Living and Loving – September 2019

38 | SEPTEMBER 2019 | L&L

SAIL

Y

es,it’strue:yourlittleone

cangrowasmuchasnine

millimetresinlengthinjust

24 hours.“Babiesgotosleep

andwakeuplonger!”explainsexpertin

humangrowthanddevelopment,and

directorofEmoryUniversity’sCenterfor

theStudyofHumanHealthintheUS,

DrMichelleLampl.Whilethelineyou

carefullyplotonyourbaby’sgrowth

chartmightmakeitlooklikeshe’sputting

onweightconsistently,growthactually

happensinfitsandstarts,withrapid

increasesinlengthorheightandweight.

Yourbabygrowsmostdramaticallyinher

firstyear,andshe’slikelytodouble

herbirthweightbetween

fourandsixmonths,and

tripleitbythetime

she’sone.Byher

firstbirthday,she’ll

probablybeabout

one-and-a-half

timesaslongas

shewaswhenshe

wasborn–and

that’salotofgrowthspurts.

Asshegetsolder,thefrequencyofgrowth

spurtsslowsdownandhappensevery

fewmonths.Betweentheageofoneand

two,she’sstilllikelytogainabout2kgand

growaround6cm.Betweentheageof

twoandthree,she’llgainjustunder3kg

andgrowafurther5cmto8cm.Withsuch

asignificantchangehappening,it’sno

wonderyourchildislikelytobealittleoutof

sortsduringagrowthspurt.“Theassociated

behaviouralchangesonlylastacoupleof

days,buttheyareaclearsignalthatshe’s

abouttohave,orishaving,aspurt,”says

Michelle.“Soifyourchildisbehavingoutof

character–onedaysheisperfectly

happyandthenextshe’s

suddenlygrumpy–step

backandconsider

whetherallthesigns

arepointingtoher

havingagrowth

spurt.”Nomatter

whatherage,the

signsofaspurt

willbethesame.

Keeptrackofyourbaby’s

heightmeasurementswiththis

handyroll-upchart.Simplylieyour

babyontopfrombirth,orhangonthe

wallasshegetsolder.Itcanberolled

upsmallforsafekeeping,andmakesa

lastingmementoyou’lltreasureforever.

Iconix hanging ruler baby growth

chart, R199, takealot.com.

Did you know your tot can grow almost a centimetre overnight?

Here’s how to deal with the disruption that inevitably brings...