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Your 13-Week-Old Baby
Your 13-Week-Old Baby

Your 13-Week-Old Baby

Baby’s first laugh could be on the way, and you may be noticing more hair shedding than usual.

author-Amylia Ryan
By Amylia Ryan
Fact Checked by Shannon Vestal Robson
Updated On
Updated On
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In This Article

🚼 Baby’s Development 
😂 Laughing
💡Try This with Baby: Encourage that First Giggle
💗 You, 13 Weeks After Baby 
🪮 Postpartum Hair Loss
❓Weekly How-To: Support Self-Soothing Sleep Skills
👀 Looking Ahead 
🛍️ Panic Order

Welcome to the other side of the newborn phase—it’s been a ride, and there’s still so much to learn as your baby continues to grow at a rapid rate. This stage is all about your baby becoming noticeably more social, more interactive and (dare we say) more fun. In fact, baby’s first laugh could be on the horizon, so you’ll finally know for sure whether all your jokes and animal sounds are actually funny. We talked with Dr. Gabriella Dauer, a pediatrician and author of Beyond the Basics: A Pediatrician's Newborn Guide, about how parents and caregivers can encourage that delightful baby laughter.

Meanwhile, if you gave birth 13 weeks ago, you’re also coming out the other side of your own stage. The fourth trimester saw a lot of changes in your body, your hormones and even your mental health, and it’s okay if things don’t feel totally leveled out yet. One of the biggest complaints from birthing parents right around this time is postpartum hair loss, which Dr. Joel Bernstien, board-certified ob-gyn at Kamm McKenzie in Raleigh, NC, says is all thanks to hormones.

Here’s what you can expect this week, from your baby’s developing sense of humor to what’s going on with your own continuously changing body.

🚼 Baby’s Development 

😂 Laughing

If you thought all the gentle coos of the past few months were the sweetest sounds you’d ever heard, get ready—your baby is about to one-up themselves. It’s giggle-fit time.

Your baby may have started to show their real smile (also known as a social smile) sometime within the last month, but have you noticed it getting any bigger or wider? 

“Your little one will extend that smile with interactive eyes and even open their mouth in amusement before they begin to giggle,” says pediatrician Dr. Gabriella Dauer. “Seeing your infant giggle for the first time will make you fall even more in love!”

Between now and the four-to-five-month mark, keep an eye out for those signs that baby’s first laugh is approaching. If you’re not seeing those early signs of the laughter milestone just yet, Dr. Dauer reminds parents that every child is different, and that babies who were born premature may reach this milestone a bit later, depending on their adjusted age. 

💡Try This with Baby: Encourage that First Giggle

Excited to inspire those very first giggles? The key is to keep it simple and playful. Take baby’s favorite toy or book and put a new twist on it. That well-loved stuffy that always makes baby smile? Make it do a funny dance. Have a book you’ve read to them a hundred times already? Add in some silly new voices or sound effects (who doesn’t love a good barn animal noise?).

Remember that babies can get overstimulated and overwhelmed fairly easily, so don’t overdo it with tickles, loud noises, bright lights or screens. 

Dr. Dauer also suggests modeling laughter for your baby with your own genuine laugh. “Play a good song and maintain eye contact while laughing or a quick game of peek-a-boo and show your child what laughter looks like.”

It may feel a bit strange at first, and again, don’t overdo it (there’s no need to laugh uproariously in baby’s face), but baby is looking to you for social cues. “Infants rely heavily on imprinting and mimicry for behaviors,” Dr. Dauer says.

In other words, your joy is contagious. Find a gentle, interactive, baby-friendly game or activity that naturally makes you laugh, and most importantly, Dr. Dauer says to “laugh often and let your infant see it!”

💗 You, 13 Weeks After Baby 

🪮 Postpartum Hair Loss

If your shower drain or hairbrush suddenly looks a little…fuller than usual, you’re not alone. Right around the end of the fourth trimester, many postpartum parents start noticing more hair shedding, thinning and breakage than before. And while it can be unsettling—especially after spending the past six to nine months with the fullest, shiniest hair you’ve ever had—it’s a totally normal and expected part of the postpartum journey.

“During pregnancy, most women enjoy several months of quality hair growth,” says ob-gyn Dr. Joel Bernstien. That extra growth is all thanks to pregnancy-related hormones, which means that hormones are also to blame for hair loss. “With the drop in estrogen [after giving birth], the hair transitions from a growth cycle to a shedding cycle,” Dr. Bernstien says. 

The good news is that it’s temporary. Most postpartum people find that their hair growth balances out within a few months, though Dr. Bernstien says that if shedding continues past your baby’s first birthday, it’s worth checking with your doctor to rule out other causes.

While there’s not much you can do to stop the natural shedding of hair, there are a couple tried-and-true things to help post-shedding regrowth and to minimize scalp sensitivity and breakage if your hair seems weaker than before (note: always talk to your doctor before taking any supplements):

  • Use a gentle hair brush meant for your hair type.

    • For fine to medium hair: Use a natural boar bristle brush on dry hair (don’t brush your hair while it’s wet, since that can cause more breakage). Boar bristles are gentle on sensitive scalps while stimulating the follicles and encouraging growth. They also distribute oils from root to tip, keeping your hair looking full, shiny and healthy.

    • For thick, curly, natural hair: Use a gentle detangling brush with an open or lattice-style backing like the UNbrush, which limits the amount of pulling, tugging and breakage.

  • Continue taking your prenatal vitamins (yes, the same ones you took while you were pregnant) or transition to a postnatal vitamin. Anything that has your daily recommended value of biotin to help support healthy hair growth.

  • Try a serum or vitamin specifically for hair regrowth, like Nutrafol or Vegamour.

❓Weekly How-To: Support Self-Soothing Sleep Skills

At 13 weeks old, your baby may be ready to practice early forms of self-soothing, an important skill that sets the stage for better sleep later on, and one that can come in real handy during upcoming sleep regressions (remember how we mentioned in Week 11 that the first sleep regression would be in about a month?). 

If you haven’t yet, try putting your baby down in their crib or bassinet when they’re drowsy but not fully asleep. This gives them the chance to learn to gently settle into sleep while in their own sleep space (instead of on you). They’ll probably protest the first few times, but stay close by and offer reassurance—they’ll figure it out soon enough.

Consistent bedtime or naptime cues can be a big help in getting your baby to stop protesting and settle in on their own. Again, back in Week 11 we talked about creating a short yet reliable sleep ritual to help keep things on track during sleep regressions, and they can also trigger sleep-related self-soothing habits if you do it consistently enough. Whatever your routine looks like, add in the extra sleep cue of gently placing baby into their sleep space to create the association of being a natural part of their sleep time process.

If your baby takes a pacifier, the American Academy of Pediatrics says that it’s totally fine to keep one in the crib or bassinet with baby while they’re sleeping (without any kind of pacifier clip or harness), since there’s no suffocation risk. In fact, putting your baby to sleep with a pacifier has been found to reduce the risk of SIDS. Not to mention that it makes self-soothing that much easier—your baby has been working hard on those hand-to-mouth movements, so by now they may be able to put the pacifier in their mouth completely on their own if they need some assistance with falling asleep.

And keep in mind that this level of self-soothing isn’t about sleep training yet, it’s about giving your baby the opportunity to learn how to calm themselves in developmentally appropriate ways.

👀 Looking Ahead 

  • Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease: If your baby is in daycare (or about to start), this common illness can spread quickly around childcare centers. Week 14 will cover all the symptoms and treatment advice.

  • Traveling with Baby: Ready for baby’s first adventure? There are a few key tips and tricks to keep in mind when it comes to safety and maintaining baby’s routine—even in another time zone.

🛍️ Panic Order

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