A Guide To 'Leaps'

If you’re in parenting groups, or have sat with a Health Visitor who is ‘in the know’, you may have heard of the term ‘leaps’, leaving you bemused, confused, or super curious!

What ARE ‘Leaps’?

Interchangeably referred to as developmental leaps and mental leaps, leaps are vital parts of your child’s development – you’ll notice them as they suddenly acquire amazing new skills, but leaps can also affect sleep and feeding temporarily, which you can hardly miss!

Leaps happen starting in the womb, and after birth your child will go through a whopping TEN leaps! Here they all are…

In The Womb

Leap One

Leap Two

Leap Three

Leap Four

Leap Five

Leap Six

Leap Seven

Leap Eight

Leap Nine

Leap Ten

Whewww… so many leaps to keep track of!

How Can I Track Leaps?

The Wonder Weeks app is very popular amongst parents for tracking these leaps. I personally foumd the app confusing as it goes by due date and not birth date – Max was a 37 weeker, so I found it hard to correspond and work out until I had a little play with it and clued on.

Here’s what the members of our private groups have to say about Wonder Weeks App…

‘I loved it up until around 9 months, and then it seemed to differ a little, but I think it’s great for helping you understand your newborn better and possibly the reason I don’t use it as much now is I know my boy a lot better!’

‘In the beginning I loved it!
I ended up hating it. I find some of the abilities in the later leaps far fetched for age and honestly it made me anxious a lot of times. I deleted it when my son was about 13/14 months.’

‘Love it! Was recommended to me by a friend. Even though it’s 1/2 days out with timeline, its amazing!!! Really helps you understand newborn baby’s perception, but it does get a bit far fetched the older baby gets.‘