recover. Give your body time to heal and adjust. Expect hormone fluctuations, soreness, and changes in areas like your belly and breasts for some time after you give birth.
Whether your pregnancy was a breeze or a challenge, your immediate postpartum recovery will take up to eight weeks, plus a few weeks longer to feel like your old self again. You may need even more time to recover from a difficult birth experience. Encourage the healing process by eating well, getting rest, and carving out time for yourself as much as possible while you care for your baby. Breastfeeding Learning to breastfeed is also a big adjustment for moms.
The experience is different for everyone. Some babies latch right on, while others need more encouragement. You’ll need to spend some time getting into sync with your baby’s eating schedule and learning their hunger cues.Early on, your breasts may feel painfully swollen or engorged with milk. In time, this problem will go away as your breasts adjust to produce the amount of milk your baby needs.
Once the swelling does subside, you might worry that it’s a sign of a dwindling milk supply. Yet the size of your breast has no relationship to the amount of milk you make. If your baby is growing normally and seems content at the end of each feeding, your supply is probably just fine.Your nipples will also adjust to breastfeeding. In the first week or two, they may crack or bleed.
You might try adjusting your baby’s latch or changing your nursing position, but if those techniques don’t help, ask your doctor, a nurse, or a lactation consultant for help.Breastfeeding newborns nurse every two to four hours, day and night. Those round-the-clock feedings can leave you feeling chronically sleep deprived. Follow the old adage, “sleep when your baby sleeps” as much as possible. And know that the feedings will gradually space out and lead to longer stretches of nighttime sleep as your baby grows.
Emotional adjustment Hormonal changes, coupled with anxiety and fears about caring for a new baby, can throw your emotions out of whack. Up to 80 percent of new parents have the mood swings, crying spells, and bouts of nervousness that experts term the baby blues. Those symptoms usually improve within a week or two.A smaller number of moms, and some dads, will experience postpartum depression.
Symptoms include feelings of sadness, loss of interest in activities, and trouble sleeping or sleeping too much – and they can stay with you for months after your baby is born.
It can take longer than you expected to build an attachment with your baby. While you might have expected to fall in love with your little one right away, that doesn’t always happen. Give yourself time to fall in love with your baby.If you still feel anxious, overwhelmed, or detached from your baby a couple of weeks after the birth, don’t keep it a secret. Tell your partner, family, and close friends, and talk to your healthcare provider about getting the support you need.
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