The Wonder Weeks: A Smart Start for a Happy Beginning

Everyone's perception is more beautiful if they know they're understood. This also applies, perhaps even more so, to babies, but understanding a baby is not that easy because their perception is so different from ours. With our knowledge, we hope to show you the perception of your baby so that you know what is going on inside their little head and that they feel understood and appreciated. It provides your baby with the opportunity to develop in their own special way and to reach their true potential. It's the foundation of a smart start for a happy beginning.

The Wonder Weeks: A Parent Traveler’s Guide

Before your baby is 20 months old, they make ten leaps in their mental development – ten crucial key periods called ‘Wonder Weeks.’ With each of these ten Wonder Weeks, a baby gets a totally new perception of the world. They are suddenly able to perceive things they couldn’t before. Suddenly, everything ‘changes.’ It’s as if they just woke up on a new planet where everything they knew had suddenly changed. So just imagine if this happened to you. You’d go to bed, and when you woke up, everything was different. What would you do? You would probably Cling to the only one you knew, Cry, and probably be a little Cranky too. Well, so is your baby. The Wonder Weeks is like a parent traveler’s guide, explaining every new world your baby will enter, when they will enter them, what they can do in this new world (their new abilities), and how you can help them discover this new world.

In the new chapter about sleep, we take you on a journey into the world of sleep. Sleep is essential for the development of your little child, and you need your sleep too. However, there are vast differences between your sleep and your baby’s sleep. Your baby sleeps for shorter periods of time than you do, spends much more time in the active sleep phase (REM sleep) and does not have a day and night routine (as yet) - and that's good! Yes, you read that correctly: Luckily your baby does not sleep through the night. The Wonder Weeks explains the most important ins and outs of your baby's sleep; not with an easy-fix sleep training program, but with love, dedication, understanding and time.

The Wonder Weeks: Ingredients

This book grows with your baby. You can compare your experiences with those of other parents during all stages of your baby’s development.

Each leap is discussed in a separate chapter and consists of four sections:

This Week’s Fussy Signs.

This first section describes the clues that your baby is about to make a developmental leap. Even though your baby can’t form the words to tell you what is going on, they are able to communicate quite a bit. Watch for these sometimes-subtle, sometimes-not-so-subtle clues that your baby is changing and about to leap into the next new world.

As the major changes in your baby affects them, they’re bound to have an effect on you as well. This books also describes the emotions you may feel as a parent or caregiver.

The Magical Leap Forward.

This second section in the book discusses the new abilities your baby will acquire during the current leap. In each case, it’s like a new world is opening up that’s full of observations they can make and skills they can acquire. If you watch your baby closely, you will be able to determine where their interests lie. As you mark off the things that they are showing you that they can do in this world, be aware of the uniqueness of your child.

What You Can Do to Help.

The section, ‘What You Can Do to Help,’ gives you suggestions for games, activities, and toys that are appropriate for each stage of development, which will increase your baby’s awareness and satisfaction—and enhance your playtime together.

The more your baby plays or experiments with a new skill, the more adept they will become. Practice makes perfect as far as babies are concerned, too. Your baby may want to try out a new skill over and over again. Although they will play and practice on their own, your participation and encouragement are vital.

After the Leap.

This section lets you know when you can expect your baby to become more independent and cheerful again. This is likely to be a delightful time for parents and babies when both can appreciate the newly acquired skills that equip the baby to learn about and enjoy their world.

However, this book is not just for reading…

My Diary.

You can keep a personal record of your baby’s interests and progress in the ‘My Diary’ sections provided throughout this book. They offer space for you to record your thoughts and comments on your child’s growth and budding personality so that you can easily turn this book into a diary of the development of your baby.

The Wonder Weeks: Awards

Over the years, The Wonder Weeks has been recommended by both professionals and doctors. But the best reward we get, almost daily, is from parents all over the world who write to us, telling us that they love The Wonder Weeks and how it helps them and their babies.