Photo Credit: bigstockphoto.com

Deepa Bansal

Read this article in Hindi

यह लेख Hindi में पढ़ें।

You must be wondering what I’m talking about. Well part of being a baby is that the mothers have to deal with everything from smelly poop to spits and even growth spurts for that matter.

Growth spurts happen to all the babies in the world. There are definite symptoms which I have written below but more than that you will know there has been a change in your baby. How? Well, I bought a onesie for my daughter one day and it fit her perfectly. One week later it was as if that onesie was never meant for her.

That’s how I knew that there has been a sudden growth in my daughter. And this growth was followed by the symptoms given below as well. Symptoms of a growth spurt include –

1. Extreme to no hunger at all

One of the things that happens if your baby is going through a growth spurt is a change in the hunger of the baby. For some babies, growth spurt leads to excessive hunger and for others, not so much. There are babies who want to be fed every hour during a growth spurt. And there are also babies who would avoid being fed.

All of this is pretty normal. Just remember that there is no harm if your baby wants to feed often nor when he just wants to get some sleep instead of feed. It is a normal part of life for infants when they go through this stage.

ALSO READ – Top Five Minerals For A Child Growth

2. Excessive sleep cycle to no sleep at all

Auto Amazon Links: No products found.

Another very common thing that gets disrupted during a growth spurt is the sleep cycle. Often times your baby may want to keep sleeping and that’s OK. Don’t think there’s anything wrong with the baby for wanting to sleep. A lot of physiological changes happen when babies sleep.

Moreover, if you think your baby has missed her feeding or two during this sleep hour, he will probably compensate for the loss of feed once he wakes up.

3. Too much crankiness or fussiness

In Indian households, one of the things that we usually do is come up with a desi medicine whenever a baby gets cranky or fusses more than usual. We tend to think that he must have a stomach ache or must be hungry etc. When a baby is going through a growth spurt, he will not be his happy self.

Your baby will be fussy not only in behavior, but also at the breast. He may refuse your breast altogether. And that will happen most often in the evenings.

As for my daughter, she did go through her growth spurts and I honestly had no clue about what was happening to her. She used to sleep like a hog, some time even more than 4 hours at a stretch and then at times she would feed for 1-2 hours at a stretch. Also, she was more fussy and cranky in the evenings. Nothing would soothe her at all. But the phase got over earlier than I thought it would.

And If you ask when this growth spurt usually happens – it can happen anytime in the baby’s first year of birth. But commonly it happens to babies when they are 7-20 days old, 2-3 weeks, 4-6 weeks, 3 months, 4 months, 6 months and 9 months.

It doesn’t happen all these times. As I said all babies are different. These are the common times when babies behave differently because of growth spurts.

ALSO READ – Mistakes I Made As A New Mom

All you can do during this phase of your baby’s life is have patience. I know it is hard but trust me time flies like anything. Your baby does not necessarily go through pain in this phase, but he does go through a lot of discomfort. So, bear with your baby for a little while until it gets over.

Tell us about your experience of growth spurt in your baby. When did it happen to him/her? Comment below.