Watch for the smile
Somewhere around now, many parents get paid: the first real, sociable smile. Crying is still heavy going for many babies — the two facts coexist, oddly enough.
The first smile (maybe)
Many babies produce their first genuine social smile — aimed at you, in response to you — somewhere around five to eight weeks. Earlier fleeting smiles in sleep were reflexes; this one has intent.
If it hasn't happened yet, that's common and usually fine. It's one of the things looked at around the 8-week review (UK) or 2-month well-visit (US), so there's a natural checkpoint coming.
You can invite smiles by getting your face close (20–30cm), smiling, and talking in that sing-song voice adults produce automatically. Babies are wired to prefer exactly that.
First conversations
Cooing — those small round vowel sounds — often starts around six to eight weeks, with throaty gurgles alongside. When your baby makes a sound, answer it and pause; you're teaching turn-taking, the skeleton of all conversation.
Your baby increasingly turns towards sounds and studies faces at close range. They may recognise you at a bit of a distance now.
Narrating your day sounds silly and works brilliantly: 'Now we're putting the kettle on…' is early language teaching, free of charge.
Sleep and the long game
Some babies begin stretching one night sleep a little longer around now; plenty don't. Both are normal at five weeks, and it isn't something you can force.
Keep naps and nights on their back in the clear cot, in your room — the same-room advice runs to at least six months.
Overtiredness makes evening crying worse, and five-week-olds can often only manage about an hour to ninety minutes awake before needing sleep again. Watching wake windows loosely can shave the edge off the witching hour.
And you
Take stock of your own fortnight: if most days have felt dark rather than just hard — persistent sadness, no pleasure in anything, withdrawing from people, feeling worthless — that pattern lasting over two weeks is the marker for postnatal depression, and your GP or health visitor can actually help.
Anxiety counts too: constant dread, a racing mind that won't let you sleep even when the baby sleeps, or intrusive scary thoughts. These are common, treatable, and nothing to be ashamed of.
Partners: around 1 in 10 of you develop depression in this first year as well. The checks and the compassion apply to you too.
Feeding at this stage
Pick how you're feeding — we'll remember for next time. Every one of these is a good way to feed a baby.
Breastfeeding
- Feeding is often becoming more predictable in daylight hours, with the evening still busy — that shape is typical for weeks yet.
- Some babies start feeding faster and popping off sooner; efficiency, not rejection.
- Fussy, pull-off-and-cry evening feeds are usually about tiredness and the crying peak, not your supply drying up.
- Still going with vitamin D drops — easily forgotten around week five, easily restarted.
Breast + expressed
- If your baby now takes a bottle of expressed milk happily, keeping it regular (a few times a week) helps them stay practised.
- Pumping output per session often looks smaller than what a baby takes — babies are simply better at it than pumps; judge supply by your baby, not the bottle.
- If exclusively expressing is your route, around 6–8 sessions in 24 hours typically maintains supply now — and dropping the overnight pump too early is the classic supply trap.
Breast + formula
- By now combination routines often stabilise — your breasts have adjusted to which feeds they're covering, so engorgement at skipped feeds should be easing.
- If you want to breastfeed more (or less), change one feed at a time over several days and your supply will follow you.
- Whichever milk a feed is, the ritual matters more than the vessel: close, unhurried, eyes on each other.
Formula
- Feeds may be settling towards a loose pattern — roughly every 3 hours daytime for many babies now, though yours may differ and that's fine.
- As appetite grows, follow your baby's cues upwards rather than a chart — finishing every bottle fast and rooting for more is the signal to offer a little extra.
- First infant formula is still the only formula they need — 'hungrier baby' milks aren't recommended for young babies.
Totally normal (even when it doesn't feel it)
- No social smile yet at five weeks — the range runs to eight weeks and sometimes beyond; it's checked at the 8-week review.
- Crying still rising or at its worst — you're inside the normal peak window now (roughly weeks 6–8), and it does come down.
- Sleep that's still chaotic with no long night stretch — five-week-olds owe you nothing on this front yet.
- Noisy, snuffly breathing without other symptoms — tiny nasal passages amplify everything.
- Sudden hair loss — many babies shed their newborn hair around now, sometimes leaving a distinguished bald patch.
- Wanting to feed for comfort as much as for food — sucking is a genuine soothing tool for babies, not manipulation.
- Explosive growth in appetite one week and calm the next — babies grow in fits and starts.
Worth checking
You know your baby best — if any of these ring true, or something just feels off, it's always OK to ask.
- Any temperature of 38°C (100.4°F) or above — same-day advice at this age, always: call your GP or NHS 111 (UK); in the US, your pediatrician.
- Your baby not looking at faces at all, not startling to sounds, or seeming floppy compared with other babies — mention it to your health visitor or GP now rather than waiting for the review; in the US, your pediatrician.
- Vomiting that is forceful and frequent with weight worries or fewer wet nappies — call your GP; in the US, your pediatrician.
- One eye that is consistently turned in or out all the time (rather than occasional drifting) — mention to your health visitor or GP; in the US, your pediatrician.
- Signs of dehydration — fewer heavy wet nappies, dark urine, a sunken fontanelle — call your GP or 111; in the US, your pediatrician.
- Blue or grey lips or tongue, breathing that stops or is a visible struggle, or a baby you can't rouse — call 999 (UK) or 911 (US).
- Thoughts of harming yourself, or feeling life isn't worth living — call your GP today, or Samaritans on 116 123 (UK); in the US, call or text 988. Urgent help: 999 (UK) or 911 (US).