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With all the instructions and techniques to be followed to ensure that your baby starts growing in the best way possible, you will have an infant that is healthy and brings happiness all around. And as you begin to believe that your baby is beginning to understand you, he will change all over again. The phase of approaching the 4 month mark is rife with multiple growth phases and developments that shape your child. It will be hot and cold and will be quite challenging at times.
A 15 Week-Old Baby’s Development
At the stage of around 15 weeks, your baby is still growing quite a lot. Many mothers receive advice to wean the baby away from feeding and begin solids. However, doctors highly recommend sticking to breastmilk since it still contains all the necessary nutrients and immunity boosters that are essential in keeping your child healthy. If you are undergoing a routine change for your own self, maybe beginning to work from home or take a part-time job, you can store your breastmilk and feed it later using a bottle.
Cognitive and memory abilities of your little one to start developing pretty well by now. He can understand that peek-a-boo does not really make you disappear but that still won’t take away from the fun of the game. If you are playing with his toy and manage to cover it using a blanket, he will understand that lifting the blanket will reveal the toy. If you have been calling your baby with a simple nickname for all this while, he might even start responding to it. Perceiving different emotions and tones of your voice will also make him understand about your own emotional state. So when you say “no” firmly in a loud voice, they may not understand what it means but they will understand that you are not happy and then stop doing what they were about to. The sight is now able to process all the colours and the world will be even more beautiful than before.
A 15 Week-Old Baby’s Milestones
- Your baby might be able to use his body weight and shift it in such a way that he can roll to the side or flat on the tummy. Some babies might still need a little nudge, but this is a strong sign to keep your baby in sight at all times.
- Your 15-week old baby weight gain will be quite on track and the feeding amount will be in sync with it.
- Turning around the head to look at something interesting, to follow your movements, or to respond to a sound will be even more frequent due to strong and developed neck muscles.
- The child’s vision will have developed by leaps and bounds and also, other senses will begin to merge together to form a cohesive sensory network. This will enable him to start recognising a flower, as well as understand what that flower might smell like.
- Looking at different colours, beginning to understand the differences in shapes, will all be signs of brain development.
- If your baby wants to sleep on a particular side, he might shift the toy with his hand, given the understanding that his limbs are useful in a variety of scenarios. However, these are mostly seen in environments that they are used to.
- Staring in the mirror becomes one of the favourite activities for a kid. He will begin to observe himself and understand how his limb actually moves when he moves it in a certain way. The body-eye coordination will get a boost.
- The call and response between you and your baby will further increase. Repeating the same sounds back to him tend to work as an affirmation, and your baby starts knowing if he has successfully communicated his need for food, or sleep, or just humming around.
Feeding
Over time, many mothers begin to hope that their 15-week old baby feeding patterns begin to get predictable for them. All these dreams shatter as your baby begins undergoing multiple changes in their behaviour as well as their growth. With the advanced development of cognition and communication, your baby, who might have been feeding appropriately at certain times, might suddenly want to play and eat at the same time. Or he would want to eat a little, then take a quick nap, before waking up again and finishing the meal. His curiosity and sense of wonder take over every other need of the time, and he would want to constantly consume as much information about him, and explore every aspect he can lay his eyes on. This can either cause a small feeding session to last for a long time, as your baby tends to feed a little, then get distracted by something, and then feed again. At other times, he may straight out refuse to feed or even spray out the milk that is being force fed, just to be able to suddenly play with his favourite toy.
Everything begins to aim towards satisfying the momentary urges and he may not have the patience to have the full meal that is necessary. By holding your baby in such a way that his sight is limited to you and nothing else, and sitting in an environment that is quiet and free from distraction, you can ensure that the feeding is completed properly. You can even hum to him while he feeds so he doesn’t get bored. This could also mean that you stay up at night, feeding your baby who doesn’t want to sleep at all but keep suckling intermittently on your breast. Any refusal of breast and he will break out crying. Same goes for babies who have been fed using bottles. They might refuse the bottle only to want it for some time again.
Sleeping
With your 15-week old baby sleep schedule being chucked out of the window, it is important that you devise other means to ensure you get the sleep that is needed, and so does the baby. If both seem to be comfortable, you might take him out of the crib and sleep with him on the same bed as yours. This is beneficial for both since any waking up in the middle of the night with hunger can be satisfied quickly by sliding the breast into his mouth, without the need to get up completely. If your baby refuses to sleep at night after the first feed, you can change the schedule a bit and give him a quick bath and massage. That can help him relax and put him in a deeper sleep, giving you more than forty winks. Do not hum his favourite song to him since that will get him excited and ready to interact. Hum another slow relaxing tune that he will associate with falling asleep. At times, taking your baby around in the pram for a small time at night can lull him into sleep as well. If your neighbourhood is noisy or has many distractions, avoid doing that.
A 15 Week-Old Baby’s Care Tips
- With a higher tendency of your baby to roll around, make sure he is always secure when leaving him unattended.
- Unless your baby can hold his head high, avoid letting him sleep on the stomach.
- Excessive drooling might not always indicate teething. But make sure the area of the mouth stays dry.
Tests and Vaccinations
Quite a few vaccines are already scheduled in the prior two weeks of the baby’s growth. If those have been administered properly and in a timely manner, no other vaccinations are necessitated in this week.
Games and Activities
Babies tend to observe a lot and learn from them. If you’ve been talking to your relatives and friends on the phone, they will begin to look at you and try to converse with you as well. Try to get a toy telephone if you can and give it to him. Every time you do that, hold your hand over your ear as if you are talking to him, and carry out those long conversations. If your baby begins to respond, kudos! You have successfully had your first fake telephone conversation with your own child. Most of the times they will make gurgling sounds or coos to give their validation.
The way their vision tracks bright objects such as a shining torch or a reflection, the same can be done by making use of shadow. Use a strong light against a plain wall and make various shapes using your hands. Those when accompanied by other sounds will start registering in your baby’s brain. Dog and cat sounds, making birds, can all be helpful since he can spot them later in a walk through the garden or the park.
When to Consult a Doctor
If your 15-week old baby fussy signs seem to increase and he is crying a lot while refusing to calm down, there might be something troubling him and would need to be examined by a doctor.
Most babies make an attempt to roll over by this age. If your baby doesn’t seem to show even a single sign of doing it, you might need to let your doctor know.
This is generally the age where most parents start talking about how their baby is growing up so quickly and showing all the signs of development. If your baby seems to not show as many, do not fret. Let him bloom on his own accord and be a unique human being in his own right.
