Baby Growth Spurts - Insatiably Normal

When they are this small, babies know little more than “feed me”, “change me” and “hold me” … each of which accompanied by a slightly modified version of their sole capacity for communication, the big cry.

Once parents get the knack, as we now have, for recognizing which cry is which, it becomes instantly obvious when she’s just looking for attention or when she is genuinely starving for milk. What a surprise for us when regular feedings wouldn’t satiate her at around 2 and a half to 3 weeks old; she just could not get enough nourishment and we were starting to get very concerned.

That only lasted a short while however until we started researching the whole notion of growth spurts, which according to many sources are completely normal instances during a baby’s development where they suddenly become insatiably hungry for a day or more in a row. These spurts can happen anytime but seem most common around 2 or 3 weeks, and again at 1 and a half, 3 and 6 months … who knew!

For father’s like myself, volunteering to bottle feed to help relieve the strain on mom can only help so much since we are trying as much as possible to provide a steady stream of natural breast milk … but when the growth spurt hits and no amount of breastfeeding or pumping can seem to keep up, the occasional bottle of formula is the next best way to go.

Kudos to you if you are a new parent who love’s their child to death but remains open-minded to effective solutions, and no doubt you’ll unwittingly come across several breast-feeding nazis out there as we like to call them … people, professional or otherwise, who simply scowl at you at the mere suggestion of formula. Well they can preach all they want, I for one was not breast fed at all and I know dozens of close friends who I regard with the highest respect for their contributions to society and overall stalwart integrity … and they were on the bottle right from the start too.

If your baby is having a growth spurt and Mama is ripping her hair out trying to keep up … do yourself a great big favour, boil the water, break out the similac, and give that poor woman a break … she definitely deserves it and your baby will turn out just fine thank you very much.

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