I have always been highly sceptical about growth spurts. If they existed we would *see* them reflected in the data-evidenced growth charts. 

I talk about 'appetite spurts' and make it clear they can happen at any time and for sometimes unknown reasons. Responsive feeding - which is what we should be advocating - means babies can signal their needs to have more time and/or more episodes at the breast, and these needs can be met without a fuss or too much analysis :) 

Being puzzled, or distressed, or frustrated because you don't know *why* the baby has changed a pattern you have become used to (always presuming the baby is healthy and thriving) is a waste of energy! 

Heather Welford Neil
UK

> On 11 Mar 2018, at 8:51 am, Márta Guóth-Gumberger <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> 
> Hi Lisa,
> 
> A number of years ago Jacqueline Kent (research group Peter Hartmann, Australia) stated at one of the gold-online conferences in the forum that growth spurts do NOT exist. This corresponded to my experience. We had some private communication about that and she wrote that she could find no scientific study that has measured growth spurts in breastfed infants.  
> 
> The question is to find studies to CONFIRM growth spurts. 
> 
> When I wrote my book on weight gain and breastfeeding (first published 2011 in German) I researched a lot into this issue and the publications I found were not convincing to confirm growth spurts in breastfed infants.
> 
> I have meanwhile around 1100 growth curves (mainly weight) of individual babies together with their breastfeeding history. Some mothers weigh their babies almost daily (on their own, this is not my recommendation) and these data track exactly along the WHO-standards if everything is going normally. In my material, shifts on the growth curve have ALWAYS a reason (sickness, low milk supply, not adequate bf frequency, tongue-tie etc.)
> 
> I have read a lot about growth spurts in many publications but without references. This information is copied from one publication to the next. Even the ILCA-guidelines 18 speak about growth spurts, but without reference.
> 
> “Frequency days” do exist – and we do not know exactly why. However they are not reflected in the weight gain of the child.
> 
> Many greetings
> Márta Guóth-Gumberger, IBCLC, Germany
> 
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