Understand baby’s developmental leaps and growth spikes

The terms “developmental leaps” and “growth spurts” may not sound so familiar, but when you know in detail what they mean, you will surely remember that you have experienced some of them with your baby.

The child becomes more irritable, breastfeeds more than usual, does not adjust himself in the lap or in the stroller, has visible sleep disorders, among other situations that can be perceived with more or less intensity according to the particularities of each child.

For some parents, all this can be worrying, but calm down: all these behavior changes are probably related to the developmental leaps and growth spikes of the baby, which are part of the child’s physiological development. In other words: they are totally normal.

development leaps

Fábia Queiroga, pediatrician at Hospital Santa Lúcia, explains that developmental leaps represent the period of acquisition of new skills in the various spheres of child development, ie: motor, fine motor, cognitive, language and social.

“It goes approximately from birth to 20 months of age. The jumps are approximately the following periods: 1 month / close to 2 months / close to 3 months / 4 and a half months / 6 months / 7 months / 8 and a half months / close to 11 months / close to 13 months / close to 15 months / 17 months”, highlights the pediatrician.

Fábia explains that the phases of the developmental leap are accompanied, in most cases, by changes in mood, appetite and sleep. “The cognitive often does not follow the change of the organism and requires an adaptation time. After the child has mastered that skill, they tend to go back to their baseline state and normalize sleep and mood,” she says.

To better understand a developmental leap, just think that every time your baby develops a new skill, he is so excited about the achievement that he wants to practice it all the time, even during sleep. So it can be said that one of the ‘side effects’ of this development is that they don’t sleep as well as in periods when they weren’t working on mastering a new skill.

Periods of developmental leaps

Of course, each child has its own particularities, but below you can see what is expected of each period of developmental leaps:

1 month (5 weeks): Improved vision: greater interest in the environment and the ability to briefly follow objects with the eyes; more time awake; cry with tears and smile (for the first time or more often).

Approximately 2 months (8 weeks): Increased perception of sounds, smells and tastes; attempt to control hands and feet; the baby begins to show a little of its preferences: things, colors and sounds and greater insecurity and search for comfort in the mother’s breast.

Approximately 3 months (12 weeks): Baby can see an entire room in the house, turn around when he hears loud sounds; manages to join his hands; messes with the hair and faces of the parents; he practically no longer needs support to keep his head up, is sensitive to news and seeks comfort in his parents’ lap.

4 and a half months (19 weeks): This is the longest jump. The baby cries more, shows extreme changes in temperament and seeks more attention and care; can pick up a toy, shake it, put it in the mouth and pass it from one hand to the other; the first tooth can come in; can emit clearer sounds; sleep less, make people strange; seeks greater body contact while breastfeeding; has sleep disorders; he can turn his back and belly down, crawl, look at pictures in a book, react to his reflection in the mirror and recognize his own name.

6 months (26 weeks): Search for more body contact during play; coordination of arm and leg movements; the baby can sit without support; he already understands that the mother can move away when she walks and that scares him; interest in exploring the house, finding tags, lifting rugs to look under; pays more attention to voices, can imitate sounds; rolls over and starts to support himself to stand; mature enough to receive solid food.

7 months (30 weeks): Baby tries to reach objects in front of him, bumps one object against another; may start to crawl, speak a few syllables and wave goodbye; anxiety with strangers.

8 1/2 months (37 weeks): Frequent mood swings; more crying; resistance when changing the diaper; baby may suck fingers and protest when body contact is broken; decreased appetite and sleep; the baby starts to understand the classification of things: for example, she knows what is food and what is animal; she can say “mamá” and “papa” without distinction of who is the mother or the father; baby crawls, points at things, looks for objects and uses thumb and index finger to hold.

Approximately 11 months (46 weeks): Baby may point at something or a person in response to a request; try to talk on the phone, put keys in key holes, look for something that has been hidden, try to take off your clothes; can now say “mamá” and “papa” to the mother and father correctly.

Approximately 13 months (55 weeks): Usually the baby starts to walk and speak more words than “mama” and “daddy”.

Approximately 15 months (64 weeks): Baby already combines words and gestures to express what he wants; you can now put lids on containers, imitate people and explore everything in front of you; he can still point to a certain part of the body if asked and respond to instructions such as “give me a kiss”; he pulls toys while walking, playing ball, etc.

17 months (75 weeks): The baby already uses about 6 words often, likes to imitate, hide toys, sort toys by color, shape and size, play with a ball, etc.; the baby can still look at books alone and scribble.

In general, taking into account all developmental leaps, the baby is expected to:

• Seek to be closer to the mother, precisely because you feel more needy and need maternal lap and security;
• Eat poorly;
• Don’t sleep too well;
• Want to breastfeed more often;
• Initiate actions such as laughing, sitting, crawling, interacting;
• Show happiness at the end of the crisis, with the acquired development.

growth spikes

Fábia explains that growth spurts are phases in which the child has the fastest growth.

The spikes refer to the baby’s growth itself (not its development). During peak periods, it is normal for the baby to request more feedings than usual, because it needs more food to grow at this faster rate. So, for example, if he slept long periods at night, he tends to wake up more often asking to breastfeed.

But, these changes usually last a few days, and soon the baby tends to return to the smaller pattern of feedings, but now, with the mother’s body adapted to produce more milk.

In the table below you can see the periods in which growth peaks normally occur, according to Fábia:

“But the peaks continue in periods that go up to adolescence”, adds the pediatrician.

Below you can also find a spreadsheet in which you can enter your baby’s date of birth to calculate his developmental leaps and growth peaks.

Discover your baby’s stages

4 parenting questions answered by experts

It is common for these periods to generate many questions among parents, but below the pediatrician clarifies the main doubts on the subject.

1. What can parents do during a growth spurt to help their child?

Fábia points out that growth spurts are usually accompanied by a greater need for food. “So, while infants are periods when the baby will want to suck the breast more, which often makes parents think that milk production has decreased, while it is the need for suction that has increased. And, normally, production will adapt to this need,” she says.

“It is good to note that in various periods the developmental leap and the growth peak coincide, which will lead to an increase in food needs and more difficult sleep, which can cause parents to misinterpret that the child is not being properly fed”, he adds. the pediatrician.

“It is necessary to monitor neuropsychomotor development, height and weight by the pediatrician, so that it is possible to conclude whether the child is developing normally during these periods”, he emphasizes.

2. What do I do if my child doesn’t grow or I feel that he doesn’t develop like his peers of the same age?

“It is important to emphasize that mothers should not compare their child with other children in the group, as normal growth is within a normal range, where we will have taller children and shorter children within the normal range”, highlights Fábia.

“If there is any doubt as to whether the child has a developmental or growth deficiency, he or she needs to be evaluated by the pediatrician to see if there is a need for additional tests or any other intervention”, explains the pediatrician.

3. Why do developmental leaps and growth spikes happen? Do all babies go through this?

Fábia recalls that developmental leaps and growth peaks are part of the child’s physiological development. “In some children it will be accompanied by more changes in mood, sleep and appetite than in others, some mothers will notice these signs more, but it’s all part of normal development,” she says.

4. What is most common for a baby at these stages?

Fábia points out that until the baby masters that new acquired skill, he may have mood swings, irritability, sleep disturbances and the need to suck more. “He often feels insecure because, sometimes, the body is still unable to perform a task that the cognitive already asks him to do… And this makes the child more irritated and in need of returning to his security, which is the lap of mother,” he says.

“So, babies are expected to be more attached and needy at these stages, remembering that some children will show these changes more than others”, highlights the pediatrician.

Now you know: the changes that happen to the child (whether in relation to appetite, whether in relation to sleep or mood) are usually not a cause for concern. They are part of the child’s physiological development. Parents should count on a little more patience and affection and know that, after each period, everything returns to normal.

Finally, it is essential that parents take the baby for regular and periodic follow-up with the pediatrician. Because, if that is the case, the professional will be able to detect in an early way any problem that is happening to the child.