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You are here: Home / Science / Why Do Babies Sleep So Much and How Fast Do Babies Grow When They Sleep?

Why Do Babies Sleep So Much and How Fast Do Babies Grow When They Sleep?

June 29, 2020 by Karen Hill

One reason babies sleep so much is that human growth factor, made by the pituitary gland, is secreted during sleep in higher concentrations than when the baby is awake.

How the body and brain coordinate the process is not fully known, but for the first few months of life, a baby sleeps most of the day, with short periods of waking, and grows quickly.

As the sleeping time gradually decreases, growth slows.

A baby who weighed seven pounds at birth would typically weigh fourteen pounds at five months, twenty-one pounds at eleven months and twenty-eight pounds at twenty-four months.

So you can see that the weight gain curve flattens out tremendously.

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Filed Under: Science

About Karen Hill

Karen Hill is a freelance writer, editor, and columnist. Born in New York, her work has appeared in the Examiner, Yahoo News, Buzzfeed, among others.

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