Leaps in your baby’s mental development

Leaps

Our research – which started in 1971 on Chimpanzees in Jane Goodalls Gombe National Park in Tanzania – led to the 10 mental leaps of a baby. We discovered that babies tend to cry more and are inconsolable at certain times without the exact cause for their distress being clear at that moment. “Why is my baby crying?”. These fussy phases occur ten times during the first 20 months of a baby: the 10 leaps of The Wonder Weeks. Learn all about the leaps in The Wonder Weeks app.

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Developmental leaps in babies

Developmental leaps in babies

With every little leap your baby takes, it acquires a new perceptive ability. Because of that one new ability, your baby is now able to perceive, to see, hear, taste, smell and feel countless new things. All these things had been there in their environment all along, but prior to the leap, the baby was not able to notice them because its brain couldn’t process these perceptions yet.

Your baby will go through the first 7 leaps in the first year, while leaps 8, 9 and 10 will occur in the second year of your baby’s life.

"The Wonder Weeks was a game-changer for our family. It helped us understand our baby's growth and adapt to their changing needs."

Your baby leap chart in one app

Your baby leap chart in one app

Fortunately, you can prepare for a leap an know when your baby is about to begin with the fussy phase. In the integrated baby leap chart of the app, you can see exactly when your baby will start the fussy phase and the skills phase. This leap chart is based on your baby’s due date.

Why do we use the due date and not the date of birth? The brain development of every baby progresses at the same pace and starts at the same time: at fertilization. Your baby’s brain develops not only outside, but also inside the womb.

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The two phases of baby leaps

Each mental leap of your baby has two phases: the “fussy” phase and the “skills” phase. During the first phase, you will notice that your baby behaves differently than normal, that its world is changing and that it must get accustomed to it. As soon as your baby has passed the fussy phase, it will be able to cope with the skills phase; this becomes apparent in the new skills that your baby has developed.

Phase one of every baby leap: the fussy phase

The first phase of every baby leap is known as the “fussy” phase. This phase is clearly dominated by the “3 C’s”: crying, clinginess and crankiness. There is a reason for the fussy phase – babies don’t cry out of the blue. They are upset. Their brains undergo a sudden and drastic change, thus also changing the way they perceive the world around them. These 3 C’s are the calling card for each leap.
Some other characteristic features differ from one leap to another. For example: your baby may sleep fitfully during a leap, your baby may feed badly during a leap, your baby may become shy during a leap, or your baby may not want you to change its nappies. If and how many of these characteristics your baby may display during a leap is different for each baby.

Our app will tell you which characteristics to look out for during each leap of your baby, and you can also track them in app. As soon as you know that your baby is in a leap, you can assist your baby with all the things a leap has to offer and provide some additional comfort.

During the fussy phase, your baby’s world will be turned upside down. Your baby wants one thing and one thing only: to be near you. You are the one person your baby knows best. Your baby will cry and prefer to be carried around by you all day. When your baby grows older, it will do everything to stay close to you during this phase. Sometimes, your little one may want to be “babied” again: it is looking for the old familiar sensations. Parents often experience the fussy phase as rather stressful, but taking a leap has a big advantage: it gives your baby the opportunity to learn new things. This brings us to the skills phase: the fun part!

Part two of a baby leap: the skills phase

Because your baby is crying and clingy during the fussy phase, as a parent you will often automatically pay more attention to your baby: you want to know what’s going on. As a result, you will notice more quickly that your baby suddenly knows more and is able to do a lot more than you expect. Your baby will suddenly attempt to do things you’d never seen it do before. Your baby has made a leap in it’s development! This is the phase that parents anticipate most eagerly: the skills phase. This phase starts around the end of the fussy phase or just after its peak. At this stage, your baby has overcome the shock of the “new world” that is opening up to it. Your baby is now starting to discover the new world. Some things are completely new, other things are familiar but your baby will now experience them differently. The question is: which parts will your baby explore first? Here your baby will make its own choices. Depending on its predisposition, preference and temperament. One baby will first try out everything, while another baby may be completely fascinated by one thing and will focus on that first.

Baby leap chart

During our research into mental leaps, we discovered that this phase in which your baby cries more frequently and shows a different behavior than normally, can actually be predicted quite accurately almost up to the very week based on the due date. Discover the leaps of your baby on our website, using our baby leap chart.

More about leaps

Leap 1

WEEK 4 - SENSATIONS

From week 4, your baby enters leap 1, the world of sensations. The first signals of your baby’s first leap will appear between weeks 4 to 6 after the due date.

More about leap 1

Leap 2

WEEK 7 - PATTERNS

From week 7, your baby enters leap 2: the world of patterns. Your baby could show the first signals of leap 2 between week 7 to week 10 after the due date.

More about leap 2

Leap 3

WEEK 11 - SMOOTH TRANSITIONS

Around 11 weeks, you may see signs of the next leap approaching: leap 3, the world of smooth transitions. Your baby is acquiring yet another new skill!

More about leap 3

Leap 4

WEEK 14 - EVENTS

From week 14, leap 4 starts! The first signals of leap 4 will appear between weeks 14 to 20 after the due date. During leap 3, your baby learned to see several smooth transitions, patterns, or sensations without seeing any connection.

More about leap 4

Leap 5

WEEK 22 - RELATIONSHIPS

From 22 weeks, your baby enters the world of relationships. Welcome to leap 5! Leap 5 is no small leap. This is a giant leap! Why? This leap enables your baby to perceive the relationships between all the earlier leaps.

More about leap 5

Leap 6

WEEK 33 - CATEGORIES

From week 33, the world of categories will be knocking at your door, leap 6. The first signals of leap 6 will appear during weeks 33 to 38. Once your baby can perceive “categories”, they will realize that they can divide the world into groups.

More about leap 6

Leap 7

WEEK 41 - SEQUENCES

Around 41 weeks, the world of sequences is just around the corner. Welcome to leap 7! Between 41 and 47 leap 7 will start. While your baby mainly studied things by taking or tearing them apart during the previous leap, they will now be rather “constructive” after this leap.

More about leap 7

Leap 8

WEEK 51 - PROGRAMS

Hip, hip, hooray! During this leap, your baby will celebrate its first birthday. Your baby will not only make a leap in their mental development but will also turn form a baby into a toddler!

More about leap 8

Leap 9

WEEK 59 - PRINCIPLES

Around 59 weeks, you may see signs of the next leap: leap 9. Welcome to the world of principles. If your toddler has taken the leap, you will notice that they are running all kinds of “programs” more smoothly, more naturally and more clearly.

More about leap 9

Leap 10

WEEK 70 - SYSTEMS

Around 70 weeks, your toddler is ready for a new leap into the world of systems: leap 10. The last leap, at least the last one we have recorded. In leap 10, you can now observe your toddler becoming aware of systems after making this leap!

More about leap 10