infant growth

Hello parents, your young child is growing quickly. How quickly you can see day to day. You can see in their little bodies and their growing minds.

You can tell by your child's weight that they are growing rapidly, in fact infants double their body weight in the first 4 months, and even triple in by age 1. By age 2, growth has slowed but by 24 months a child on average can weigh about 30 pounds. As you can tell your child’s weight quickly changes, but you can also tell their growth by their height. According to The Developing Person by Kathleen Berger a 2 year old is already half of their adult height! Along with their bodies growing, their brain is also expanding. You may have notice the doctor measuring your baby’s skull. This is because usually the head grows 35% in the first year. Their brains reach 75% of its adult weight by the time they are 2!

*My son and I co-sleeping

While you may not be sleeping, your baby sleeps a lot up to 17 hours a day or more! Most newborns experience REM sleep, which is rapid eye movement sleep; which also indicates they are dreaming. By the time your baby is 3 months, they are experiences more forms of the sleep cycle. Doctors even recommend that your baby conform to your sleep schedule. Co-sleeping is a when your child is sleeping in the bed with you. The experts are divided on the benefits and risks to co-sleeping (Berger, 2009). Some of the benefits and risks include, promoting breastfeeding but can also lead to sudden infant death syndrome (SIDs). With the main risk being SIDs as a down side to co-sleeping, I decided that the benefits of breastfeeding and more bonding time outweighed the slim chance of SIDs.

All of this growth is visible with your child’s use of the 5 senses. A baby’s hearing is still developing after birth. But you can see that your baby can tell the sound of your voice from those of others. At first your baby’s eyesight is restricted to just a few inches but as their bodies and brain develops, their eyesight expands every day. Your child sense of smell, taste and touch are developed with each new sensation they are exposed to. Some doctors even suggest that the taste of sugar can be used as an infant pain reliever (Berger, 2009). Your babies senses are improving with each new experience they have.

Keep reading our blog to find out what else your child will encounter on their way to adulthood. 

- amber broderick