Understanding your baby milestones is the first step into knowing what to do for your baby to help him reach his developmental stages.
I remember laying on the floor next to my baby in his playroom thinking to myself. “If I knew what you needed to work on and I knew what exercises to do, I would be the best mom ever”
I often sat there bored not knowing how to play with him. So I took it upon myself to find everything I needed to know about baby milestones for development to become a better mom and provide my son with what he needed to be the best he could be.
Is your baby developing at the right time? here’s all you need to know!
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Constantly worrying about our babies is natural. Wanting to help them achieve every milestone in their developmental stages is a gift. Here is a list of the baby milestones and the ages when an infant typically reaches them, plus some red flags you should be aware of.
Your baby will develop at her own pace. Most babies reach certain milestones at similar ages. If you feel she is significantly falling behind, or have more than a few of the red flags, talk to your health care provider, ask for an evaluation and remember: No two babies are exactly alike and the below are just guidelines.
Short on time? Use the quick guide
- What Are Baby Milestones?
- Milestones month by month
- At what age can babies support their head?
- When will my baby rollover?
- At what age do babies laugh?
- What age should babies sit up?
- When will my baby start to crawl?
- When will my baby start to walk?
- When will my baby be able to stand
- When will my baby start talking
- Milestones Red Flags
You might be interested in Fun Under 1 ebook – with over 60+ activities to play before your baby’s first birthday.
When I was pregnant, I used to worry about everything. Was I eating the right foods
As a first-time mother, all of this was new information. I thought the worry would stop once the pregnancy was over and the baby was in my arms.
I was wrong.
I continue to worry. He is 16 months now and I still worry about each milestone he is supposed to hit. I am constantly looking for ways to help him reach those milestones and help him in his development.
I don’t think worrying about this is a bad idea. I think it means we care and we want to help our babies in their growth with every milestone. Is like being a teacher at home. let’s call it homeschooling for babies 🙂
I had no idea when each of these milestones my baby was supposed to hit. Was my baby on track to achieve these milestones? How far or how behind was he? Where there any activities or games I could play with him to encourage development?
And that’s how this post was born…
Review
What are Baby Milestones
A baby’s milestones are major achievements your baby will reach during their moments of growth. These include smiling, rolling over, sitting up, standing and walking.
Developmental milestones for babies are important indicators of their growth as most babies will reach these milestones around the same time.
Some babies will develop milestones early, some late, some as the exact same time shared below.
The most significant and crucial milestones a baby achieves are within the first year of life and these are the ones you should focus on and track.
Developmental milestones are broadly categorized into 3 categories:
· Cognitive Development (Thinking, Learning & Communicating)
· Physical Development (Movement – gross and fine motor skills)
· Social-Emotional Development
Cognitive Development means how children think, explore and figure things out. It is the development of knowledge, skills, problem solving and dispositions, which help children to think about and understand the world around them.
Physical Motor skills are skills that enable the movements and tasks we do on a daily basis. During the first year of life, babies develop a lot of fine and gross motor skills.
· Fine motor skills are those that require a high degree of control and precision in the small muscles of the hand (such as using a fork).
· Gross motor skills use the large muscles in the body and include broader movements such as walking and jumping.
Social-Emotional Development is those skills that allow a child to understand the feelings of others, control their own feelings and behaviors, and get along with peers.
From the moment they are born, babies are working on all of these skills.
If your baby was born prematurely (before 37 weeks of pregnancy), the age at which your baby is expected to reach various milestones is based on her due date, not her birthday.
Baby Milestones Month by Month
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MONTH 1
Cognitive
- Can hear and hence calm down when he hears his parents’ voice.
- Newborns have a hazy vision at birth, they will stare at an object placed in front of the face about three feet away, especially something large or with contrasting colors. Newborn PDF printable patterns
- Can follow faces
Emotional
- Your baby recognizes his/her mother’s voice and can start recognizing other familiar voices.
- When upset, your baby responds to a parent’s cuddles, voice, and affections
- Your baby becomes alert when hearing a pleasant sound, like
musi c
Physical
- By the first month, your baby will start to raise her head when lying on the tummy. This time is a great time to start tummy time.
- Your baby keeps hands in tight fists, and her arms and legs move equally on both sides
Read: 5 Ways to Play With Your Newborn Baby
Red Flags
Talk to your doctor if you notice that:
- One eye that is crossed or eyes that don’t line up in the same direction
- Does not respond to pleasing sounds, such as “baby talk” or gentle music
- Has legs or hands that do not move in unison: only one leg kicks, for example, or just one arm shakes Kidshealth.org
MONTH 2
Cognitive
- From the age of two months, babies turn their head towards a source of a
sound , though it may be in the approximate and not exact direction. - Your baby is able to coo and gurgle (says “ooh” and “ah”) and develops more distinct cries to indicate hunger, pain, tiredness, or boredom
- Babies begin analyzing their surroundings, including objects and people, she is now alert to sounds
- If your baby gets bored, she will let you know by fussing or crying. You will need to change of scenery or find a new activity
- Your baby focuses on and tracks faces and objects from side to side (this is a great game to play with them!)
- You will see the first smile around this time. Your baby will smile in response to being talked to, played with or smiled at
Emotional
- By the end of the second month, your baby is more aware of her parents and understand that they are the primary caretakers.
- Your baby makes an effort to look at parents when they’re nearby
- Your baby will comfort himself or herself, maybe by putting a fist in the mouth
- smiles when happy – will smile at other people who interact with him regularly such as grandparents or siblings.
Physical
- Your baby will start to bring her hands to her mouth
- When placed on tummy-time you will notice your baby will start to lift her head more and even push on the arms.
- Your baby can be held in a sitting position with support and will have good head control
- Newborn reflexes start to go away
- Fists remain unclenched half of the time
- For the first two months, a baby’s
eyeballs may not align properly, giving him a cross-eyed appearance. The vision improves by the end of the second month, and the baby can now follow the movement of nearby objects and pay attention to faces. - Your baby will sleep for an equal number of hours in the day and night
Check this out: Best Toys for a 2-month-old baby to aid his development
Learn how to play: How to Play with a Two-Month-Old Baby
Red Flags
Talk to your doctor if you notice that:
- One eye that is constantly crossed or eyes that don’t line up in the same direction
- Does not respond to pleasing sounds, such as “baby talk” or gentle music
- Has legs or hands that do not move in unison: only one leg kicks, for example, or just one arm shakes Kidshealth.org
Make tummy time fun: 10 Tummy Time Sensory bags for babies
MONTH 3
Cognitive
- Your baby begins to chuckle, squeal, and chortle.
- Your baby can locate the origin direction of the sounds
Emotional
- Your baby smiles at parents and grins at someone who greets him in a friendly manner
Physical
- Your baby will bear partial weight on legs when held in a vertical position.
- Develops basic hand-eye coordination and better depth perception. Play & stretches activities
Red Flags
Talk to your doctor if you notice that:
- One eye that is constantly crossed or eyes that don’t line up in the same direction
- Does not respond to pleasing sounds, such as “baby talk” or gentle music
- Has legs or hands that do not move in unison: only one leg kicks, for example, or just one arm shakes Kidshealth.org
Check out: 8 DIY baby toys to help develop eye-hand coordination
MONTH 4
Cognitive
- Your baby will begin to babble and make simple vowel sounds such as “Ah”, “Eh”, “Oh”, etc. babbles as a way to get your attention
- Your Baby will experiment with cause an effect. Your baby will test various actions to observe their outcomes and test your reaction
- Your baby begins to laugh in several situations such as seeing a familiar face, a favorite toy, his feeding bottle, or simply watching someone do something funny.
- Your baby will stare at your mouth as you speak
Emotional
- By four months, your baby will enjoy playing with people, smiling at them, responding to affection, and crying differently when hungry, tired, or in pain.
Physical
- Can roll from back to the side and from tummy to the back. Note that babies will would typically roll only one way. (You can do rollover exercises to practice this skill and to start getting comfortable rolling over to both sides)
- Your baby can sit properly with support as the neck muscles are strong enough to prevent the neck from having any sudden movements. (This is when we used to use the Bumbo chair)
- Your baby pushes his legs down when placed on a hard surface.
- The eyes coordinate properly, and facilitate greater depth perception and better three-dimensional vision and begin to reach and grasp for objects and bring toys to the mouth, often with a two-handed grasp
- holds up the head and chest, supported by the arms, while on the tummy. Great time for sensory play ideas
Red Flags
Talk to your doctor if you notice that your baby:
- regularly babbles, but then suddenly stops
- cannot maintain head control when held in a supported position
- doesn’t notice when people enter the room
- doesn’t swipe at nearby toys
- doesn’t respond to voices or other pleasing sounds
Also, if you ever notice that your baby has lost skills he or she once had or shows weakness on one side of the body, tell your doctor.
MONTH 5
Cognitive
- Your baby is probably babbling by now, and those babbles might even be starting to sound like real words.
- Babies at 5 months can begin to put consonant and vowel sounds together such as “mama” or “dada” But don’t get too excited, they yet have not associated words with the meaning.
Emotional
At this age, babies love to play and hear different types of music. Take this opportunity to play songs, clap your hands and clap their hands as you connect with them through music and play.
Physical
- long-distance vision gets better at this time, and your baby can recognize a familiar face from a distance, like if you are standing across the room.
- Babies now also respond to familiar faces or objects by chortling and smiling.
- your baby’s color perception has sharpened to the point where he can tell the difference between two shades of the same color. But babies at this age still prefer primary colors such as red, blue, and yellow so make sure you include those at playtime.
- Most babies sleep through the night by five months, but not all (like the case with mine!) To encourage your baby to get into a regular nighttime sleep rhythm, establish a bedtime routine.
read: 10 Baby Sign Language to teach your baby and reduce frustration during the toddler years
Red Flags
Talk to your doctor if you notice that your baby:
- regularly babbles, but then suddenly stops
- cannot maintain head control when held in a supported position
- doesn’t notice when people enter the room
- doesn’t swipe at nearby toys
- doesn’t respond to voices or other pleasing sounds
MONTH 6
Cognitive
- Your baby develops curiosity towards objects and holds them in his hand to manipulate and interpret them better.
- 6 months Is also the time when babies begin to respond to their name.
- Your baby will smile at his reflection. This is a great time to introduce a mirror to playtime
- Your baby will develop the ability to not just look at the source of the sound, but also respond to it.
- by the end of the six-month-mark, your baby’s sounds will increase and your baby can start joining vowels together and start saying things such as “Aaoo” or “Eeaa” as well as start making consonant sounds such as “Mh”, “Dh”, and “Bh”.
- Sleep patterns will change. Daytime sleep decreases and the baby sleeps for only four hours in the day and eight to nine hours in the night.
Emotional
- Is your baby becoming shy? This is normal,your baby remembers familiar faces and will seem uncomfortable around strangers. This is also the age when you will notice her personality starting to show. Your baby could be shy, irritable, calm, or friendly as per his natural inborn temperament
Physical
- At 6 months, she can now move her head from side to side and see objects. She will push her head forward when pulled into a sitting position or raised to be lifted.
- Your baby will roll in two directions from tummy to back and back to tummy
- Your baby will start sitting without support
- Your baby will bounce on his legs when held vertically with support. (This is a good time to get an over the door bouncer, or you will be tired becoming her personal trampoline)
- Your baby can start picking up objects from a flat surface using all fingers.
- If your baby sits up unsupported and has signs of being ready to start solids, they can eat pureed food or start with Baby Lead Weaning as the digestive system is better developed than earlier. It is important to start them on food once your baby is ready because at 9 months she will lose her gag reflex which is a crucial reflect to have when learning to eat. – you don’t want to wait until he is 9 months to teach her how to eat.
Red Flags
Tell your doctor if you notice that your baby:
- shows little interest in others and rarely smiles or “talks”
- makes little eye contact and rarely points a finger at something
- does not move an object from one hand to the other
- is unable to sit up with support
- has trouble eating purées by spoon (for example, pushes food out of the mouth instead of swallowing)
Learn how to play with a 6-month-old
MONTH 7
Cognitive
- At the end of his seven month – Your baby understands the concept of object permanence, which just means that they know that an object does not disappear when it is hidden beneath another object and enjoy activities such as hide & seek.
Emotional
Physical
- By 7 month some babies will start to become more mobile. She will start to crawl, scoot, or roll. Because the baby can now sit unassisted and reach for and pick up toys, playtime involves a lot more independence than in months past. See crawling games
- Feeding becomes more of a skill and babies move their jaws to chew food and even close their lips after being fed from a spoon
- If your baby teething? first primary teeth (The two central incisors on the lower jaw) are ready to come out and your baby might be cranky and uncomfortable. Use Motrin or natural remedies to help her feel better, The first teeth can grow out anytime between seven and 12 months
Red Flags
Tell your doctor if you notice that your baby:
- shows little interest in others and rarely smiles or “talks”
- makes little eye contact and rarely points a finger at something
- does not move an object from one hand to the other
- is unable to sit up with support
- has trouble eating purées by spoon (for example, pushes food out of the mouth instead of swallowing)
MONTH 8
Cognitive
- By eight months, your baby can start saying “mama” and “dada”, but does not associate a meaning to it and says it to any parent. (I know, I was bummed when It happened to me…also, he then said dada first and it took him forever to say mama..insert tear here)
- By his eight-month – Your baby will have a short attention span of no greater than three minutes but is curious about things that he sees around him. Create some play activities like these indoor games for babies you can do to keep your baby busy.
Emotional
- · Your baby understands that parents and familiar faces indicate warmth and security. This is why you may notice between the ages of eight and 12 months your baby may develop separation anxiety and cry profusely when parents go missing from their field of vision
Physical
- Your baby continues to practice her crawling skills and become more mobile and loves to explore.
- Your baby can bite into hard foods unlike earlier so it is a great time to introduce more flavors and textures
Red Flags
Tell your doctor if you notice that your baby:
- shows little interest in others and rarely smiles or “talks”
- makes little eye contact and rarely points a finger at something
- does not move an object from one hand to the other
- is unable to sit up with support
- has trouble eating purées by spoon (for example, pushes food out of the mouth instead of swallowing)
MONTH 9
Cognitive
- Your baby starts copying gestures and actions.
- Your baby will attempt to imitate a word but don’t expect perfect pronunciation, this will be far from perfect.
- By nine months, the baby’s brain can process sounds better, which enables him to imitate sounds and noises that he hears. If you cough, they will imitate you and cough
Emotional
Physical
- Most babies by this age will develop the final color of their eyes.
- Your baby now can get into a sitting position on his own and also sit for an extended duration of seven to ten minutes.
- Hand-eye coordination gets better. It is at this age when the baby enjoys games such as peek-a-boo with you. You can also create a peek-a-boo board game to foster independent play.
- Your baby will slowly loosen the gag reflex, which is a natural infantile instinct to cough out solid food chunks to prevent choking. The baby also develops better tongue control, jaw movement, and opens his mouth on seeing a spoonful of food.
- A nine-month-old will develop a complete pincer grasp, where he will use the tip of the index finger and thumb to pick small items from a surface. It is this grasp that helps in the introduction of finger foods. Try this easy pinching skill game to practice pincer grasping
- Crawling baby will be faster and she will perfect that skill
- By the end of nine months your baby will pull to stand, using the support of a stationary object, and can also stand at one place.
Red Flags
Tell your doctor if you notice that your baby:
- shows no reaction when you leave the room
- cannot roll onto the belly
- hasn’t lost newborn reflexes, such as the startle reflex
MONTH 10
Cognitive
- Your baby can go from tummy to a sitting position by herself.
- By the end of his ten months, your baby is a lot smarter. This time is a great time to create new peek-a-boo games, imitation and cause and effect. See some ideas on this youtube video
Emotional
Social And Emotional Development
- A pre-toddler in the making is born, your baby will want to do things without help.
- Your baby expresses and recognizes many emotions
- Develops a sense of humor.
- May start to throw temper tantrums as she learns to manage her own emotions
- Alternates short periods of independence play with bouts of intense clinging.
- Your baby will continue to show stranger anxiety
- Loves an audience, so clap and celebrate her and you will soon find he will clap for herself as well
Physical
- Teething: The central incisors of the upper jaw are the next to emerge between nine and ten months. Teething may cause your baby to be extra clingy, nurse more often, eat less and sleepless. Use natural remedies to soothe her.
- Baby continues to work on eye-hand coordination. Check this fun DIY Toy you can do
Red Flags
Tell your doctor if you notice that your baby:
- shows no reaction when you leave the room
- cannot roll onto the belly
- hasn’t lost newborn reflexes, such as the startle reflex
MONTH 11
Cognitive
- Your baby’s vocabulary expands and can start to repeats easy and small words. Increase his vocabulary by reading, pointing at things and saying their names.
Emotional
- As your pre-toddler continues to develop, your baby will try to gain approval and avoid disapproval
- Your baby will greet familiar faces with a smile
- Stronger personality trains will start to show and sometimes can be uncooperative when you want her to do something
- Will get vocal about his frustration through basic babbling
Physical
- Your baby can stand without support but will need to walk with support. Don’t be surprised if some babies will even start taking steps without support. This time is a great time to look into the best walking shoes for early walkers. We personally only used these type of leather slippers based on the AAP recommendations for learning how to walk
- Can understand complex instructions and commands
- Can remember the names of other objects in the house
- Will develop a keen taste for solid food
MONTH 12
Cognitive
- Happy Birthday! By this time your baby will have a decent understanding of the names and purpose of several objects around him. Your baby is very observant and he constantly learns by observing. For example, if you usually comb your hair in front of him, you can give him a hairbrush he will try to comb his hair.
- Your baby can say “mama” and “dada” to the correct parent (insert happy dance here!) and basic words such as “no” or “go” (honestly, I’m in no rush for him to learn to say “no”)
- Words of amazement might also be added and your baby can start to say exclamatory words such as “oh”
- What about sleep? Is your baby sleeping through the night? (mine neither) His daytime sleep decreases to just three hours and might be taking one longer nap instead of two short ones. Night-time sleep increases to a substantial 11 hours.
Emotional
- By the time a baby is a year old, your baby will show fear especially of something scary or a stranger and will clutch a parent for comfort.
- At this age, your baby might also resist going into the arms of a stranger. However, she would still go to someone he trusts and reciprocate affection.
Physical
- A 12-month-old can see an array of colors, has strong depth perception and can track and judge the path of a moving object. It’s a great time to go and visit a zoo
- Your baby can stand by himself without support, but will still pull to stand. However, once in a standing position, he will let go of the support and take a few steps alone thus indicating a significant improvement in his gross motor development.
- Your baby has complex pincer grasp where he can grip objects between the thumb and another finger such as the middle finger.
- By the end of being 12 months, your baby can easily eat several finger foods by himself. It is now when you can introduce baby foods such as cow’s milk and eggs
- By the end of the first year, a baby can have a maximum of eight primary teeth, which are two lower-central incisors, two upper-central incisors, two lower-lateral incisors, and two upper lateral incisors
Red Flags
Tell your doctor if you notice that your baby:
- walks with a limp or uneven stride
- when falling, falls forward instead of backward
- cannot pick up a small object (like a raisin) and does not feed himself or herself
- does not point at objects
Baby Milestones by Questions
At what age do babies support their own head?
One of the first things I notice when Manny was born was the strength he had on his head. He would lift and search for my boob as we were learning how to breastfeed. This is why I want to start the developmental milestones with this.
- By the first month, your baby will start to raise her head.
- By the second month, you will notice she will start to lift her head even more.
- By the time she is 4 months, your baby will start to hold his head steadily.
- At 6 months, she can now move her head from side to side and see objects. She will push her head forward when pulled into a sitting position or raised to be lifted.
- 7-month mark comes and you can see that your baby can control more movements of the head.
At what age do babies rollover?
- At four-months-old your baby can roll from back to the side and from tummy to the back. Note that babies will would typically roll only one way. (You can do rollover exercises to practice this skill and to start getting comfortable rolling over to both sides)
- By six months, they will roll in two directions from tummy to back and back to tummy (see?! they will eventually do both sides)
At what age do babies laugh?
- You will see the first smile at the age of two months. By three months, your infant smiles at parents and grins at someone who greets him in a friendly manner.
- Begins to laugh on completing four months.
- As the baby grows, he will smile and laugh in several situations such as seeing a familiar face, a favorite toy, his feeding bottle, or simply watching someone do something funny. At the end of six months, he will smile at his reflection.
- The newborn can hear and hence he calms down when he hears his parents’ voice.
- From the age of two months, babies turn their head towards a source of a sound, though it may be in the approximate and not exact direction.
- By the end of the third month, the baby can locate the origin of the sound.
- A six-month-old will develop the ability to not just look at the source of the sound, but also respond to it. This is an advanced baby milestone. By nine months, the baby’s brain can process sounds better, which enables him to imitate sounds and noises that he hears.
- After 12 months, the baby’s hearing skills are well-developed. He can now recognize several unique sounds and identify the voice of familiar people.
What age should babies sit up?
- By the end of your baby’s two-month-mark, she can be held in a sitting position with support.
- By the end of the four-month-mark, your baby can sit properly with support as the neck muscles are strong enough to prevent the neck from having any sudden movements. (This is when we used to use the Bumbo chair)
- After six months, your baby will be able to sit without support.
- At nine months old, your baby can get into a sitting position on his own and also sit for an extended duration of seven to ten minutes.
- By the end of ten months, your baby can go from tummy to sitting position,
- By the end of 12-months, your baby can sit from a standing position.
When will my baby start to crawl?
Ready, set, go.. your baby is officially on the move. Make sure your house is baby proof and hide all those nice decorations you have around and close to their reach. Babies will start lifting their head up and pushing their arms down early and this is a stage to get them ready for crawling. They are building those muscles.
- By 7 month some babies will start to slowly try to crawl
- By 9 months your baby will crawl faster and perfect that skill
When will my baby stand?
It all starts with your baby standing on your belly or your legs as you hold him and before you know it, she will use every furniture or item in close reach to pull herself up.
- At three months, your baby will bear partial weight on legs when held in a vertical position.
- By four months, your baby pushes his legs down when placed on a hard surface.
- At six months, he will bounce on his legs when held vertical with support. (This is a good time to get an over the door bouncer, or you will be tired becoming her personal trampoline)
- By the end of nine months your baby will pull to stand, using the support of a stationary object, and can also stand at one place.
- By 12 months, your baby can stand by himself without support, but will still pull to stand. However, once in a standing position, he will let go of the support and take a few steps alone thus indicating a significant improvement in his gross motor development.
When will my baby start to walk?
Once your baby feels comfortable with standing and has built the strength, then walking begins usually after her first birthday, some mastering walking skills around 11 months. This beginning stage of walking is called cruising.
This first initial step is the most significant motor development milestone – the physical developmental milestone- in the baby’s first year.
When will my baby start talking?
When babies start discovering their voice the fun begins! from coo-ing and babbling to saying the cutest words like mama and papa.
- By two months, the baby is able to coo and gurgle.
- By the end of the third month, your baby begins to chuckle, squeal, and chortle.
- By four months, your baby will begin to babble and make simple vowel sounds such as “Ah”, “Eh”, “Oh”, etc.
- by the end of the six-month-mark, her sounds will increase and your baby can start joining vowels together and start saying things such as “Aaoo” or “Eeaa” as well as start making consonant sounds such as “Mh”, “Dh”, and “Bh”.
- By eight months, your baby can start saying “mama” and “dada”, but does not associate a meaning to it and says it to any parent. (I know.. I was bummed when It happened to me…also, he then said dada first and it took him forever to say mama to me!)
- By nine months, your baby will attempt to imitate word but don’t expect perfect pronunciation, this will be far from perfect.
- By his first birthday, 12 months your baby can say “mama” and “dada” to the correct parent (insert happy dance here!) and basic words such as “no” and “go” (I’m in no rush for him to learn to say no…) your baby can also say exclamatory words such as “oh”
Milestones Red Flags
What happens if my baby doesn’t smile? When should I worry that my baby is not sitting up? When should I be concerned baby is not lifting his head?
- Difficulty making eye contact by 6 months
- No big smiles or warm joyful expressions when interacting with another person by 6 months
- No back and forth of sharing sounds, smiles and other facial expressions by 9 months
- No babbling by 12 months
- No back and forth gestures such as pointing, showing, reaching or waving by 12 months
- No consisting responding to their name by 12 months
- No words by 16 months
- No following simple directions by 18 months (examples: bring me your shoes, place the cup on the table..)
- If a child is not using two-word phrases (without imitating or repeating) and does not say at least 50 words by 24 months – 2yrs old
- If a child is not engaging in back and forth conversational turn-taking by 30months – 2 and a half year old – such as answering simple questions.
- Any loss of skills of speech or babbling or social skills at any age – such as eye contact, or use a familiar word but then never say it again when shown the word in the right context.
To understand further each of these red flags, watch this YouTube video which explains each bullet point really means and samples about them. It digs deeper into each area of development and will help you identify when you should be a concern and seek a speech therapy evaluation.
If your baby has checked on many of the above red flags it is advised to seek a speech evaluation.
Watch your baby as he adoringly achieves each of these milestones. But, do remember that each baby is different, so it is important to be patient. Activities and games can play a significant role in ensuring that the baby achieves these milestones at the right time. Therefore, keep playing, interacting, and socializing with your little one for his growth and development.
Red Flags Source: Laura Mize – Pediatric speech-language pathologist who specializes in treating young children, ages birth to three, with communication delays and disorders.
Have something to share about infant milestones? You can leave us a comment below.
Milestones Red Flags
What happens if my baby doesn’t smile? When should I worry that my baby is not sitting up? When should I be concerned baby is not lifting his head?
- Difficulty making eye contact by 6 months
- No big smiles or warm joyful expressions when interacting with another person by 6 months
- No back and forth of sharing sounds, smiles and other facial expressions by 9 months
- No babbling by 12 months
- No back and forth gestures such as pointing, showing, reaching or waving by 12 months
- No consisting responding to their name by 12 months
- No words by 16 months
- Not following simple directions by 18 months (examples: bring me your shoes, place the cup on the table..)
- If a child is not using two-word phrases (without imitating or repeating) and does not say at least 50 words by 24 months – 2yrs old
- If a child is not engaging in back and forth conversational turn-taking by 30months – 2 and a half year old – such as answering simple questions.
- Any loss of skills of speech or babbling or social skills at any age – such as eye contact, or use a familiar word but then never say it again when shown the word in the right context.
To understand further each of these red flags, watch this YouTube video which explains each bullet point really means and samples about them. It digs deeper into each area of development and will help you identify when you should be a concern and seek a speech therapy evaluation.
If your baby has checked on many of the above red flags it is advised to seek a speech evaluation.
Watch your baby as he adoringly achieves each of these milestones. But, do remember that each baby is different, so it is important to
Red Flags Source: Laura Mize – Pediatric speech-language pathologist who specializes in treating young children, ages birth to three, with communication delays and disorders.
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