Take a look at these common developmental milestones and the ages at which children normally reach them, so you know whether they are on track, or so you can recognize when your child’s development may be delayed.
What You Need to Know About Milestones
Parents are often discouraged from comparing the growth and development of their own child against that of other children. The reason is that there is a wide range of when children reach most milestones. For example, most children begin to walk well on their own sometime between 11 and 15 months. If you have a group of 12-month-olds, you will likely see some walking well already, and many others still just cruising around while holding onto things. And all can be developing normally. If your child isn’t reaching his developmental milestones on time though, it would be good to talk to your pediatrician to see if there might be a problem with his development and any kind of developmental delay.
Spontaneous smile: This almost reflexive smile can occur early in the newborn period—as early as your baby’s first few days of life and should be present by the time they are 10 weeks old.Social smile: The social smile occurs in response to something, like when you sing or talk to your baby. It also is a developmental milestone most infants reach when they are one to two months old.
Spending less time prone or on their stomach, since the release of the 1996 Back to Sleep recommendations to reduce the risk of SIDS, caused some infants to roll over a little later than they used to. It can also cause some delays in picking up other milestones, including sitting up and crawling. Fortunately, by the time they are toddlers, these delays all seem to disappear no matter how your baby sleeps, so it’s likely more appropriate to describe these kids as having a ’lag’ in their development and not a true delay. If you want to avoid this lag, you might try some tummy time during the day. As with rolling over, this milestone can lag a bit if your child does not spend much time on their tummy. Still, most infants sit up without support when they are between five and a half to nine months old. Keep in mind that even once infants can stand with support, they can’t usually pull themselves to a standing position on their own until they are eight months to one year old. What makes children take the leap from cruising around, in which they walk while holding on to things, to taking those first steps on their own? Is it courage, balance, or just chance? Whatever the reason, most babies begin walking well on their own between 11 and 18 months. Most experts think that it can be an early sign of autism or another developmental disorder if your child isn’t making any gestures by the time he is 12 months old. These gestures include waving, pointing, and reaching for things. Before they use a thumb-finger pincer grasp, at about seven months to one year, infants typically pick things up with a more immature palmar grasp. Pretend play often involves things like using a computer mouse like a phone, imitating an activity a toddler has seen his parents do over and over. Toddlers will also begin to copy more of their parents daily household tasks, such as dusting and sweeping, at around 18 months. Pretend play will get more elaborate as your child gets older; for example, your child pretends he is a doctor, fireman, or race car driver. Well before your baby’s first words, your baby should be saying single syllables and frequently jabbering or babbling. Not babbling by 12 months is seen by most experts as an early sign of autism or other developmental disorder. Most infants are babbling well before twelve months though. In fact, you may hear your baby’s first words, which are usually mama or dada, by the time she is six to nine months old. Your baby won’t use those words more specifically or correctly until she is seven to 13 months old though. Most toddlers can walk up steps once they are 14 to 24 months old. That doesn’t mean that it is time to take the gates off of your stairs just yet. Keep things childproofed until your child is older. Remember that gates should be installed on both the top and bottom of every staircase in your home. For how long? Probably at least until your child is able to open them on their own. Although you can begin to read to your infant or toddler at any age, it becomes especially fun once they begin pointing to pictures in the books. Most toddlers can point to pictures once they are about 18 to 24 months old, which is soon followed by actually naming the pictures she is pointing to. Instead, they like to use their fingers, at least until they learn to use a spoon, a milestone most children reach between 13 and 21 months. Preschoolers can usually learn to pedal a tricycle once they are about three years old. By four, they can usually learn to ride a two-wheel bike with training wheels, which they can take off when they are about five to six years old. Like learning their ABCs and printing their name, it is important that preschoolers learn to count so that they are ready to start kindergarten. Learning to count can take some practice though, so don’t be discouraged if your child isn’t getting it right away. Do talk to your pediatrician if you don’t think that your child is on track to start kindergarten though, including that he can’t count, print his name, recognize letters, pay attention for short periods of time, etc. Remember that most kids can count to 10 or more once they are four to five and a half years old. Most kids have fun playing with blocks. It is doubtful that any of them realize that stacking blocks into a tower is actually an important developmental test. Making a tower of blocks is usually considered to be a visual-motor/problem-solving milestone, and most kids can make a tower of:
2 blocks by 15 to 21 months4 blocks by 17 to 24 months6 blocks by 18 to 30 months8 blocks by 24 to 36 months9 blocks after 3 years
Take off his clothes between 14 and 24 monthsPut on some clothing between 21 and 30 monthsPut on a t-shirt between two and a half and three and a half years
Your child will learn to get dressed and undressed without help, including buttoning his clothes, when he is three to four and a half years old. Although in this day of Velcro shoes and Crocs, it may seem like your child may never need to learn how to tie his own shoes, most kids learn by about age five years.
