Baby feeding spurts

Growth spurts • KellyMom.com

Most babies go through several growth spurts (also called frequency days) during the first 12 months.

What is a growth spurt?

During a growth spurt, breastfed babies nurse more often than usual (sometimes as often as every hour) and often act fussier than usual.

The increase in baby’s milk intake during growth spurts is temporary. In exclusively breastfed babies, milk intake increases quickly during the first few weeks of life, then stays about the same between one and six months. As solids are gradually introduced after six months, baby’s milk intake will gradually decrease.

Physical growth is not the only reason that babies may have a temporary need for increased nursing. Babies often exhibit the same type of behavior (increased nursing with or without increased fussiness) when they are working on developmental advances such as rolling over, crawling, walking or talking. Mom’s milk is for growing the brain as well as the body!

When do babies have growth spurts?

Common times for growth spurts are during the first few days at home and around 7-10 days, 2-3 weeks, 4-6 weeks, 3 months, 4 months, 6 months and 9 months (more or less). Babies don’t read calendars, however, so your baby may do things differently.

Growth spurts don’t stop after the first year – most moms notice growth spurts every few months during the toddler years and periodically thereafter on through the teenage years.

How long do growth spurts last?

Growth spurts usually last 2-3 days, but sometimes last a week or so.

What is the best way to handle a growth spurt?

Follow your child’s lead. Baby will automatically get more milk by nursing more frequently, and your milk supply will increase due to the increased nursing. It is not necessary (or advised) to supplement your baby with formula or expressed milk during a growth spurt. Supplementing (and/or scheduling feeds) interferes with the natural supply and demand of milk production and will prevent your body from getting the message to make more milk during the growth spurt.

Some nursing moms feel more hungry or thirsty when baby is going through a growth spurt. Listen to your body — you may need to eat or drink more during the time that baby is nursing more often.

See My baby is fussy! Is something wrong? for tips on comforting a fussy baby.

Additional Resources @ KellyMom

Nursing your newborn — what to expect in the early weeks
Frequent nursing
Cluster Feeding and Fussy Evenings
My baby is fussy! Is something wrong?
My baby fusses or cries during nursing – what’s the problem?
Should baby be on a schedule?

Additional Resources at other websites

Growth Spurts by Cheryl Taylor White, BA, MME
Why does my baby suddenly want to nurse constantly? FAQ from LLL
Fussy periods and wonder weeks from the Australian Breastfeeding Association

All About Baby Growth Spurts

Your newborn baby will grow rapidly in the first couple of months, and sometimes you'll suspect that your baby has grown overnight! Read on to learn all about baby growth spurts: what they are, what signs to look out for, and how to deal with them.

What Are Growth Spurts?

A growth spurt refers to a period of intense, rapid growth in a short period of time. You may notice that your infant or toddler seems to have grown overnight when this happens. Length (height) and weight are the two most obvious measures of growth in a baby. During the first year, babies on average add about 10 inches (25 centimeters) in length and triple their birth weight. Babies' heads also grow a lot, especially during the first four months. It's likely that your baby will grow at a fairly steady rate, but it’s also possible your infant will have what are called growth spurts.

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When Do Babies Have Growth Spurts?

Most babies lose around one-tenth of their birth weight in the first five days after birth; then, they tend to regain it in the next five days. After your newborn has returned to her birth weight, you may observe that she grows rapidly and goes through another growth spurt between 3 to 6 weeks. However, different babies may have growth spurts at different times. Check with your baby's healthcare provider if you have any questions or concerns about your little one's growth or development. Growth spurts in toddlers are less common. After age 1, growth tends to slow down, and by age 2, children start to grow at a more steady rate until just before puberty. A major growth spurt is common between the ages of 8 and 13 for girls, and between 10 and 15 for boys. You may want to track your baby’s growth spurts in our Baby Growth Chart Calculator to see how quickly your little one is growing.

What Are the Signs of Baby Growth Spurts?

You may be wondering if there are any signs of a growth spurt to look out for. Here are a few things you may observe just before your little one shoots up a size:

Your baby is hungry more often. Around the time your baby goes through a growth spurt, you may notice he’s hungrier than usual. Your baby may show signs of increased hunger by crying a lot, appearing restless, or sticking out his tongue or sucking on his hands and lips.
Your baby may show more fussiness. Your baby may appear cranky or even cry a lot just before a growth spurt. However, symptoms of fussiness or crankiness can occur because of other conditions, such as colic, especially if the crying happens around the same time of day every day.

How to Deal With Infant Growth Spurts

If you notice your baby is showing the above signs and it looks like she’s about to have a growth spurt, there are a few things you can do to help:

Feed your baby more if she seems hungry. Make sure your baby gets the nourishment she needs for her upcoming growth spurt and her overall development. If she’s breastfed, you can nurse her more often, as this will help stimulate more milk production. If she’s formula-fed, you can give her a little more at each feeding or you can feed her more often.
Help your baby sleep. Create a good sleeping environment by keeping the lights low and try to create a routine before bedtime, which can help your little one sleep better. If your baby likes to nap more during the day, like three or four hours, and you’re worried she won’t get enough sleep at night, you can wake her up and play with her.
Help soothe your fussy or cranky baby. If you’ve ruled out other causes for your baby being fussy or cranky, then try to soothe your baby by rocking or cuddling her, or even talking to her or doing things that you find calm her.

The Bottom Line

All parents expect to see their baby grow and develop, but don’t be surprised if your little one seems to have grown overnight when she goes through a growth spurt! You may spot some of the signs a baby’s growth spurt is coming before it happens, like being hungrier or being a little fussier than normal. Or, you’ll simply notice your baby has gone up a size all of a sudden without showing any of the baby growth spurt symptoms. Growth spurts are normal and natural in the first few months of a baby's life. They’re nothing to worry about, but if you do notice your little one is hungrier than normal or even a little cranky, then it’s possible you’ll wake up to a bigger baby.

Growth spurts in children: what is important to know

02/06/2020

Growing up a child

In the first 1.5 years of life, children experience rapid growth and rapid development: physical, mental and emotional. This process takes place in waves and is characterized by the emergence of new skills in the child.

Each new skill overlaps the previous skill. For example, the baby learns to roll over first, then crawl and sit, pull up and stand at the support, and finally walk. A growth spurt is also a leap in the development of the nervous system and brain. Rapid changes, the emergence of new abilities sometimes scare the child. During such periods, he needs special attention and help from his parents.

It is possible to distinguish the same patterns and the order of their development in all children, despite the fact that each child is unique. In total, there are 10 periods of growth spurts in children under 2 years of age: 8 of them occur before 12 months, the last 2 - before 18 months.

Growth spurts

Signs

Sometimes a growth crisis goes unnoticed, but sometimes it lasts longer and quite clearly.

What signs will help you identify a growth spurt:

1. Changes in nutrition

It is more difficult to feed the baby, sometimes it is not clear to the mother whether he is really hungry - the baby may refuse breast and bottle, but show signs of hunger. The child wants to eat more often, but eats less during feeding. This behavior is typical when he tries to calm down at the expense of food.

2. Behavior

The child becomes more restless and capricious. You will see that he does not want to leave your arms and cries when you try to put him in the crib. Or you may notice that the baby is crying and not calming down when he is usually calm and relaxed. This behavior is associated with the accumulation of overwork, since the baby spends a lot of energy during growth crises. Also, if the baby is irritated or naughty, he may be on the way to mastering a new skill.

3. Sleep

Before and during the growth spurt, children are more sleepy. Night awakenings become more frequent, and daytime sleeps become shorter. If you had a regimen before, it may deteriorate. It will seem to you that it is no longer suitable for the child and you need to change the schedule of sleep and wakefulness. But by the end of the growth spurt, you will notice that the old regimen has returned to normal.

Please note that growth spurts are sometimes confused with other problems. So, the baby is sleepy and moody due to the fact that he gets sick. And hunger is a sign of a mother's lack of milk.

4. The child learns one of the skills:

learns new sensations and gets to know his body
starts to roll over
masters the position on all fours and begins to crawl
learns to sit down and stand up from a sitting position
tries to stand holding on to a support and take his first steps
starts walking
is actively learning speech

5. Changing the size of the legs and arms

After the growth spurt, you will notice how your toddler has grown.

Calendar of developmental leaps

The first leap begins at the end of the first month of a baby's life, the peak falls on the 5th week. The baby begins to study the phenomena that occur around him. The sense organs develop, and the child perceives the world much more clearly than before.

The second growth crisis is a continuation of the first. His surge falls on the 8th week. The kid opens the world of patterns. He understands, for example, that he has two arms and two legs. And spends hours practicing the new skill of controlling their particular position. He is fascinated by the shadows from the falling light. You may notice how the child listens to himself by making various sounds. He also begins to show joy with his first smile.

The third growth spurt appears at 3 months. If before this the baby's movements were clumsy, now he has much better control over his body. There is also a further development of the senses. Now he notices the differences: he listens to the voices, watches how the light is replaced by darkness, how everything moves around. The world is becoming more organized.

The fourth developmental leap of occurs around the 19th week. The child understands that each event has a certain sequence of actions. He begins to notice smooth transitions in sounds, movements, light, smells and textures.

Fifth developmental leap around 26 weeks. You will see how the baby tries to do many new things for him. The child improves coordination, he begins to understand the connection of things around. The main discovery at this age is the space around: there is a certain distance between people and objects. The world for the baby becomes huge.

The sixth crisis of will clearly manifest itself at 37 weeks. During this period, you will notice that the baby is learning new activities, constantly experimenting. The baby is able to recognize certain objects, sensations, groups people and animals into categories. For example, he understands that a banana is different from an apple in shape, color and taste, but it is still food. Understanding the world of categories greatly affects your child's senses.

By the 46th week there will be a 7 leap in development . The baby will open the world of sequences. He will understand that in order to achieve his goal, it is necessary to act in a certain way. The child will learn how and in what sequence to put things together so that it is correct: a pyramid, cubes, etc.

The eighth leap of development will happen around the year at week 55. The kid will have a breakthrough in mental development and he will be ready to explore the world of programs. If before that the baby understood the sequence of events that follow one after another, now he understands that this does not always happen. And he also realizes that the result of an action sometimes depends on what happened now.

The ninth leap is the first growth crisis after a year, which peaks at 14-15 months. The child has grown up and now he is able to change the programs that he has mastered before. He will experiment with them:

Meet other children at the playground
imitate others
Explore your emotions
Think ahead
Become aggressive to get what you want
Throw the first tantrums
Understand the difference between "mine" and "yours"
Learning to do things together
Experiment with "yes" and "no"

The last tenth leap of development will take about 17 months. The baby develops the ability to understand "systems" and their differences: my mother is not like that boy's mother, my scooter is not like my brother's. At this stage, he realizes that he decides how to behave. The child develops a sense of compassion.

How to help your baby during a growth spurt

Create a physiological regimen to prevent overwork. Make your bedtime ritual longer. The baby needs more time to relax and fall asleep. Include more body contact in the ritual: carrying, hugging, kissing.
Provide proper rest - in a dream there is an active development and growth of a small organism.
Practice new skills while awake and praise each achievement.
Pay more attention to the baby during the day, so that at night he does not make up for it with additional rises for motion sickness and feeding. Before breastfeeding or bottle feeding, check for signs of hunger in the baby. And if he is full, use other ways to calm down: re-swaddle, turn on white noise, shush.

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5 signs your kids are having a growth spurt

March 29 2019

The typical school-age child grows about 5 cm each year. During puberty, this figure reaches 10 cm. But in the first 12 months of a child's life, a child grows at a colossal rate of about 25 cm.

Even during this busy growing season, some children experience short bursts of weight gain and growth. Each child is individual, so it is impossible to say whether he will have growth spurts. But you need to keep your ears open and your nose to the wind.

photo Nurturey Blog

Frequency of growth spurts

Lee Ann O'Connor, a certified lactation consultant in private practice in New York, says she typically sees growth spurts at 3 weeks, 6 weeks, 3 months and 6 months. The last rapid jump, as a rule, occurs around the 9th month of life. However, the most accurate indicator is the behavior of your children. So what do you need to pay attention to?

Up to a year, the child is rapidly gaining weight / photo Tesco Baby Club

Signs of growth spurts

1. The child is constantly hungry

It seems that you have already established a feeding schedule, and the child begins to want to eat ... around the clock. Babies can go to such a marathon for 3-4 days. And every time the mixture in the bottle runs out, the baby begins to scream furiously, demanding an additional "ration". Only feeding on demand can save you. All the calories that the child consumes during this period go to creating reserves of fat cells, building muscle mass and changing the structure of bone tissue.

2. Changing sleep patterns

Some parents report that their children sleep more during growth spurts. Others claim that children sleep much less during such periods. Be that as it may, sleep plays a vital role in the production of growth hormone. So let nature take its toll, turning a slumbering baby into someone you'll never be able to practically hold in your hands again.

3. The child becomes more moody

By the way, this may be a side effect of the two previous signs of rapid growth: a hungry or tired child, as a rule, will not be silent, but will declare it as loudly as an ambulance rushing to a call ". In addition, in the event of a significant growth spurt in children, the tendons and muscles are stretched, which can cause pain. Minor, but still pain.

4. Baby learns new skills

Of course, don't associate your baby's newfound ability to clap or grab a toy with a growth spurt. But we should not forget that the child's brain grows and develops along with the rest of the body.

5. The size of the legs and fives

Often it is the size of the legs and arms that is one of the first signs of a growth spurt. When you see that his pants have suddenly become too short, the cuffs of his shirts have begun to pull up to his elbows, and the child can no longer squeeze into his shoes, be sure that your baby is having a growth spurt. In addition, attention should be paid to too narrow joints (knees, elbows and shoulders), which make the child awkward and ridiculous. You will notice that boys have widened shoulders, while girls have widened hips. Boiling hormones can speed up hair growth, change your voice, and trigger acne and new body odor.

Another important point. Growth spurts are very easy to confuse with other problems. For example, a child who is too sleepy or cranky may simply be sick, while constant hunger may indicate that he simply does not have enough breast milk.

photo Mama Natural

Why is it so important to properly feed children during growth spurts

You realized that your child was having a growth spurt because you began to catch him more and more often doing his favorite activity during this period - "digging" in the refrigerator. In the first year of life, the child grows by 25 cm and triples its weight. Bones, muscles, tendons, joints, skin, hair and internal organs are all formed from the nutrients a child consumes. That is why it is important to feed children not only enough, but also correctly. The US Department of Health has called osteoporosis a "pediatric disease with geriatric consequences" because bone mass gained during childhood and adolescence is an important determinant of lifetime skeletal health. So everything is laid down in childhood, including diseases from which we may suffer later.

For proper nutrition, remember that protein is the basic building block of all tissues such as muscles, bones, heart, lungs, skin and hair. A teenager needs about 1 g of protein per 1 kg of body weight. Getting more protein will not necessarily increase growth, and eating too much can have negative health effects. Bones are made up of the minerals calcium, magnesium, zinc, copper, manganese and potassium, as well as vitamins D and K.

Proper nutrition is the key to health / photo Vision Smart Center

Growing children also need complex carbohydrates from vegetables and whole grains, which are a source of glycogen, which is the main source of energy for muscles. And the latter will definitely undergo overload during classes at school, at sports sections and walks. At the same time, our body is able to store a strictly defined amount of glycogen, so the kids must constantly replenish its reserves.

And how to feed a child who prefers sweets and “empty” pasta with all this usefulness?

Healthy food should be as accessible as possible. Enough so that the kids can grab it and run outside again.
Since the process of hydration, which is responsible for the accumulation of carbohydrates and glucose in cells, is vital, keep a jug of fresh water at room temperature on the table.
Nutrient sources such as sweet potato, pumpkin, brown rice, quinoa, polenta, whole wheat pasta, corn, etc. should be on your dinner table.
Follow your meal schedule. Snacking on the fly is no substitute for a full meal.
While the child is busy (doing homework), put a plate of fruits, vegetables or crackers in front of him. But such a snack should not sabotage the main meal.