If any of you follow my Instagram you would have seen me talk about my daughter going through a mental development leap so to help put it into perspective thought I would talk about it in a blog post.
Most mum’s know what these are however there are some who do not know and that is okay. Every day as mum’s we are learning and understanding.
First and foremost to really understand what different leaps babies go through what really helped me was downloading the app ‘The Wonder Weeks’. It is available in the app store on your iPhone and in the google play store on your Android phone. This app is not free but trust me paying £4.99 is worth it.
This post will consist of me mainly reviewing this app as honestly, the best investment I made!
The app takes your baby’s due date and calculates when the upcoming leaps your baby is most likely to go through and so far has been pretty accurate.
According to the app the total number of leaps a baby goes through are 10 leaps and my daughter is currently going through leap 4 – which is so far one of her biggest leaps to date
When the app asked me to enter in my babies due date I thought that is odd. My daughter was born on her due date but not all babies are born on their date. According to the app, they explain that
“The timing of the mental development of a baby is linked to the age since conception, not to he age since birth. Therefore, to know when your baby is making a leap, you have to fill in the due date, not the date of birth”
What is really helpful about this app is when my daughter is going through a leap the information provided about
a) what she is learning/developing skills wise
b) what to expect in term of her fussy phases
c) what I should do to help her through this leap and also how I can help with her development
As a mum, I want to understand what going through this leap means for my daughter and her ever expanding brain.
Babies go through growth spurts – sudden increase or change in body or a part of the body as baby grows. The growth spurts are not always big ones but also many small ones happen and these spurts happen along side baby’s mental development leaps.
I didn’t know this but a leap consists of 2 phases 1) a fussy phase and acts very different to how he/she normally acts 2) a period where he/she is mastering the use of the new skills that they have developed. In turn he/she will have gained and created interests that are unique and independent – which fascinates me and I cannot wait to see what they are
I mentioned these so called ‘fussy phases’ and no they are not just mine or your imagination. Our babies go through them and it was until I downloaded this app I understood why. When my daughter first went through her fussy phase, it turned out she was going through her first leap. My cousin was the one who advised I download this app as she found it so useful and low and behold it is very useful!
The fussy phase during a leap consists of the 3c’s (as descibed by The Wonder Weeks app) Crying, Clinging and Crankiness which my baby as well as many others experience. What also made sense is that for a baby these leaps are a big deal, they are continuously seeing the same world again new.
This app lists all the new skills my baby can master although these do not happen all at once as each baby is different. Not even that the many things my baby will do during her fussy period can vary as mentioned each baby is different but this information is extremely helpful for me so I know what to expect and also what new thing my baby will do.
The chart is very handy as it provides an overview of upcoming weeks ahead as to when baby will enter leap and during the leap period when baby’s fussy phases will take place.
What I find really useful is when my baby is going through her fussy phase the guidelines the app provides in terms of what to do and how to ease my baby through the leap as well as how best to enhance my baby’s skills in terms of what activity’s me and her should do together to best encourage her skills she will be learning during this leap.
These days everything is so easily accessible, so having The Wonder Weeks app downloaded on my phone I have been able to sync upcoming leap dates into my iPhone calendar so I get notifications sent direct to me letting me know when my daughter is entering her next leap – pretty cool huh?!
My daughters current leap:
As mentioned my daughter is going through Leap 4 and surprisingly the app was not accurate in when she started this leap as she started this leap a week early. one thing to note is with this leap in the app it does state that a baby could start this leap a week before or after the anticipated date. So it is best to be aware of this but also sometimes the dates can vary by a couple of days in general.
Leap 4: Events
takes place between 14 and a half and 19 and a half weeks.
By far for me, this has been the toughest leap for my baby. A lot has changed (although I know its temporary) her sleeping, he feeding, her mood and boy oh boy how clingy she has become BUT as the app states these tell tale signs are pretty normal. I am very much looking forward to the new skills she will have mastered after this leap which according to the app include:
- hardly missing when she grasps something (at present certain items that are easy to grasp she can do i.e. cloths etc but not toys fully. I can make her hold something that is thing but she lets go within minutes)
- putting my hand in her mouth! (cannot wit to see this and how cute this will be)
- being busy with an activity center (I created one for her a couple of days ago and she was pretty excited – I could tell however it was all a bit to much for her so she wasn’t able to make full use of it properly.)
- searching to see where Me and her dad are (oh how I am longing for this!)
- responding to her name (at present, we call her name and we get nothing LOL)
- reacting to her image in the mirror (I have put her in the mirror plenty of times, sometimes she just looks at herself with a blank expression other times she looks away and cannot be bothered haha)
- using consonants (t the moment a lot of ooh and ahh and mmm sounds so cannot wait for this to be upped a notch hehe)
The app lists many more skills she will master but from that list those I am really looking forward to!
To end this post, according to the app this leap will lat a pretty long time so it will be only until after 19 weeks that she will start showing that she has learnt these skills so all I have to say is wish me luck during this leap and may it be easy on my baby girl.
When baby enters Leap 5, I shall definitely do a detailed post on how I manage and ease my girl through this leap but also how I deal with it to from the lows and the highs.
Remember to download The Wonder Weeks app in you app or google play store if you have not already. Head over to their website at http://www.TheWonderWeeks.com for more information as well as purchasing their book should you wish! I use the app religiously because it is so good, I do not know what I would have done without it. I even have shown my husband this app and tell him about our daughter’s leaps and what to expect so he is aware and he finds it to be great!
If you are using it, let me know how you are finding it from one mum to another, it would be good to know if you are enjoying it the same way I am.
Speak soon.
Your always,
The Soul Tamer x
the soul tamer 