Congratulations! Your baby is 13 weeks old and by now you should be used to the idea of being a mother. Sleepless nights, trying to be everything for a baby whose whole world is you, breastfeeding your baby at random times during the day and night and cleaning its stool must have made you realize that being a mother is not easy. Now? But we know how much you love your little one. By this three months, you should have bonded with your baby. Your baby will learn a lot from you as it grows. You may start to see your or your partner`s marks more clearly in your baby than before.
Baby Development
Your baby`s social side will begin to develop as it understands how fun it can be to interact with others. It will be indispensable for it to make sounds and to have long conversations with its gurgles. Also, if it hears a sound it may turn its head to where the sound is coming from.
Babies love to be touched. In fact, they grow up with it. All this skin contact not only helps you and your baby bond but is also comforting when your baby is upset or irritable.
The sensation of a massage, being carried on your lap or kissed on the nose – these simple things are a powerful way to relax or engage your baby. It may even make it more alert and help it have a longer attention span.
Nurture your baby`s sense of touch by letting it feel different materials such as fleece, silk and towels. Your baby will likely try to eat everything, so choose carefully and don`t leave it alone with anything that might fall apart in its mouth. Also, look for "touch and feel" books that make reading a tactile experience.
Find a warm, flat surface to lay your baby on – a blanket on a carpeted floor is fine. Pour some baby oil into your palms and rub your hands together to warm the oil. Look into your baby`s eyes and talk or sing while giving the massage.
Milestones
By now, most of your baby`s senses should be equally developed. As a result of the growth spurt that occurs at 3 months, your baby may have better eyesight at this age. It will be able to focus better, begin to understand depth perception, and see how close or far something is. Shades of various colors will begin to become more vivid than before; may prefer some colors over others. Play some music in a corner; it may turn its head and begin to see where the sound is coming from. Use that lovely floral-scented baby lotion; When it smells it, you will see a cloud of awareness on its face.
Along with the senses, your baby`s limbs are also getting stronger as time goes on. This week is when your baby will realize that it has individually controllable fingers. Hand-eye coordination will be much better than before.
Discovering your own voice will also be a very interesting activity for your baby. Having long conversations with it and trying out different tones and modulations will keep it quite busy. It may cry when you hide while playing, then laughs satisfactorily when you show up. This gives it confidence that you will come back even if you leave. Many babies wake up early in the morning and if their stomachs are full they continue to lie around and stare at their feet while purring.
Nutrition
As patterns and routines begin to emerge, breastfeeding will become easier and more comfortable for both of you. It can even digest all the milk in your breast in 5 minutes. Its feeding will be more efficient and you will be able to better understand when it wants to eat and when it doesn`t.
As babies grow, they choose when to feed or not. There may be a certain timing when you need to feed your baby, but if your baby is full, it may sometimes refuse to feed. As long as it`s at a good weight, there`s nothing to worry about.
Sleep
While your baby is having growth spurts, you may need to feed it at odd times of the day and night. Breastfed babies need slightly more nighttime milk than bottle fed babies. The longest they can sleep without a break is 6-7 hours.
Routine Tips
By now you should have understood how the whole parenting, feeding and sleeping process works. After about 13 weeks with your baby, this is a good time for both of you to start a routine if you haven`t started yet. Some babies spontaneously enter into a predictable routine quite early in life. If your baby hasn`t, it`s time to start establishing a routine with it.
If your baby is feeding at long intervals, you can follow a schedule of 3 to 4 hours between each feeding during the day. Feeding-activity-sleep cycle. This routine should not depend on the clock, it should be created according to the needs and signs of your baby for 3 months, and should be revised according to the changing signs as the development progresses. This allows you to shape your own routine, get some rest, and feed and rest your baby well, too. Too many changes can bother the baby, so you should try to establish a routine for it. After a feeding, when it knows that the next feeding will be in a few hours, it can fall asleep without resistance. In the routine you set according to your baby`s habits, if it tends to sleep before it`s time to sleep, wake your baby up and complete the activity. It may take a few days to get used to this routine. After that it will understand the timings and start falling asleep accordingly.
Care Tips
- Take good care of your baby`s skin, making sure it isn`t too dry. Use moisturizers if dry skin persists.
- If your baby wakes up frequently at night, it may be malnourished during the day.
- If your baby wakes up before 30-45 minutes during the day, you may be misreading your baby`s signs and you may not be putting it to bed as soon as it shows signs of fatigue, or you may be keeping it up by going to it when it seems to wake up, before it has a chance to fall asleep again.
- If your baby is waking up more frequently and irregularly, while it used to sleep for 4-6 hours without interruption, it may be in a period of rapid growth (growth spurt) or may need to be fed more during the day.
- Take your baby to the park or garden, let it interact with other babies when you go for a morning or evening walk.
- Try to set a fixed schedule for all activities so your baby can look forward to them too.
Tests and Vaccines
No routine vaccines or tests for this week.
Plays and Activities
Your baby`s hearing is well developed. You can take your baby to the kitchen for a change of atmosphere and have him/her have a drumming session. Use utensils, plastic boxes, cardboard boxes, or anything else in a different material. Put them all in one place, take a small stick or ladle and gently tap each object to make a sound. Different sounds will interest and excite your baby. Start playing something musical and your baby may start clapping.
Babies love water and play with it. If you have a bathtub, fill it with warm water and gently place your baby in it. Make sure its head is always above the water. Spend some time figuring out how your baby`s hands and feet will splash water. After doing this, your bathroom will turn into a water park in no time.
When to Apply to The Doctor?
Around this week, babies suffer from thrush, an infection mostly associated with fungus. This manifests as white patches or patches on the inside of the mouth, including the cheeks and lips. This can also be passed on to the mother during breastfeeding and may hurt your nipples. If this is the case, consult your doctor.