Coming down the other side
For most babies the crying curve is now bending downwards, and in its place: more smiling, more chatting, and the first hints of personality on display.
A more sociable baby
Smiles are usually flowing more freely now, and cooing is turning into little exchanges — sound, pause, your reply, their reply. This 'serve and return' is the developmental gold of the next few months.
Your baby recognises you at a distance and may greet you with whole-body wriggling. Enjoy being famous.
They're also becoming interested in the world beyond faces: high-contrast toys, ceiling fans, and the eternal mystery of the light fixture.
Crying eases, evenings soften
The average daily crying declines steadily from the 6-week peak, usually noticeably by 10–12 weeks. If your evenings are calming, that's the curve, not a fluke — and it's fine to take credit anyway.
If yours is a baby still crying at peak levels, hold on: some babies simply ride the curve later, and colic typically resolves by 3 to 5 months.
As crying recedes, you may spot clearer signals in its place — a tired grizzle distinct from a hungry one. You're both getting fluent in each other.
Sleep and rhythm
Night sleep often consolidates a little now — a longer first stretch for many babies — while daytime naps remain gloriously random. A loose rhythm of feed–play–sleep may start to emerge on its own.
It's still too early for strict routines or sleep training; at this age the kindest and most effective tools are watching wake windows and a simple, repeated wind-down.
Same-room, back-sleeping, clear-cot rules all still apply — and will until at least six months.
And you
As the crying eases, some parents suddenly feel the accumulated exhaustion they've been outrunning. Flat, teary, or oddly numb weeks after the birth still counts — postnatal depression can start any time in the first year, not just the first month.
Getting out of the house daily — even one lap of the block — measurably improves most parents' days. The baby doesn't care about the destination; the parent shouldn't either.
If you're in the UK, your health visitor remains your low-friction contact for absolutely anything; you don't need a 'good enough' reason to call.
Feeding at this stage
Pick how you're feeding — we'll remember for next time. Every one of these is a good way to feed a baby.
Breastfeeding
- Supply and demand are usually in smooth agreement by now — softer breasts than the early weeks means regulation, not loss of milk.
- Distracted feeding begins around this age — a quieter, dimmer room for feeds keeps meals from becoming sightseeing tours.
- Feeds may be quick now; a baby who finishes in ten minutes and thrives is efficient, not underfed.
Breast + expressed
- Output per session settling to a predictable level is a sign of regulation, like softer breasts — judge trends over a week, not single sessions.
- If returning to work is coming, practise the future rhythm now: which feeds will be pumped, where, and who gives the bottles.
- Keep an occasional bottle in the routine even if you're mostly at the breast — practised babies stay flexible.
Breast + formula
- Combination feeding is often at its most stable around now — supply has adjusted to your pattern, and switching between breast and bottle is routine for your baby.
- If you want to shift the ratio in either direction, one feed at a time over several days remains the gentle method.
- Both milks work for the distracted-feeder phase — calm, low-stimulation feeds help whichever is on the menu.
Formula
- Feeds are likely larger and further apart than a month ago — following appetite is still the whole method.
- Your baby may hold their own bottle-adjacent opinions now — pausing to look around mid-feed is developmental curiosity, not rejection.
- Still no need for anything but first infant formula — and if baby takes over 500ml a day, they don't need vitamin drops (formula already contains vitamin D).
Totally normal (even when it doesn't feel it)
- A baby who abruptly cries much less than before — the curve coming down can feel almost suspicious; it's the schedule working.
- Naps of 20 minutes and naps of 3 hours in the same week — daytime sleep organises itself much later than night sleep.
- Fewer poos than the newborn weeks — many babies' output spaces out around 2 months, and soft poo after several days is still normal for some.
- Sucking fists and drooling constantly — hand discovery, not necessarily hunger and almost certainly not teething yet.
- A bald patch on the back of the head from sleeping on their back — hair returns; safe sleep position stays.
- Post-vaccination grumpiness lingering a couple of days into this week — common after the 8-week set.
- Loving the sling and refusing the pram, or vice versa — babies have logistics preferences; it's allowed.
Worth checking
You know your baby best — if any of these ring true, or something just feels off, it's always OK to ask.
- Fever of 38°C (100.4°F) or above — under 3 months this remains an automatic same-day call to your GP or NHS 111 (UK); in the US, your pediatrician.
- No smiles at all by around 8–9 weeks, or a baby who doesn't respond to sounds or look at you — book the GP or raise with your health visitor; in the US, your pediatrician.
- Fast, laboured or pausing breathing, or a blue tinge to lips or tongue — call 999 (UK) or 911 (US).
- A baby suddenly crying inconsolably for hours when the pattern had settled, drawing knees up, with vomiting or blood/red-jelly stools — call 999 (UK) or 911 (US).
- Noticeably fewer wet nappies, sunken eyes or fontanelle, or listlessness — call your GP or 111 today; in the US, your pediatrician.
- One or both eyes still consistently crossed or turning most of the time — mention to your GP or health visitor; in the US, your pediatrician.
- Feeling persistently hopeless, anxious or detached from your baby — call your GP or health visitor this week; in the US, your OB or pediatrician can connect you to help. You deserve treatment, not endurance.