Baby growth spurt
Updated onChristiane Fux studied journalism and psychology in Hamburg. The experienced medical editor has been writing magazine articles, news and factual texts on all conceivable health topics since 2001. In addition to her work for, Christiane Fux is also active in prose. Her first crime novel was published in 2012, and she also writes, designs and publishes her own crime plays.
More posts by Christiane Fux All content is checked by medical journalists.A baby's growth spurt is a phase in which the child makes a leap in its development. According to popular baby guides, infants have eight growth spurts in their first 14 months. They should be particularly strenuous in these phases. Read here about when the attacks should start in the baby, how you can recognize them and what your child will learn from them.
Development step or growth spurt
In the baby, development takes place in stages and in a relatively fixed order. Eight growth spurts shape the baby's development in the first 14 months of life. When exactly a baby takes a developmental step varies from child to child. So it doesn't matter if your baby takes a little longer for some things. Basically, it always takes a few weeks for new skills to work out smoothly and for others to be relearned.
The brain develops significantly during a baby's growth spurt. New nerve cells are formed that continue to network. This is important so that your child can acquire new skills. This is how a baby doubles the size of their brain in the first year.
Inaccurate terms
In fact, the term "growth spurt" is a bit misleading. Because it's not about the baby getting bigger or heavier.
If one speaks instead of a "development spurt" in the baby, that is a little better. However, the word "thrust" gives the impression that new skills appear suddenly. In fact, the transitions are fluid. A child who has just learned to crawl, for example, is actually already preparing to sit and learn to walk.
Baby growth spurt: what is developing?
In the first few weeks, everything revolves around the sensory perceptions that are close to the body: touch, taste and smell. Only a little later do hearing and sight perfect before movement and communication follow.
With each growth spurt, a baby gets better and better in the following areas:
- Body motor skills
- Hand motor skills
- mental (cognitive) development
- Language development
- social skills
Your baby can put his skills to the test during the U-examinations. You should definitely take notice of this. In this way, the pediatrician can identify possible abnormalities in development at an early stage and counteract them if necessary.
Signs of a growth spurt
Every baby is at times unbalanced and whimpered, which can have a wide variety of causes: For example, a tooth grows or a fart squeezes, sometimes the baby lacks sleep, sometimes it has a fever. Since infants in the first year can only articulate by crying and screaming when something troubles them, there is much room for speculation. Parents often only notice whether a baby's growth spurt is the reason for excessive dissatisfaction and whimpering when the stressful phase is over and calm has returned.
Possible signs of a baby's growth spurt can include:
- bad mood: the baby whines and cries a lot.
- very hungry: the baby drinks copiously and often.
- Attachment: The baby needs a lot of closeness and wants to be carried.
- Impatience: The baby gets angry quickly when something goes wrong.
- Disturbed sleep rhythm: The nights are restless or the baby sleeps a lot.
1. Baby growth spurt: when does it start?
Actually, the greatest growth spurt takes place in the womb. A fertilized egg cell develops into a small, viable human being within nine months. A person will never grow and thrive so quickly after birth.
Towards the end of pregnancy, unborn babies go through their first real development spurt. During this time, babies already react to external stimuli such as music, which can sometimes be guessed at by kicking.
The baby's first growth spurt around the 5th week after birth is clearly visible. The babies are then a lot more alert and alert than in the previous weeks. They are already fixing objects and faces with their eyes and are carefully observing their surroundings.
When do babies have growth spurts?
The baby has a growth spurt every three to eleven weeks. However, infants do not all develop equally. Therefore, these week numbers are only rough guidelines. So if your child's next stage of development is a little longer in coming, don't worry. You shouldn't compare your child with other children - this can build up pressure without a need.
Baby growth spurt: table
The following table shows the eight development spurts in babies, when they take place and what the little ones learn from them:
|
When? |
What is developing? |
What changes in the child | |
|
1. Growth spurt |
5th week |
attention |
Perceives objects that are moving |
|
2. Growth spurt |
8th week |
Mature senses: hearing, seeing, touching |
Hear sounds better; |
|
3. Growth spurt |
12th week |
Purposeful |
Reaching for things, targeted head and eye movements; practices kicking, holding, prone position, thumb and finger sucking; smiles and babbles |
|
4. Growth spurt |
19th week |
Muscle and |
stable prone position, first attempts at turning; everything ends up in the mouth; very active, does not like to be alone |
|
5. Growth spurt |
26th week |
Emotions: joy, anger, fear |
Is happy, smiles consciously or reacts angrily, strangers, understands the cause and |
|
6. Growth spurt |
37th week |
Crawling, language, |
Set off and explore his environment; first words; Scissor grip, practice |
|
7. Growth spurt |
46th week |
Sitting, fine motor skills |
Plays while seated, targeted grip (tweezers grip), first steps by hand |
|
8. Growth spurt |
55th week |
Running, defiant phase |
Runs safely, throws things, eats alone, "no" phase |
Growth spurt: worries and problems
Stressful phases require a lot of patience and empathy from the parents. It helps to realize that a growth spurt is stressful for the baby. The small body puts more than half of its energy into expanding its brain. This has to process numerous new sensory impressions and information in order to continuously develop.
In addition, your baby gets to know his basic emotions such as anger, joy and (separation) fear, but is still a long way from being able to classify or deal with them. It is therefore important that parents react to a baby's growth spurt with love, understanding, closeness and security.
Development makes you hungry
When you breastfeed, a baby's growth spurt is often associated with milk production problems. Your child grows, has more appetite and craves more often for the breast. Even if you have the feeling that the milk is not enough, you should not feed during this phase, but continue breastfeeding. After a few days, the milk production has adjusted and the baby's growth spurt is over.
Everyone at their own pace
There are several weeks between all growth spurts in the baby - at this young age that is a decent amount of time. Don't let yourself get nervous if the next baby of the same age or the sandpit friend is already one step further. If you cater to your baby's needs, you can't go wrong. If you are concerned that your baby is taking too long to grow spurt, ask your pediatrician.
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