Wondering how to survive those wonder weeks!

 

Source: thewonderweeks.com

Ah those wondrous wonder weeks! Just when you think you have parenting figured out, a wonder week comes by and suddenly your sweet little 'schedule-following' baby goes haywire and you come close to accepting the fact that you may never get to sleep ever again.

I first learnt about wonder weeks at around the 5-6 weeks mark when the babybub refused to sleep at all for a couple of nights.
I was going mad at this point due to the lack of sleep and my mother-in-law and I fretted as we took turns cat napping and trying to coax the baby to go to sleep for the love of all things holy. I would nurse the baby and then we cradled her, rocked her, walked around, gave her a warm bath, created a sleepy environment, sang lullabies, prayed, begged, pleaded and tried every possible method.

The few times she did fall asleep, she would wake up the minute we put her down in the crib as if we placed her on a bed of needles.
And it was in that mind zombified state that I turned to the great wise master for answers and as always, google did not disappoint me! I stumbled across wonder weeks in a mum forum and suddenly everything made sense.

Wonder weeks are where your baby is going through developmental growth spurts and the energy and effort going into these developments and leaps causes them to go a bit off track from their regular schedules.
For example, my baby was in the midst of learning a new skill last week and I can't even explain the havoc it caused. Her nap schedule changed, she woke up a bazillion times in the night (because her little brain is so fired up, eager and engaged with learning and practicing this new skill) and it was utter sleepless madness for everyone involved.

Funnily it also coincided with wonder weeks for some of my other mummy friends and as we all cried about our wide awake kids and tried to support each other at 4 a.m. we got to discussing wonder weeks and what new leaps our kids were taking.

My guide to getting through wonder weeks are;

1. Educate yourself. Arm yourself with knowledge so that you are not left clueless and crying in the bathroom. Read up and learn more about what your baby is going through and try to help her adjust. Know when exactly you should expect a wonder week and be prepared for it.

2. Brace yourself. Be mentally & physically prepared for a couple of rough nights. Get a good book, some chocolate, snacks, a drink or two and try to make your sleeplessness as less miserable as possible.

3. Get help. From your husband, mother, your in laws, sister, your friend or anyone else willing to stay up with you or switch shifts with you so that you get some sleep in.


It might seem like your baby will never sleep ever again, but give it a couple of nights and you'll have your sweet baby back and she would have probably learnt a new skill that will  get you smiling and thinking that it was all worth it.

Good luck to all the mamma's going through the wonderful wonder weeks!
xx