Baby Milestones 101
Monitoring your child's developmental milestones helps them reach their full potential.
How your child speaks, plays, learns, and moves during their first 18 months of life provides important information about their development. Developmental milestones (or baby milestones) are specific abilities or behaviors that most children should display by a certain age. These can include how a child learns to talk, move, eat, behave, and play.
Milestones demonstrate that your child is developing and growing at an appropriate pace for their age. Missing or delayed milestones can provide clues that something may be going on with your child. Because milestones are like building blocks, each new skill a child learns builds on a previous one. The earlier a delay in development is identified, the better the chance for early intervention to help.
"Early intervention is key in helping children learn valuable skills to help catch up in their development and reach their full potential," said Megan Smith, manager of Pediatric Therapy at Reid Health.
Understanding the baby milestones
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) refers to the different developmental milestones as "domains." Each developmental domain is focused on specific abilities:
- Cognitive. This domain includes learning, thinking, and problem-solving. It's particularly focused on how a child interacts with the world around them. It also includes academic skills such as beginning to count numbers.
- Language. This domain is focused on a child's ability to express themselves and understand what is being said to them. It includes the ability to coo, point, and sing.
- Movement. This domain is focused on how a child uses their body, such as crawling and eating with utensils.
- Social/emotional. This domain is focused on how a child interacts with others and expresses emotion. It includes smiling at and getting along with others and showing affection.
2-Month Milestones
The following developmental milestones are typical for a child at 2 months of age:
- Cognitive: Follows things with eyes, recognizes people and responds to faces, and acts bored (cries) if activities don't change
- Language: "Coo"s and gurgles and responds to sounds
- Movement: Holds up their head while on their tummy and has smooth arm and leg movements Social/emotional: Smiles at others, can calm themselves briefly, and tries to look at caretakers
4-Month Milestones
The following developmental milestones are typical for a child at 4 months of age:
- Cognitive: Lets caretakers know if they're happy or sad, uses hands and eyes together, follows moving things with eyes from side to side, and recognizes familiar faces from a distance
- Language: Imitates sounds, makes babbling noises and expressive sounds, and cries in different ways to signify need
- Movement: Holds head steady without support, pushes down on legs when feet are against a firm surface, holds and shakes a toy, and brings hands to mouth
- Social/emotional: Smiles at people spontaneously, imitates expressions such as smiling or frowning, and enjoys play and interaction with others
6-Month Milestones
The following developmental milestones are typical for a child at 6 months of age:
- Cognitive: Shows curiosity and reaches for things, brings things to their mouth, and passes items from one hand to another
- Language: Babbles sounds that imitate vowels ("ah," "eh," etc.) and consonants ("m," "b," etc.), responds to their name, and makes sounds to express their emotions
- Movement: Rolls over in both directions, sits without support, and supports weight on legs
- Social/emotional: Recognizes familiar faces, responds to emotions and expresses happiness, and enjoys their own reflection
9-Month Milestones
At 9 months old, children should have a developmental screening, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics. The following developmental milestones are typical for a child at 9 months of age:
- Cognitive: Plays peek-a-boo, moves items smoothly from hand to hand, and picks up small items between thumb and pointer finger
- Language: Understands "no," uses fingers to point, and imitates sounds and gestures (recognizable sounds such as "mama")
- Movement: Sits up on their own without support, pulls themselves up to stand, and crawls
- Social/emotional: Shows fear of strangers and attachment to caretakers
12-Month Milestones
The following developmental milestones are typical for a child at 12 months of age:
- Cognitive: Shakes, bangs or throws items, copies gestures, performs simple tasks such as drinking or hair brushing, and follows simple instructions and points to things when prompted
- Language: Responds to verbal requests, performs simple gestures such as waving, says phrases and simple names, and tries to imitate adult speech
- Movement: Pulls themselves up to stand and walks with help, stands on their own, and may walk a few steps without support
- Social/emotional: Is shy around strangers and expresses age-appropriate fear, cries when separated from caretakers, has favorite toys and people, and asks for things using sounds and gestures
18-Month Milestones
The following developmental milestones are typical for a child at 18 months of age:
- Cognitive: Recognizes household items such as a spoon or telephone, holds and uses a writing utensil on their own, is able to follow verbal commands without any gestures such as "sit down"
- Language: Uses single words like "no" and expresses requests to others
- Movement: Walks, uses steps and runs on their own, can undress themselves, drinks from a cup, and uses utensils
- Social/emotional: Throws temper tantrums, expresses fear of or affection to others, and plays with toys or other children
What should you do if your child is missing milestones?
Children develop at different rates, but monitoring milestones allows for early identification of areas where they may be falling behind. Sharing specific observations with your child's pediatrician about key areas that are delayed will be helpful in developing a care plan.
"It is important to address any concerns about a child's development with the pediatrician so it can be explored in greater depth," Smith said. "Your pediatrician can help identify if there is something going on with your child and connect you with valuable support and resources to give your child the best opportunity at success."
Your child's pediatrician may refer them to therapy for further assessment of their development. Physical Therapists specialize in the evaluation and treatment of developmental, neurological, and genetic conditions through the span of a child's life. Occupational Therapists guide children to reach their maximum potential and independence in all areas. Speech Therapists provide assessment and treatment of speech, language, social, fluency, voice, swallowing, and cognitive-communication deficits in children. Your child may be referred to one or more of these specialists to best meet their needs.