19 Weeks Push: The Most Intensive Phase of Your Baby’s Development

In the first two years of life, a baby develops rapidly. It goes through eight developmental stages during the first 14 months. The 19-week stage is the longest and most intense.

Growth spurts in babies encourage development

The growth spurts start around the fifth week and end around the 56th week of life. Interestingly, when dating the relapses, paediatricians do not use the actual date of birth as a basis. The expected date of birth for the baby is decisive. Growth spurts and developmental spurts in infants often coincide. Sometimes a baby’s developmental spurt and growth spurt occur separately. When the baby is going through a cognitive boost can even be generalized for most people.

It’s similar with the basic skills that a baby’s growth spurt brings to light. Last but not least, the small “hardships” that a growth spurt throws the baby and its parents into are almost always the same. Because during the 8 growth spurts, babies are more difficult and fussy than usual. This is especially true with the 19-week boost. This fourth spurt, lasting up to six weeks, is the baby’s longest growth spurt to date. He is accompanied by restless nights and constant hunger. For some parents, this is the first time that a profound change in their baby’s behavior has occurred. Helpless little beings are already becoming a toddler. Because with the 19-week boost, the little person grows a lot. After this push, all baby clothes are often too small.

Growth spurts in babies: what to watch out for

You will experience a total of eight developmental spurts in your child. Every single developmental spurt in a baby happens first in his nervous system. It gives him new, important opportunities. But it also influences all other behavior in your baby. Because experiencing and learning something new is quite exhausting for the little creature. Crying and struggling phases or poor sleep are therefore completely normal with every growth spurt of the baby.

When you have a growth spurt, you probably think that the baby is now particularly demanding. It only wants to be carried “felt”, it is more sensitive and anxious. However, you have to understand that the new world is upside down for your baby every time. So it’s normal for someone to stop.

By the way, the term growth spurt in babies is a bit misleading. It suggests that in each phase everything revolves around the physical growth of your baby. Thats not right. During a growth spurt, the baby grows physically. Mainly, however, the development of the brain is meant when it comes to the growth spurt in babies. So the more appropriate term is more of a developmental spurt in the baby.

You can see that your child is going through a developmental spurt:

Don’t be surprised if your baby changes. A growth spurt in babies is natural and therefore always a good sign.

You can recognize a developmental spurt in your child by:

Before the 19-week spurt: Your child has already had these growth spurts

1st growth spurt, around the 5th week. Your baby becomes more alert and can perceive the environment better. It is now awake more often at night, seeks your closeness and cries more.

2nd growth spurt, around the 8th week. Your baby’s senses will be sharpened. It now hears, sees, smells and tastes better and tests its senses.

3rd growth spurt, from around the 12th week of life. When your baby is 12 weeks, it becomes more active and interacts with you and its environment. It wants to be entertained, becomes more agile and curious.

4. Growth spurt: The 19 week spurt

The 19 week push is the most intense of all pushes. Now it may be that your child becomes a little more difficult. It sleeps much worse, wants to be breastfed almost every hour at night, and cries a lot during the day. Therefore, the restful baby sleep is often missing. In addition, your baby becomes moody, changing from happy to deeply sad within a short time. Your baby will also gain weight as it grows.

How long is the 19 week boost?

The 19-week push begins between the fourth and fifth month of life and lasts a total of about 5 to 6 weeks.

19 week boost: This is what happens in baby’s head

When your baby was 12 weeks old, it already had a big boost. The growth spurt in babies from the 19th week of life is again a much more powerful spurt. It has a lot to do with the fact that they are now learning to perceive events. This is something very special and requires a lot of energy. Your baby no longer only recognizes individual situations. It is able to merge these into one process and thus into one event.

Since your baby can now even recognize the sequence of different events, it also interacts with things for the first time. He’s able to understand that when a toy goes behind your back, it’s not just gone. So it starts looking after the toy. It waits intently for him to reappear.

This growth spurt in the baby is a huge developmental step for the brain. That’s why your baby, like every other baby, wants to observe, see and experience as much as possible during and after the 19-week push. Babies often learn something completely new during this growth spurt. What that is, however, depends on the stage of its development up to the 19-week push and your child’s inner blueprint.

There are babies who develop physical and motor skills quickly after a 19-week boost. After the 19-week spurt, they can then roll from their backs to their stomachs and back again.

Other babies are faster in language development at the 19 week boost. After this developmental spurt, such babies can already understand a few words or they suddenly babble on sequences of sounds.

At 19 weeks, many babies learn to reach for specific objects. They also ask for one or the other toy if it has disappeared under a blanket before their eyes or has fallen down.

Important: No matter what your baby can or cannot do after the 19-week push. Don’t think negatively. Your baby child has learned a lot in this development spurt, as well as in the other spurts. But not everything is immediately visible from the outside.

Changed mealtime habits

The growth spurt brings drastic changes to the baby’s desire for food. In this phase, it often wants to be on the breast more frequently and at shorter intervals or asks for the bottle. If it then drinks, it is very easily distracted. Sometimes it even stops after just a short time and goes on to other things.

Important: During this time, try to feed your child in a quiet place. Because your baby has a growth spurt parallel to the development spurt, its need for food is particularly high. If it whines, it is probably often really hungry.

The first porridge

Many parents are now starting complementary feeding. The milk meals that were usual up to the 19-week flare-up are now gradually being replaced by porridge. You can try this with your child too. But: take it slow. If you have mainly breastfed your child in the past few weeks, the breast is still the center of his life. She gives him warmth, closeness and comfort. If you abruptly deprive him of this by changing his feeding habits, you will harm your baby more than you will benefit him with the new diet.

Caution: The oral phase begins

What your 12 week baby was not so good at, your 19 week baby is now learning with this developmental spurt! He grabs things with his hands and wants to put them in his mouth.

The background: Your baby wants to examine everything that it can get its hands on. Your baby will now find out that this is not only possible with the sense of touch. The shape of an object can also be felt with the mouth and of course it can also be tasted. That is why this developmental spurt in the baby is also called the oral phase. It occurs in every child without exception. Now your child will only rarely miss when they really want to touch something. It can use only one hand to reach for any nearby objects of interest to it. In addition, it changes its toy purposefully and safely from one hand to the other.

Important: Pay close attention during this phase. Your baby also likes to put small parts in their mouth and can choke on them. Toxic things also quickly find their way into your baby’s mouth during the oral phase. Therefore extreme caution is required.