A baby’s first 12 months of growth and development are truly incredible and memorable for every parent. In a short 12 months, your baby from a newborn becomes a toddler. Each month brings new and exciting milestones and challenges. As a new parent, you may wonder if your baby’s development is on the right track.
Instead of focusing too much on your baby’s developmental milestones, it is important to remember that all babies grow and develop at their own pace. There is a fairly wide “window” for when it is normal for a baby to reach a particular developmental stage. Try not to compare your baby to other babies, instead, immerse yourself in this extraordinary experience, focus on your baby and let your baby grow at his / her own pace.
Here is a simple guide on a baby’s growth and development based on a three-month stage of the first year.
Birth to Three Months
During this first development stage, babies’ bodies and brains are learning to live outside of the mother’s womb. Between birth and three months, your baby may start to:
- Early on, it will be just to themselves. But within three months, they will be smiling in response to your smiles and trying to get you to smile back at them.
- Raise their head and chest when on their tummy.
- Track objects with their eyes and gradually decrease eye crossing.
- Open and shut their hands and bring hands to their mouth.
- Grip objects in their hands.
- Take swipes at or reach for dangling objects, though they usually won’t be able to get them yet.
Four to Six Months
Babies learn to reach out to the world around them. They are mastering the use of their hands. And they are discovering their voices. From four to six months old, your baby will probably:
- Roll over from front to back or back to front. Front-to-back usually comes first.
- Babble, making sounds that can sound like real language.
- Reach out for and grab objects (watch out for your hair), and manipulate toys and other objects with their hands.
- Sit up with support and have great head control.
Seven to Nine Months
During the second half of the first year, your little one becomes a baby on-the-go. After learning that they can get somewhere by rolling over, they will spend the next few months figuring out how to move forward or backward. It is time to do some baby-proofing!
During this period, your baby may:
- Start to crawl. This can include scooting (propelling around on their bottom) or “army crawling” (dragging themselves on their tummy by arms and legs), as well as standard crawling on hands and knees. Some babies never crawl, moving directly from scooting to walking.
- Sit without support.
- Respond to familiar words like their name. They may also respond to “No” by briefly stopping and looking at you, and may start babbling "Mama" and "Dada."
- Clap and play games such as patty-cake and peekaboo.
- Learn to pull up to a standing position.
Ten to Twelve Months
The last development stage in baby’s first year is quite a transition. They are not an infant anymore, and they may look and act more like a toddler. Though they are still a baby in many ways. They are learning to:
- Begin feeding themselves. Babies at this developmental stage master the “pincer grasp“. It means they can hold small objects such as O-shaped cereal between their thumb and forefinger.
- Cruise, or move around the room on their feet while holding onto the furniture.
- Say one or two words, and "Mama" and "Dada" become specific name for parents. The average is about three spoken words by the first birthday, but the range on this is enormous.
- Point at objects they want to get your attention.
- Begin “pretend play” by copying you or using objects correctly, such as pretending to talk on the phone.
- Take their first steps. This usually happens right around one year, but it can vary greatly amongst babies.
Happy growing, baby!
