Growth spurt 16 weeks

Pregnancy at week 16 | Pregnancy Birth and Baby

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Your baby

Your baby now weighs about 110g and is about 12.5cm – around the size of a small avocado. They are growing quickly and are about to have a growth spurt. They will roughly double in size over the next month.

The baby looks much more human now. Their eyes are no longer at the side of their head and their ears are in the right place. All of their joints are working and they can wriggle their fingers and toes.

The umbilical cord is now fully formed, with 2 arteries and 1 vein. Your baby may be gripping hold of it. They can flex their muscles and limbs and make expressions with their face, although they can’t control them yet.

Your baby at 16 weeks

Length:	12.5cm
Weight:	110g

Your body

Many women have a clear 'baby bump' by now. Some will even feel their baby moving for the first time, especially if this isn’t their first pregnancy. But don’t worry if you can’t feel anything yet – many women won’t notice their baby’s movements until 18 to 22 weeks into their pregnancy.

Increases in your blood and hormone levels might be causing you some discomfort. You might develop acne as your skin produces more oil. You might also notice varicose veins or get cramps in your legs. Exercising and stretching should help to relieve this.

As you and your baby put on weight, it’s important to take care of your back since back ache is common. Make sure you stand straight and bend and lift correctly. Doing simple stretches and exercises can also help with back ache.

Things to remember

Some women notice their libido increases during the second trimester. This is because of the hormones. Other women find they don’t want sex at all during this time.

It’s fine to have sex while you’re pregnant, unless your doctor or midwife has told you not to. It won’t harm your baby. If you or your partner don’t feel like sex, you can still be intimate by touching or massage. Every couple is different.

Your doctor may offer you further screening or diagnostic tests at this time, including a blood test and ultrasound (maternal serum screening) or amniocentesis.

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16 Week Old Baby - Development, Milestones & Care Tips
Happy four months! Your little munchkin is 16 weeks old already and is probably making the best sound you have ever heard. Initially, taking care of your little one and even holding him in your arms must have seemed quite a task for you, but we know you must have done a great job, mommy! From now on, your little one will start meeting various milestones. His physical and mental growth will be rapid at this stage and his communication (we mean cooing and gurgling) will be the strongest among other things. It’s time you celebrate his little victories and track other important development and milestones such as talking, growth, etc.
Your 16-week-old Baby’s Development
The signs of your 16-week-old baby’s growth spurt will be more evident than before as he shows signs of rapid development, both physical and mental development. One of the major signs of development you will notice in your baby is an increase in his movement abilities and limb control. Reaching out to things by bending his body ahead and holding toys with both the hands or even moving them around are some of the signs of development you may notice. By this age, your little one should understand how to use his hands.
All your fears concerning your baby wobbling his head back and forth will subside as your baby will now be able to hold his head properly. While enjoying the tummy time under your supervision, he will try to lift his head and look right ahead. This can also give him a spur of energy and motivation to push his arms and legs to try and move ahead and take the very first steps of attempting to crawl.
Some babies start teething rather early. If your baby is one of those, you might notice slight signs of his very first tooth slowly rising to the surface. At this age, your little one may also want to put everything in his mouth.
Hours of sleepless nights while feeding your baby may come to an end as your baby may start sleeping peacefully for nearly 8 hours of the night, giving you enough time to rest and face the day fully energised.
Your baby will also start understanding when it is time to feed when he sees the feeding bottle or looks at you at a particular time of the day. He may start asserting his independence by wanting to hold the bottle by his hands or holding your breast in a particular way for his own comfort.
Communication and perception also increase to a great level by this age. Being able to follow objects will become a tad easier for him. Your baby will also be clever enough to know what kind of cries will get you to him quickly and will understand how to get what he wants. So he may constantly cry to call you for something and then instantly start smiling or laughing while interacting with someone else.
Rolling over will become a new discovery for him – an activity that he will now understand and will have the strength to do it. This will warrant keeping a watch on your kid whenever he is on the bed or on any raised surface. The best is to spread out a large mat with a soft cloth and let your baby keep rolling around on the ground.
[Also Read: 4 Months Old Baby Development]
Your Sixteen-Week-Old Baby’s Milestones
Here are some of the milestones you should look out for in your baby.
By this age, your little one should be able to sit upright and hold his head properly as well. This should last for about 8-10 minutes by himself.

The giggling and smiles will be further complemented with some loud gurgle-filled laughter as he rejoices in the emotion.

As you walk around the house, he will begin to follow your movements.

Most of all, your baby should be able to sleep for a long time at night, giving you the much needed and desired nighttime sleep.

Lateral movement tracking will be enhanced as well as understanding the coordination of limbs when he begins to splash water around during baths.

Having been fed via bottles or nipples, he may start accepting spoon-feeds, too.

When you bend his legs and help him do the cycling exercise, he will discover how his legs bend at the knees and keep himself occupied at this new discovery.

His eyes and ears will be a lot sharper and responsive when you move around in the garden or the park.

Your little one will now make use of his fists to hold things firmly or even use both hands to hold them together and squeeze objects.

[Also Read: 4 Months Old Baby Milestones]
Feeding
New moms can start going to their workplace again, i.e., if they were on maternity leave. If you were working, you can start going to work again. You will have to ensure enough supply of milk or formula to feed the baby. Most women at this age are generally advised to start introducing solids to the babies. However, research has conclusively proven that breast milk is the most nutritious and important food that a baby should have for at least 1 year of his life. Having said that, you can still start trying out feeding your baby some milk or formula with a spoon. This will help exercise his mouth muscles and get him used to a different feeding style. He might get impatient since he would be used to drinking copious amounts of milk from your breast or the bottle. In certain cases, doctors might recommend giving solid foods, too. But it is completely your call if you’d wish to do so, you can. Even if you have begun, stopping the feeding of solid food items will not affect the baby adversely.
[Also Read: 4 Months Old Baby Food]
Sleeping
Your 16-week old baby’s sleep schedule should start falling in sync with your schedule and you may find your baby sleeping through the night, which would be quite a relief for you. This may not always be the case since the cerebral and physical development at this stage is at an all-time high and most of the growth happens in deep sleep only. If your baby has not been fed properly during the day, there are higher chances of him waking up at night for a quick feed. For most other babies, they do tend to wake up at night but that isn’t because of hunger. That is a natural rhythm they settle into. In such situations, having your baby sleep next to you is advantageous. At times, your baby might wake up, make simple sounds, and go back to sleep all by himself. At other times, if the sounds continue, you can quickly give him your breast. He will suckle on it for a while until he is lulled back to sleep.
[Also Read: 4 Months Old Baby Sleep]
Tips to Take Care of Your 16-week-old Baby
Here are some tips you should follow while caring for your 16-week-old baby.
Most mothers opt to introduce solids at this age. You can too if you want, but don’t stop breastfeeding him. Breast milk is very nutritious for a baby, so keep breastfeeding your baby.

At times, teething of the baby may cause him some pain and he may want to chew on to something constantly. Keep a sterile chewy toy next to him for that.

Let your child start sitting for extended periods regularly. This will further build the strength in his back and spine.

[Also Read: 4 Months Old Baby Care]
Tests and Vaccinations
A large number of vaccines are usually administered in the weeks prior to this week. If all of them have been done as per the schedule, no additional vaccination is scheduled for this week.
Games and Activities to Keep Your Baby Engaged
As your baby will be able to sit upright for longer and support his own head, you can involve him in a number of games. As he can also look around quite a bit, you can start by making soap bubbles for him. This can be played in the hall but also in the bathroom since there will be soap and water quite a bit. Make sure your little one is seated firmly in a seat or on the bed secured properly on all sides. Then start blowing bubbles and let them float all around. The mere sight of floating bubbles will get him all excited. Pop the bubbles with your fingers or let them settle on your hand. This will let him know that it is fine to touch these bubbles. Once that happens, there’s no stopping him from trying to grab them all.
Your baby will also enjoy listening to music and songs. By this age, he may also remember certain sounds. So try making up a song of your own, where you start pointing at yourself and say ‘mama’, point at the father and say ‘dada’ and so on. These simple words will help him associate different people accordingly.
[Also Read: 4 Months Old Baby Games and Activities]
When to Consult a Doctor
Most babies gain substantial weight around this week which is within the expected norms. If your baby does not gain enough weight as per his age, it is suggested that you have your baby’s paediatrician look into the matter.
Apart from that, if your 16-week old baby’s fussiness keeps increasing and he does not sleep as much as needed, he does not eat properly or respond to sounds, you should refer a doctor a the earliest.
Once your baby turns four months of age, he will start taking his own measures at exploring the world and learning new things even more passionately. As much joy as that would bring, it is important you be on guard so that he doesn’t end up hurting himself. Start babyproofing certain places around the home and keep the environment safe and secure to ensure he grows properly and remains unhurt.
Previous Week: 15 Weeks Old Baby
Next Week: 17 Weeks Old Baby
90,000 growth surges in children - Article Babysleep about leaps for development of weeks in children
06/06/2016
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947
Article

Tatyana Chkhikvishvili

Tatyana Chkhikvishvili

Head of the Online program, psychologist, consultant on a consultant on a consultant on a consultant on a consultant on a consultant on a consultant on a consultant sleep and breastfeeding

mother of two children

For the first 1.5 years of life, the child changes fantastically! Height, weight, physical skills and mental abilities - never again in his life will his development be so rapid. nine0003
But the development of the child does not occur evenly, but in leaps. Suddenly, unexpectedly, some new skill appears in the crumbs, and then for some time nothing new seems to happen. In fact, a new skill has a preparatory period, about a week. And this week is a real crisis for both the baby and the parents.

These crises in the development of children are noticeable and natural, Dr. Hetty Vandereit and Professor Frans Ploy - psychologists, specialists in the field of early childhood development - even created a special calendar of child crises. nine0003
But don't be afraid! Each crisis is a consequence of the development of the child, so these crisis weeks are more likely to add up to a calendar of jumps in the development of the child. Each crisis is a jump in the development of the nervous system, a jump in the growth of the brain, the emergence of new abilities in a child. For a baby, this is comparable to the discovery of a new, completely unknown world. Of course, this worries the child. During a crisis, he can worry, act up, cry, sleep and eat worse.

Change is too fast. They are incomprehensible to the child, he is excited and frightened. During a crisis, the baby really needs your attention and help. Be patient. It is in your power to help your child go through every crisis, every growth spurt easier and faster. nine0003
The growth spurt table shows how developmental spurts are distributed over the weeks of a baby's life. Weeks highlighted in light green show crisis. Lightning and blue color indicates the most difficult time. The crisis is followed by weeks marked in white - this is a calm period, the end of the crisis. The child successfully survived another leap and mastered something new. Until the next developmental leap and a new crisis, there will be a rather calm time when the baby consolidates new skills. nine0003
Child crisis calendar

Developmental leaps in children occur at about the same age. Up to 1.5 years, the child experiences 10 such jumps. At first, each crisis is short, and they often succeed each other. Gradually, the intervals between crisis periods lengthen, but the duration of each jump also increases.

If the baby was born prematurely, see the growth spurt calendar from the due date (DOT). If the baby was born late, start counting earlier, also with the PDD. nine0003
BabySleep prepared a series of articles about growth spurts in children. Learn how to recognize the approach of each crisis, what your child will learn after it ends, what difficulties may arise and how to help your child cope with them.

A series of articles prepared on the basis of the book “The Wonder Weeks: How to Turn Your Baby's Eight Great Fussy Phases into Magical Leaps Forward”, Hetty Vanderijt, Frans Plooij (“Naughty? So developing!”, Hetty Vanderijt, Frans Ploy) nine0003
#surge

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Child's sleep - BabySleep Center for Children's Sleep and Development

From birth to 1. 5 years old, a child experiences 10 crises of growth and development. Do not be afraid, every crisis is a jump in the development of the nervous system, the growth of the brain, the emergence of new abilities in a child.

Enter the date of birth of the child and get a personal table of developmental leaps

Was the baby born at the wrong time?

Clicky for lightning to find out more than

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A difficult time is expected around this week

Now is a relatively quiet time

Perhaps a difficult time

Life hack from BabySleep

When the table of jumps and crises of the child is in sight, it is easier for the family to survive them!

Print PDF

When

Curses of the child are

5 week / 1 month

1 leap: new sensations

8 Week (8–9) / 2 months

2 Generation: Patterns
9000 12 Week / 2 ,5 months

3rd leap: awareness of change

19th week (15–19) / 4 months

4th leap: exploration of space

26th week (23–26th) / 5. 5 months

5th leap: awareness of distance

week (34–37) / 8–9 months

6th leap: understanding categories

46th week (42–46) / 10.5 months

7th leap: construction and sequencing

55th week (51–54) / 1 year

8 leap: planning and goals

64 (60–64) / 1 year and 2 months

9 leap: abstractions and principles

75 weeks (71–75) / 1 year and 5 months

10 leap: systems and management

FAQ

How to use the calendar if the baby was born early or late?

Where did the crisis data come from?

The child sleeps very badly during the crisis weeks, what should I do?

If some jumps go unnoticed?

If the crisis weeks in the table and in life do not coincide?

If the child seems to be in crisis all the time?

Why does the number of the crisis week in the calendar not always coincide with the number of the leap week?

Elena Muradova

Founder of BabySleep, first sleep consultant in Russia and CIS

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