Baby Milestones By Month: Your Child’s First Year Of Development

Every child is unique! Babies change and grow at an astounding rate, with new and exciting developments occurring every month. Parents are instinctively concerned about their child’s growth and want to ensure that they are making appropriate progress. While they grow, they pass through key developmental milestones at different ages. In this blog, we brought baby milestones by month to help you with the journey of motherhood.

What are developmental milestones?

Developmental milestones in children are a collection of functional skills or age-appropriate tasks that most children can perform at a certain age. Despite the fact that each milestone has an age range, the age at which a properly developing child accomplishes that milestone might vary significantly. Below are the milestones you can expect during your child’s first year of life!

Baby milestones 1 month:

It may seem that your baby is simply eating, pooping, and sleeping machine at this point. 1-month baby milestones include:

• Bringing hands and fists to mouth. 
• Developing reflexes like- Flinching at loud noises, closing eyes at bright lights, and focusing on things placed within 12 feet of their face.

Baby milestones 2 month:

Your 2-month-old child is bright-eyed and inquisitive, smiling at people and interacting with everything. At this age, babies are quite social and like interacting with others. 2-month-old baby milestones include:

• Starts to follow objects with gaze and recognizes individuals from afar.
• May bring hands to mouth and suck on hand.
• Turn towards sounds- like yours!
• Gurgling/cooing.
• Pays attention to faces.
• Can hold their head up and begins to push up while lying on tummy.
• Begins to smile at people.

Baby milestones 3-month:

Watch for 3-month baby milestones:

• When lying on their stomach hold their head and chest up and kick their legs. 
• Grasping toys.
• Put their fists in their mouth.
• Making sounds like ooh and ah.
• Recognizing familiar faces from a distance.
• Trying to imitate your expressions.

Baby milestones 4 month:

A 4-month-old baby may hold their head up more consistently and for longer periods, grasps toys with more coordination, and copy your expressions with more accuracy. Other 4 month old milestones are:

• When held in standing position pushing down on legs.
• Begins to babble and copies sounds they hears.
• Let you know if the baby is happy or sad.
• Responds to affection.
• Ability to hold a toy, and shake it.
• While lying on stomach, pushes up to elbows.

Baby Milestones 5 month:

Your child continues to grow, and explore, master new skills as their coordination and strength increase. You may also notice your baby doing things like:

• Rolls over from front to back and back to front.
• Grabbing their feet, and maybe putting them into their mouth.
• Pass things from one hand to the other.

Baby Milestones 6 month:

They are now getting better and better at grasping and holding objects, your baby is growing up! 6-month baby milestones include:

• Making (mmmm) and (eeee, ooooo) sounds.
• Playing and expressing displeasure when playtime stops.
• Able to express emotion by crying/ whining when sad or angry and laughing or squealing when happy.
• Responds to sounds by making sounds.
• Responds to own name.
• Begins to sit without support for a small period.

Baby milestones 7 month:

At 7 months your baby continues to build on what they have learned already. 7 month baby milestones include:

• Sitting without support for longer periods.
• Responding to the word “no”.
• Putting things in their mouth to explore them. 
• Tracking objects more smoothly.

Baby milestones 8 month:

Your little one can now roll over, sit up, and also pass objects from one hand to another or to mouth like a pro. In your 8 month baby milestones you might also notice your baby:

• Start rocking back and forth on their hands and knees (precursors to crawling).
• Try to pull up to a standing position.
• Continue to babble (ma-ma or da-da).

Baby milestones 9 month:

Your baby is on the move! Your 9 month baby milestones includes:

• Crawling.
• Playing peekaboo.
• Point at things they want.
• Put things in their mouth. 
• Stand with holding on.
• Try to get into a sitting position.
• Has a favorite toy.
• Understands “no”.  

Baby milestones 10 month:

Your baby continues to explore and experiment. Watch your baby as they’re:

• Walking while holding on to furniture or objects around a room.
• Banging objects together just to hear the sound they make.
• Poking at things.
• Putting objects into a container and take them out.
• Shaking their head “no” and wave “bye-bye”.

Baby milestones 11 month:

Aside from reaching, crawling, and cruising, your baby might be:  

• Understanding simple declarative sentences, such as “don’t touch”. 
• Replicating your activities, such as pressing buttons on a toy phone and babbling to imitate conversation

Baby milestones 12 month:

The final developmental stage of a baby’s first year represents a big change. They are no longer an infant, and may act more like a toddler. They are learning to:

• Start using objects correctly, (for example, using a spoon or a comb).
• Responds to simple spoken requests.
• Copies gestures.
• Puts things in a container, takes things out of a container. 
• Can follow simple directions like “pick up the toy”.
• Able to sit without help.
• Can stand alone and take a few steps without holding. 

While no two children develop on the same timeline, there are sensitive periods in which major developmental milestones are reached. Understanding milestones and whether or not children are meeting them can help parents detect problems early or reassure them that their children are on the right track. But if your baby isn’t reaching some of these milestones, don’t panic. Be sure to discuss this with the paediatrician about whether to consider an early intervention evaluation.

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