As a parent you will soon experience this if you’ve haven’t already – your baby’s ankles are suddenly peeping out of those adorable little jeans you just got. Those tiny little arms suddenly seem longer than they were and the cute little tummy now shows when baby’s wearing your favorite tee. So if it seems that baby’s outgrown his clothes overnight, this is not far wrong. It’s these pesky growth spurts that are responsible!
What is a growth spurt?
A baby typically doubles his or her birth weight by six months of age and triples that at 12 months but this growth can be in spurts. Babies seem to grow at their own unfathomable speed, and seem to have quite unpredictable growth spurts from time to time. One baby’s developmental milestones and growth patterns may differ greatly from other babies but all babies seem to grow in spurts.Apart from physical growth, there is very rapid growth of the baby’s brain as well during the growth spurt.
How can you recognize a growth spurt?
These spurts typically last about a couple days and they can alter not just baby’s size but also their eating habits, their sleep patterns, and more. So a baby may eat more ravenously for a time and may sleep more or less too. Many babies alter their sleep patterns because of a growth spurt. For the mom who has just got used to some semblance of predictably, all this may be a little tiresome!
Following a growth spurt, your baby may seem to have learnt new skills and may be doing things a little differently. You may see baby’s awareness of tastes and colors; and motor skills improve. Babies have been known to grow up to a full centimeter in just 24 hours.
When do growth spurts occur?
A baby grows fastest in the womb in terms of increase in weight and size proportionate to the existing size. After that, baby will most likely have about 5 growth spurts during the first year of life, with the first one being at about one to three weeks of age, when the baby’s head will grow significantly. This will be followed by another growth spurt at about 8 weeks.
The third growth spurt is going to be at about three months of age. The next growth spurt will occur typically at 6 months of age and then one more at about 9 months of age.
