In the first year of your child’s life, they have more growth spurts than you might think. Health experts show that there are at least 10 different times in that first year that your baby will experience a growth spurt:

• 7-10 days
• 2 weeks
• 4 weeks
• 8 weeks
• 12 weeks
• 4 months
• 6 months
• 5 months
• 5 months
• 5 months

GIFT A BOX

What is a growth spurt? During a growth spurt, your baby might be extremely hungry out of nowhere, want to feed more than usual, or sleep more or even less than before. Make sure to consult with your baby’s doctor to show the growth that your baby is making that first year and if there any concerning behaviors. If you have a child already, then this might explain a lot! Of course, not every baby is the same, but as you can see, they are growing a lot in their first year of life and obviously we are extremely grateful for that, however, it does come with crankiness, tiredness, and possible sleep regression. Not all children handle growing the same way, so are growth spurts keeping your child up at night and how do you determine what is a growth spurt or sleep regression? How will it affect my baby? Baby growth spurts can keep babies awake more at night and wake them from naps earlier too. It causes them to want to eat more, which essentially will go hand in hand with sleep. So you might notice that in the first couple of weeks of birth, your child is sleeping a little bit less, fussier and wanting to eat more, because as you see above, they are making incredible gains of growth in that first month of life. During the first three months that parents begin to get worried about sleep regression because infants are sleeping a little less and crankier. Growth spurts usually last a week and when they are fussy, you are usually able to find a solution – they are hungry, they need to be changed, they are tired – and then they are okay. Whereas with sleep regression, there is no solution to their crankiness, and it can last a lot longer than one week. How do I handle a growth spurt? If you are bottle feeding, try adding in more formula during the day to avoid lots of wake-up time during nighttime. As first-time parents, you are going to be tired. Just remember that your child is going to want to feed more regularly and your routine you started with them, may change and that’s okay. If your baby is 6 months or older, growth spurts can be less obvious because they are eating solid foods and drinking regular milk as well. During a growth spurt, don’t wake your baby for feedings unless it’s within the first week and advised by your doctor.