Monthly Baby Milestones

Your children may be able to start crawling

on his or her 6th month of age,

but others may don't even be able

to roll over from their tummy yet.

The development stages of every child

are different,

but theoretically,

babies will follow these milestones

throughout their first year of life

at their own pace.

1 MONTH OLD BABY MILESTONES:

Notices faces.

Sees bold patterns, especially in black and white.

Recognizes the sound of your voice.

Starts to coo

and make sounds beyond a simple cry.

Brings his hands within range of his eyes and mouth.

Moves his head side to side

when lying on his stomach.

2 MONTH OLD BABY MILESTONES:

Starts to recognize people at the distance

and smile.

Begins to follow things with eyes.

Briefly calms herself.

May bring her hands to her mouth to self-soothe.

Begins to get fussy

and acts bored if the activity doesn't change.

Holds her head up.

Begins to push up when lying on her tummy.

Makes smoother movements with her arms and legs.

3 MONTH OLD BABY MILESTONES:

Can distinguish your face from others.

Starts to have different cries for different needs:

hunger,

diaper change,

pain.

Opens and shuts hands.

Turns his head away

to express boredom.

Swipes at dangling objects.

Follows moving objects with his eyes.

Turns his head in the direction of sounds.

Enjoys playing with other people

and may cry when the playing stops.

4 MONTH OLD BABY MILESTONES:

Starts to giggle and laugh.

Copies facial expressions.

Reaches for a toy with one hand.

Holds her head steady, unsupported.

Pushes up onto her elbows

when she's lying on her tummy.

5 MONTH OLD BABY MILESTONES:

Rolls over from tummy to back.

Explores toys by putting them in his mouth.

Babbles.

Loves to look at himself in a mirror.

Entertains himself for short periods of time.

6 MONTH OLD BABY MILESTONES:

Starts creeping along the floor.

Starts sitting unaided.

Passes things from one hand to the other.

Starts to understand simple words.

Responds to her name.

7 MONTH OLD BABY MILESTONES:

Enjoys dropping things on the floor.

Plays simple games like peekaboo.

Begins to respond to “no”.

Finds partially hidden objects.

8 MONTH OLD BABY MILESTONES:

Begins crawling.

Stands while holding onto something.

Develops a pincer grasp

(using the thumb and index finger).

9 MONTH OLD BABY MILESTONES:

Maybe wary of strangers

and clings to familiar people.

Has favorite toys.

Makes a lot of different sounds

like "mama" and "bababababa".

Copies sounds and gestures of others.

Uses fingers to point to things.

10 MONTH OLD BABY MILESTONES:

Explores things in different ways

like shaking,

banging and throwing.

Pulls to stand.

Starts cruising.

Shuffling along while holding on to furniture.

Gets into a sitting position without help.

Begins feeding herself finger food,

thanks to better hand-eye coordination.

11 MONTH OLD BABY MILESTONES:

Understands object permanence.

Crawls up the upstairs while supervised.

Makes sounds with changes in tone,

sounds more like speech.

Develops separation anxiety.

12 MONTH OLD BABY MILESTONES:

Responds to simple spoken requests

and directions.

Uses basic gestures

like shaking his head="No",

or waving="Bye bye".

Says "mama" and "dada"

and exclamations like "oh oh".

Looks at the right image or object

when it's named.

Starts to using things correctly,

for example

drinks from a cup or brushes his hair.

May stand alone.

May take a few steps without holding on.