Researchers have carefully measured babys’ physical size with very precise measures on a daily basis, and they found that growth is not steady as most would expect. Rather it is characterized by alternating periods of rapid change and no change. In other words, physical growth follows a burst-pause-burst-pause pattern, not one of smooth and steady increase.
Reference
Lampl, M. & Johnson, M.L. (1997) Identifying saltatory growth patterns in infancy: A comparison of results based on measurement protocol. American Journal of Human Biology 9:343-356.
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