by Brandi Riley posted in Pregnancy

People talk about the terrible twos and being prepared for the teen years, but there's a much earlier time that parents need to be warned about: 6 weeks after a baby is born he starts to make the transition from newborn to infant. If you think things were tough before, you ain't seen nothing yet!
I wasn't prepared for this change at all. In fact, I kind of felt blindsided. I was finally healing from my c-section and feeling like myself again. Our family had adjusted to making provisions for a baby, and I thought I had a handle on life. My son was on a semi-schedule and I'd even figured out how to carve out a few moments for myself. Last week, when he turned 6 weeks old, everything turned upside down overnight. All of the freezer meals that my friends have dropped off are gone, and the postpartum visits have stopped. My husband is back at work after paternity leave, and I'm left with a tiny human who has decided that he wants to be held for the majority of the day. Since he's turned 6 weeks, his schedule has changed and now his witching hours start right after lunch.
During the witching hour, he doesn't want to be in a carrier. He doesn't want to be in his rocker. He wants me to hold him, pat his back, feed him, and/or snuggle him. If I don't, he'll scream his head off until I meet one of those needs. The witching hours end sometime after dinner and things get back to normal. Well, at least until "bedtime."

My 6-week-old has...