Those first three months are a free-for-all. Baby needs to eat every two to three hours, so you're not getting much sleep either. "It does get better," assures Dr. Altmann. "Most infants can sleep for six to eight hours by 3 months of age." In the meantime, try to get baby on a day and night schedule: during the day, don't let him snooze more than three hours without waking him to feed; at night let him sleep as long as he wants once he's regained the weight he lost at birth.
Stressed, tired, and lonely? Yes, those early days are hard. But they'll soon be behind you. Barbara Evans, of New York City, says, "I wish I'd known how quickly the time goes." The mom to Luella, 8 months, says, "I didn't take enough pictures or keep notes!" Rabeea Baloch, of Sugarland, Texas, shares some veteran-mom experience: "With my first, I stressed over every single thing, from changing diapers to whether baby was crying more than usual. With my second, I just enjoyed holding her, smelling her, kissing her, and loving the time together."
Touching the Soft Spots on Baby's Head
Despite cautions to the contrary, you shouldn?t be stressed if you happen to have touched these areas of Baby?s head. When you touch your baby's soft spots, known as the fontanels, you're not touching his brain. So what are you touching? A thick, very protective membrane. The soft spots exist so your baby can safely negotiate the narrow birth canal. Since his skull is flexible, your little one's downy head has already survived a pretty rough ride with no harm done.