Chorevia

Day 14 of 60 · Week 2

Two weeks

Last reviewed · 3 min read · 18 sources · Plain-text version

A checkpoint, not a test: weight, jaundice, the cord stump, and the honest question about how you feel now that the blues should be lifting.

A mother sits on the edge of an unmade bed in gray morning light, holding her two-week-old at face level, eyes locked, while her partner's hand rests on her shoulder.

Two weeks. Today is a checkpoint for the baby, then an honest one for you.

Heart

Your baby already prefers faces. Within an hour of birth, newborns followed a moving face-like pattern farther than scrambled versions (Johnson et al., 1991). True social smiles usually arrive in the second month (AAP), so if you haven't had one yet, nothing is wrong.

Head

Two weeks is a marker for your feelings too. The baby blues are mild and short-lived, in the first 2 weeks (AAP). Feelings that are severe, or that last longer than 2 weeks, may be postpartum depression (NIMH). About 1 in 8 women report symptoms after a birth (CDC). Partners too: in a meta-analysis of 43 studies, about 10% of fathers had depression during pregnancy or the year after birth (Paulson & Bazemore, 2010).

It can be treated, and the AAP recommends a depression screen for mothers at the 1-, 2-, 4-, and 6-month visits (Earls et al., 2019). You don't have to wait for the screen.

Body

Most babies are back to birth weight by about 2 weeks, almost all by 3 weeks (AAP). In a study of more than 140,000 newborns, 14% born vaginally and 24% born by cesarean weren't back at 2 weeks (Paul et al., 2016).

Jaundice is usually gone by 2 weeks with formula and can last a month if breastfed. Tell your pediatrician if it lasts past 2 weeks (formula) or 4 weeks (breastfed) (AAP). The cord stump usually falls off by 1 to 2 weeks (AAP), and a few drops of blood on the diaper when it does are normal (AAP).

Try today

  1. On the edge of the unmade bed in gray morning light the mother holds her two-week-old ten inches from her face, making a slow wide-mouthed expression, the baby's eyes fixed on her.

    Face-to-face chats

    Time: A few minutes during a quiet, alert moment · Face-to-face chats in the guide

    1. Wait for a quiet, alert moment: eyes open, body calm.

    2. Hold your baby 8 to 12 inches from your face (AAP).

    3. Smile, talk softly, and make slow expressions.

    4. Pause and watch. Give your baby time to respond.

    Make it work:

    Looking away means "break, please." If your baby doesn't copy you, nothing is wrong.

Watch for

  • Normal: jaundice that's gone, or fading if breastfed. Call your pediatrician right away if yellow is deepening or spreading to the belly, arms, or legs, the whites of the eyes are yellow, or your baby is hard to wake (AAP).
  • Normal: steady wet diapers. Call your pediatrician right away if there are fewer than expected; 6 or more a day by days 5 to 7 is the goal for breastfed babies (AAP).
  • Normal: a stump that's off, or still hanging on. Call the same day for foul-smelling discharge or red skin around the base; call right away if it actively bleeds or redness spreads (AAP).
  • Trust your instincts. If your baby just doesn't seem right to you, call (Lurie Children's).

For you

In gray morning light the mother sits against the headboard, knees up, telling her partner something hard, his hand on her knee, the newborn asleep on their back in the bare bassinet beside the bed.

If the blues haven't lifted, today is the day to say so, to a partner, your OB, or your baby's pediatrician. Try: "I'm not sleeping even when the baby sleeps, and I feel numb. Is that normal?" If sadness lasts more than two weeks, go to the doctor; don't wait for the postpartum visit (Office on Women's Health). Call or text 1-833-TLC-MAMA (1-833-852-6262) or 988; in an emergency, call 911 (CDC).

Your body, two weeks on: after a C-section, the incision can stay tender for 3 weeks or more, and you shouldn't drive for at least 2 weeks or while on narcotic pain medicine (MedlinePlus). After a vaginal birth, red bleeding that returns after stopping for more than a few days is a call (MedlinePlus).

If you're the partner: ask her the question straight, and answer it for yourself too. That 10% includes you.

Sources

This guide is general education that summarizes published research and guidance from groups like the American Academy of Pediatrics, the CDC, and the WHO. It isn’t medical advice, and every child develops on their own timeline. Your pediatrician knows your child; if something feels wrong, call them. In an emergency, call 911.

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