Baby
What your baby is doing
First steps, first words
10–14 months: standing, cruising, possibly first steps; first true words emerge. Wide normal range — comparison is the thief of joy.
Body
Your healing body
A first-year body, not a pre-baby body
Pelvic floor, abdominal wall and ribcage continue to reorganise into year 2. Strength — not shrinkage — is the metric that ages well. Sustained MVPA + resistance training + daily pelvic-floor work (per the 2025 Canadian Postpartum Guideline) reduces low-back/pelvic-girdle pain, improves cardiometabolic health and fatigue, and protects mental health.
General info — not personalised medical advice.
Mind
Maternal mind
Integration year
Stern described matrescence as concluding around the baby's first year — not because the work ends, but because the new self solidifies enough to be lived in.
Source: Stern, The Motherhood Constellation (Basic Books, 1995)
Bond
You & baby
Secure-enough
Ainsworth: it's not perfect attunement that builds security, it's consistent enough repair after rupture. You've done that thousands of times.
Source: Ainsworth et al., Patterns of Attachment (Erlbaum, 1978)
Partner
For your partner
Re-meet your partner
You're both different people than you were at week 1. Schedule a real conversation about who you are now — not just logistics.
Source: Cowan & Cowan, When Partners Become Parents (1992, 2000)
Feeding
Milk, bottles & beyond
Continuing into year 2
WHO recommends continued breastfeeding to 2 years or beyond alongside family foods. Weaning is gradual and led by your dyad — not by anyone else's timeline.
Sleep
Infant sleep this week
Most still wake at night
By 12 months, normal sleep includes overnight wakings. Night nursing or comforting remains evolutionarily expected (McKenna).
Source: McKenna & Gettler, Acta Paediatrica 105 (2016) — Breastsleeping & evolved infant sleep
Reflection
60-second prompt
Write a letter to week-one you
What does she most need to hear from where you stand now?
Developed and curated by perinatal psychologists, family & couples counsellors, doulas, perinatal health & fitness specialists, and IBCLCs / lactation consultants. Educational — not a substitute for medical care.