Your 7 Week Old Baby: All The Changes To Look Out For

Seven weeks since your family and world grew a little bigger?

At 7 weeks old, babies are learning about the world every day and hitting some new baby development milestones. At this stage in development, your little one is growing and eating more and might be snoozing a bit less, but perhaps the most joyful newborn milestone is baby's first smile, which is due any time now.

Find out about the main milestones to expect in your 7-week-old baby's development with our information and helpful suggestions.

Follow your child's development further with our 10-week old-baby guide and our 11-week-old baby milestones too.

It's perfectly normal for your 7-week-old baby to sleep all day. Your baby needs to sleep for at least 14 hours a day, but may sleep for up to 17 hours.

At this stage of life, newborn infants haven't yet established their circadian rhythm, so their sleep is all over the place! They have no concept of night and day and don't associate nighttime with sleeping yet. 7-week-old infants tend to wake up every two to four hours for feeding and are only awake for up to 90 minutes at a time until they reach at least three months.

A typical 7-week-old baby schedule for sleep doesn't really exist, but you can start laying the groundwork for a future routine by keeping to a bedtime routine now. Bath, book, bed? While older babies can have a bath every night, infants this age don't need more than one bath every few days, as too much bathing can dry out their delicate skin. A typical bedtime routine for a 7-week-old could include giving them a baby massage with some baby lotion, putting them into a clean babygro, and reading them a short picture book before giving them a feed and putting them down to sleep.

Top Tips

1. Making the house bright when they wake up and dark when they go to bed helps develop their circadian rhythm.

2. Always put your baby on their back to sleep and make sure there are no objects in their crib other than a hard, flat mattress and their blanket or baby sleeping bag.

While your baby will be sleeping for most of the day at seven weeks, they might be waking constantly during the night for feeds at regular intervals. They may wake up or have trouble falling asleep at night because of colic. No one knows what exactly causes colic, and there are no proven cures. At least one in five infants suffers from colic during their first few months. It's common and parents can expect it to last only last a few weeks.

Top Tips

1. Ease symptoms by feeding your 7-week-old baby upright to prevent them from swallowing air.

2. Make sure to burp your little one to release any trapped wind that might cause discomfort.

3. Use white noise to soothe them and calm any crying.

What is a typical 7-week-old baby feeding schedule and how much milk should my baby have per day?

At seven weeks after birth, babies should be fed on demand. Breastfed babies can't overfeed so should drink as much milk as they need. An average 7-week-old baby might drink 24-32 oz (680-907 g) of formula or breast milk a day. A typical schedule would involve your baby waking every few hours to eat then falling back asleep again.

There is no average weight worth going by as every baby is different. Some babies are naturally smaller or larger and some are born premature, and these factors affect their weight by seven weeks. Babies should be weighed once a month, and you can track how they're growing against a growth chart to make sure they're following a healthy trajectory. When infants are sick with colds and other bugs their growth may slow down until their health improves.

Babies usually grow about an inch each month during their first six months and, on average, put on between 5-7.5 oz (141.7-212.6 g) of weight per week in their first three months after birth. If you think your 7-week-old baby isn't putting on enough weight, speak to your pediatrician, who might recommend a different formula or suggest you supplement breastfeeds with formula, if your baby isn't putting on weight with the breast. Sometimes due to hormonal imbalances, a mother might not produce enough milk for her infant. However, even if your doctor recommends starting your baby on formula, you should still breastfeed if you want to, as even tiny amounts of breast milk will be beneficial to your baby's health. If you are at all worried about your 7-week-old baby's weight or feeding don't hesitate to contact a doctor.

Babies at seven weeks don't poop a set number of times a day and might not even poop at all every day, as they did as a newborn when it was one full diaper after another. As long as poops are soft and not a struggle to pass, it can be normal for infants of this age to go roughly three days without pooping.

If you have a fussy 7-week-old baby, join the club. Babies at 7-weeks-old are notoriously fussy as colic can kick in around this age. They may also be crying more due to increased hunger. If your child is consistently fussy after breastfeeds it could be that something you are eating is causing a food intolerance in your baby. Dairy, for example, is often a suspect.

Sometimes a fast milk flow can also cause a baby to be fussy. You might suspect this as the cause if your little one coughs and splutters when at the breast. Your baby might also be fussy due to a slow milk flow. You can tell this is the case if your baby seems to be sucking more than swallowing. One way to help increase the flow is to gently squeeze your breast as your child is nursing.

Top Tips

1. Give your little one their bottle or breastfeed whenever they are hungry, not by a feeding schedule. If breastfeeding, feeding your baby this way will help keep your supply up, whereas going by a schedule could decrease your supply.

2. Don't try to get them to feed when they don't want to.

3. Weigh your baby once a month to make sure they are on the right track for weight gain.

Seven weeks old is the perfect time to introduce tummy time if you haven't already. Put your child down on their front for a few seconds at first and gradually work up to a few minutes of tummy time. Tummy time is great for developing your baby's upper body strength, helps develop your baby's neck and back muscles, and lets them practice lifting their heads up. Tummy time also gives little ones the opportunity to explore what's underneath them and see the world from a more independent viewpoint.

At seven weeks old babies love batting objects such as items dangling from mobiles, so think about getting some toys to hang over their cot or rocker if you haven't got some already. Such toys are also great for hand-eye coordination. A good game to try at this age is peek-a-boo, which generates endless smiles from your baby.

Reading simple board books to your baby is a great way to bond and develop your child's language understanding. Your 7-week-old baby will also love to hear you singing to them, and of course, lullabies are great for getting little ones to stop crying and drift off to sleep!

Top Tips

1. At this age your baby should be able to track an object moving horizontally, so play simple games such as holding a rattle out for them to reach for to encourage this.

2. The simplest pastimes such as tickling, singing, talking, and reading to your baby are all great for their development and your bonding.

3. Colorful and noisy toys are great for developing sensory skills.

4. Keep your baby under careful supervision while they are having tummy time as their muscles will still be weak at this stage. Make sure they don't fall asleep face down.

Your baby has keen senses and is developing them day by day. Another milestone to look out for is that at seven weeks your baby may turn to look at you if they hear you speak, which means they are developing their sight and sound coordination. They can see up to 24 in (61 cm) away from their face and can track objects moving horizontally, but won't be able to track vertical or diagonal movements yet. You can check how their tracking is developing by holding toys just out of reach for them to try and catch.

Eating a wide variety of foods, if breastfeeding, will stimulate their sense of taste as they will be able to detect the different flavors in your milk. You can also play a variety of music to stimulate their hearing.

Top Tips

1. Choose board picture books with textured inserts to stimulate your baby's sense of touch while reading together.

At seven weeks your child will be melting hearts with their newfound smiles. They will be able to recognize and distinguish between familiar faces and reward these beloved faces with a toothless grin.

You can help build your baby's communication and emotional development by talking and singing to them as much as possible and cuddling and holding them as much as you can. You can't spoil a baby by giving them too much affection, and the more physical contact they have with you now, the more securely attached they will be later on in their life.

Top Tips

1. Make cuddling and picking up your baby a priority for the whole family. Your baby needs physical affection to thrive, and the more they get, the better for their health.

2. Having fun with your baby and not worrying too much about doing all the right things at the right time is the best way to enjoy your time with them.

If you found this article helpful, why not take a look at our guide to 9-week-old baby developmental milestones or our sample 2-month-old schedules?

‍