Week 4 With Your Newborn
One month in — you are doing something extraordinary
One month. You have kept a tiny human alive, loved, fed, and growing for an entire month — and that is no small feat. Week 4 is a milestone moment. Your baby is more awake, more aware, and more engaged with the world than ever before. The evening fussiness may feel like it has truly arrived in full force this week. And at the same time, you may catch your first glimpse of something that will stop you in your tracks: the beginning of a real, intentional smile. Hold onto that. It is everything.
Sleep in Week 4
What does sleep look like at one month?
Your baby still needs 14 to 17 hours of sleep per day, but the distribution is beginning to shift. Some babies start showing longer consolidated stretches at night — anywhere from 3 to 5 hours — while others are still waking every 2 to 3 hours. Both are completely normal at this age.
Why is the witching hour so intense this week?
The witching hour often peaks between weeks 4 and 6. Your baby’s nervous system is overwhelmed by a full day of stimulation, and by late afternoon, the system simply hits a wall. The fussiness is not a reflection of your parenting — it is a reflection of a rapidly developing brain doing its job. Common soothing strategies that help:
🤍 Skin-to-skin contact or a front-facing carrier
🤍 White noise at a consistent, moderate volume
🤍 Gentle rhythmic motion — rocking, swaying, or a short drive
🤍 Dimming lights and reducing stimulation before the witching window begins
🤍 Offering a feed, even if it hasn’t been long — cluster feeding in the evening is very common
Is it too early to start a bedtime routine?
Not at all — Week 4 is a wonderful time to begin one. A simple, short routine of 15 to 20 minutes — bath, lotion massage, dim lights, a feeding, and a snuggle — repeated at roughly the same time each evening begins to teach your baby’s body that sleep is coming. The groundwork you lay now pays off significantly in the weeks ahead.
Quick Tip: If your baby is having a particularly fussy witching hour, try moving their last nap of the day 30 minutes earlier. An overtired baby entering the evening window is significantly harder to soothe than one who arrives with a small sleep reserve still intact.
Feeding in Week 4
How has feeding changed at one month?
By Week 4, many babies are nursing more efficiently — sessions that once took 30–45 minutes may now feel complete in 10 to 15 minutes. This is not a sign that your milk supply has dropped. It is a sign that your baby has become a much more skilled feeder. Their latch is stronger and they are extracting milk more effectively with every session.
What is cluster feeding and is it still happening?
Yes — cluster feeding in the late afternoon and evening is extremely common in Week 4 and closely linked to the witching hour. Your baby may want to nurse every 30 to 60 minutes from around 4 p.m. onward. Rather than watching the clock, offer the breast whenever your baby shows interest during this window and trust that it won’t last forever.
What if I’m formula feeding or combination feeding?
At one month, a typical bottle feed is about 3 to 4 ounces per session, offered every 3 to 4 hours. For combination-feeding families, it’s completely fine to follow your baby’s hunger cues and offer breast or bottle based on your schedule and your baby’s needs. There is no single right way.
Quick Tip: If nursing sessions have shortened significantly this week and you’re worried about supply, track wet diapers and weight rather than session length. A baby with 6+ wet diapers per day and steady weight gain is getting plenty — regardless of how long they nurse.
Diaper Changes in Week 4
What’s normal for diapers at one month?
Wet diaper output remains a key indicator of good hydration — aim for 6 or more wet diapers per day. By Week 4, some breastfed babies begin to poop less frequently — sometimes only once every few days — while others continue multiple times daily. Both patterns are completely normal as long as stools are soft and baby is feeding and growing well.
When should I be concerned about diaper output?
Contact your pediatrician if you notice fewer than 6 wet diapers in 24 hours, stools that are hard or pellet-like, blood in the stool, or if your baby seems uncomfortable between bowel movements for more than a few days.
One-month checkup and first vaccinations
Many babies have their one-month well visit around this time, where your pediatrician checks weight, length, head circumference, and overall development. Some babies receive their first Hepatitis B vaccine at this visit. After any vaccination, it’s normal to see increased fussiness, extra sleepiness, or a mild fever for 24–48 hours. Extra snuggles, feeding on demand, and a calm environment are the best medicine.
Quick Tip: Bring your Baby Connect log or a simple notes page to the one-month checkup. Having a week’s worth of feeding times, sleep stretches, and diaper counts gives your pediatrician a much richer picture of how your baby is doing.
Baby Behaviors & Development in Week 4
Week 4 is where the magic really starts to show. Your baby is becoming a person — and you can feel it. Here’s what’s emerging this week:
The beginnings of a social smile
Around weeks 4–6, the first intentional social smiles begin to emerge — brief, fleeting, and completely life-changing. Unlike reflexive smiles of earlier weeks, these happen in response to your face, your voice, or your eye contact. If you haven’t seen one yet, keep watching — it’s coming, and it will be worth every sleepless night.
Longer periods of alert wakefulness
Your baby’s awake windows are stretching from 30–45 minutes to closer to 60–90 minutes by Week 4. During these alert periods, your baby is actively processing the world: watching faces, listening to voices, and beginning to track slow-moving objects with their eyes.
More deliberate vocalizations
Soft coos, little ah’s and oh’s, and varied throat sounds are becoming more frequent and intentional. Respond warmly every time, making eye contact and mirroring their sounds back to them. This early serve-and-return interaction is the foundation of language development.
Head control during tummy time
By Week 4, many babies can briefly lift their head 45 degrees during supervised tummy time — some even reaching 90 degrees momentarily. This is a beautiful sign of developing neck and core strength. Continue 2–3 short sessions daily.
Hands beginning to open
In the earliest weeks, your baby’s hands were mostly fisted. By Week 4, you’ll notice them beginning to open more, relax, and occasionally reach — a sign of neurological development progressing beautifully.
A Note from the TLNC Team
One month in — and you have made it through one of the most demanding seasons of new parenthood with so much love and dedication. The witching hour, the cluster feeding, the sleepless nights — none of it is easy, and the fact that you are still showing up, still reading, still learning makes you an extraordinary parent. Your personalized weekly care report captures how your baby is moving through this week — keep reading alongside this guide for the full picture.
The witching hour will pass. The fussiness will ease. And what remains — the smiles, the coos, the way your baby looks at you — that is only just beginning. We are so proud of you.
One whole month of feeding, soothing, learning, and loving. What’s permanent is the bond you are building, one feed, one snuggle, one witching-hour survival at a time. You are doing beautifully.
With warmth,
Roxanne Stinson & The Tender Luv Nu-Born Care Team