Passing the Six-Week Milestone

From exercise and sex to baby smiles (and zits), the sixth week postpartum can be a big milestone for new moms.

By Meagan Francis

I can hardly believe it, but my baby, Clara, is over six weeks old. The time has gone by so fast I feel like I'd have missed it if I'd blinked--and though I spent plenty of time doing nothing but staring at her and soaking up her sweet baby goodness, I'm still feeling a bit of sadness. Her first month and a half, over already?



But as I pack away her tiniest clothing and mourn how quickly she lost her newborn-ness, I have to admit that there are a few great things about hitting the six-week milestone.

For one thing, the sixth week is when I can usually expect my milk supply to start getting in synch with my baby's appetite a little better. Up until then, I never know what to expect: one breast might be twice the size of the other.  Or one day the baby might seem to nurse frantically all day and never get enough milk and the next day there's so much milk that she chokes and gags when she nurses, milk streaming everywhere as though she'd put her mouth around the garden hose and then turned it on full force. 

Around six weeks many moms finally start to feel human again. Bleeding is usually done or almost gone, our body parts finally feel like they're back where they're supposed to be (more or less), we can start exercising again, and--if we're feeling really ambitious--having sex again. Of course, fluctuating hormone levels, nether regions that are possibly still sore, and the fact that we have a tiny creature subsisting from our bodies most of the day sometimes means we'd rather put that off for a while longer.

Another happy event that happens around six weeks is that babies finally get a personality. For the first month and a half or so, many babies spend most of their time with their eyes either gently closed (as they sleep) or screwed tightly shut (as they scream their heads off). Sure, you'd get some of those "quiet alert" moments, where your baby looks at you as if to say "How did I end up in the middle of this freak show?" but not a lot in the way of real interaction.

Around six weeks or so, though, it's pretty common for parents to suddenly notice their baby smiling with real purpose. Just when all the monotony of eating, pooping, and screaming makes you start fantasizing about handing the baby to your spouse and then escaping out the bathroom window, he suddenly looks right at you and gives a lopsided, squinty-eyed grin. And then you find yourself staring at him for the rest of the day, cooing, bouncing, making exaggerated faces and saying ridiculous things in a high, sing-songy voice, just hoping for a repeat performance.

But while you're staring at your baby you may notice some disturbing things going on. Because often, babies get really ragged-looking in their second month. Even previously baby-model-cute newborns often go through ugly phases, where their faces break out in zits and they lose their hair in a bizarre baby version of male pattern baldness. We're there with Clara right now, who looks like a cross between a male, middle-aged judge and a fourteen-year-old in need of some Proactiv solution, all wrapped up in the tiny, onesie-clad body of a baby.

Luckily, those smiles she's been giving me are so cute it's easy to look past her blotchy face and receding hairline. And I'm finally feeling good enough to strap her into the Ergo front pack and go for a nice long walk in the spring breeze.

I just hope she loses the rest of that hair and a few of those zits by the time we take her two-month photos.