Lack of sleep, confusion over feeding and tearful evenings will quite rightly have you wondering: When do babies get easier?
Those early weeks are a steep learning curve and with a newborn there’s not much consistency as you lurch from one nap to the next.
But the good news is that most babies do get easier at around four months of age.
This is the stage when babies who go through fussy, unsettled evenings tend to be easier to put to bed, you feel more confident in what you’re doing as a parent and your baby may sleep for longer spells too.
If you have questions about how and when life with a baby gets easier, read on for tips and advice for new parents.
When does it get easier after having a baby?
When your baby gets easier can depend on a number of factors, but most parents find their baby becomes easier at around four to five months.
At this stage the so-called fourth trimester – the three months after baby is born – is over and your newborn and you have had time to adjust.
Some babies – not all – go through a sleep regression at around four months. This can cause disruption to your baby’s sleep but typically lasts just a few days or couple of weeks.
Four months is a stage where a number of pain points start to ease at the same time:
Baby sleeps for longer spells
A newborn baby needs to feed little and often. Although in the first few days of life they may sleep lengthy periods, after that first week you may find your baby wakes three to four times at night for a feed.
Once your baby reaches four months it is likely they will be sleeping for between six and eight hours straight at night.
While that doesn’t necessarily gift you with a full 12 hours so you can have an evening together and sleep well, it does make it much easier than the three hour spells a newborn may have.
At this stage you may have also formulated a perfect bedtime routine for baby that helps soothe them to sleep.
You may have a schedule
There’s a constant debate among parents about whether you need a schedule or routine with a baby and the truth is there are no right answers.
Some parents find a rigid schedule works really well for them as it gives them a clear timeline of what to expect every day. Others find that too demanding and prefer to take each day as it comes so they can fit different activities in each day.
Whatever your opinion on a routine, by the time your baby is four months old it’s likely to have a very rough rhythm in place that lets you know what your baby needs next. Once you can predict what they may need next, this makes life with a baby so much easier!
For example if you’ve been out of the house for an hour or two and your baby hasn’t slept, you may know that it would be sensible to put your baby down for a nap.
Or if it’s been three hours since your baby last fed then you will probably go to feed them without really having to think about it much.
It’s that instinct regarding your baby’s needs and timing that just comes with giving yourself a few weeks to settle into this new life!
Baby is less fussy in the evenings
Many babies go through a phase of being very fussy in the late afternoons and early evenings – both of mine did! Your baby may be very difficult to settle, and cry almost inconsolably, over the course of several hours.
This is sometimes referred to as the Witching Hour or PURPLE crying. It starts at around two weeks and ends at three to four months.
Whatever you call it, this phase is exhausting and you won’t be sad to say farewell to it!
You have adjusted
Even if you read every single parenting book going ahead of your due date, chances are your baby’s arrival surprised you in some way.
It could be the lack of sleep, or it could be that you’ve struggled with confidence about what your baby actually needs and when.
Whatever it is, by four months you’ve likely hit some kind of stride and have gotten used to things like your baby’s different cries.
Those weeks have also give you a chance to recover from the birth and hopefully found a nap schedule in the day that gives you time for some rest.
Do babies get easier at 3 months?
Some babies do get easier at three months as this is a stage where many may begin to sleep for longer spells.
However in my experience it was at four months that I really felt like I relaxed with my babies and felt like I had an idea of what I was doing.
Do babies get easier at 6 months?
Yes you will notice your baby getting easier at six months because they’re likely to be managing eight to nine hours sleep at night. Some may even sleep 11 to 12 hours – so all through the night!
But six months also brings about some changes – the biggest one being weaning!
Just before your baby started weaning you may well find yourself in a decent rhythm where you know when your baby wants a bottle or breastfeed and they have regular naps.
However trying to add solid food into the mix means that routine gets a little shake up.
Your baby’s sleeping patterns may change also as you introduce solid foods – and their dirty nappies get a little messier too.
But this is just another phase for you to adapt to and once your reach around nine to 10 months then you’ll likely have your baby eating some solids three times a day.
When do babies get easier?
As you can see most parents will find their babies much easier at around four months.
However throughout your baby’s development and looking ahead to their toddler years and beyond, new challenges do crop up with each milestone.
That could be weaning, sleep regressions, learning new skills like rolling over and crawling, or dropping naps, which are all things that can unsettle your daily routine.
Much of what makes parenting easier is your own resilience and how you cope with the challenges of parenting.
That’s not to say that you stop finding parenting difficult, but that you try to roll with the punches and little and accept the ups and downs of this crazy rollercoaster of raising babies!
For me I always felt life with a baby much easier when I had managed to grab a reasonable chunk of sleep. You could facilitate that by getting help from your partner or relatives.
Getting proper rest can do absolute wonders for your mindset and help you cope with all of the challenges of caring for your little one.
