Parenting a newborn is an exciting adventure filled with incredible changes. Here’s a month-by-month guide to help you understand your baby’s growth and development milestones, with insights to keep you confident every step of the way.
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By the end of the first month, your baby is adjusting to life outside the womb.
Your baby is starting to connect more with you and their surroundings.
Your baby is becoming stronger and more interactive every day.
Your baby is gaining more control over their body and their surroundings.
Your baby is using their hands more purposefully now.
Your baby is ready to take on new challenges!
Your baby is becoming more mobile and curious.
Your baby is building strength and showing more personality.
Your baby is ready to test boundaries and learn about their world.
Your baby is becoming more independent.
Your baby is on the brink of big milestones.
Your baby is officially a toddler!
Every baby grows at their own pace, so don’t worry if your little one takes a little longer to reach certain milestones. Cherish each step of the journey, and reach out to your pediatrician with any questions or concerns. You’ve got this!
Early childhood development encompasses the crucial first five years of a child’s life, marked by a remarkable journey of intellectual, motor, and emotional growth.
From the moment of birth, a newborn rapidly transforms into a child who learns to run, jump, speak, and laugh. This period witnesses the emergence of a distinct personality replete with individual opinions, attitudes, and desires. Over these foundational five years, a child’s unique identity takes shape and continues to evolve.
These stages represent the typical developmental milestones for children from birth to age five:
From Birth to Six Months
During the initial weeks of a baby’s life, their physiological systems adapt and mature to accommodate the transition from the womb to the outside world. In these early months, the infant begins to absorb the stimuli in their environment, actively listens to sounds, starts uttering syllables, and learns to communicate through various forms of crying.
As time progresses, the baby becomes more responsive to stimuli, and their smiles evolve into voluntary expressions of joy. They can recognize their parents and differentiate between familiar faces, although the fear of strangers has not yet developed. By the age of six months, the muscles in the neck and shoulder area strengthen, providing greater stability to the head.
Around the three-month mark, the infant gains control over their hands, and their actions become more intentional. Hand-eye coordination begins to emerge, underscoring the importance of monitoring and addressing potential vision issues.
Between the ages of three and five months, infants achieve significant milestones in their physical and motor development. They acquire the ability to roll over from their stomach to their back and vice versa. Their limbs become more agile, with quick movements of both their legs and arms. During this period, they also demonstrate an inclination to explore objects by putting them into their mouth, engaging in both sucking and biting behaviors.
By the age of five months, the baby’s back and shoulder muscles have strengthened considerably, allowing them to sit upright with support. Additionally, their communication skills start to evolve as they begin to express themselves through voluntary vocalizations and cooing, expanding their means of communication beyond crying.
From Six Months to One Year
Tooth growth typically commences around the age of six to seven months. The emergence of these teeth encourages the baby to explore their world by chewing on objects, leading to increased drooling, and occasionally causing gingivitis. It’s important to note that every baby’s experience with teething varies—some may go through it with relative ease, while others may experience discomfort and sensitivity.
Around six months of age, the baby begins to master crawling, initially moving backward and then progressing to forward crawling. As they approach seven months, their back muscles strengthen, contributing to increased stability when sitting upright.
Between eight and nine months, the baby achieves the milestone of sitting up independently, a significant step towards greater mobility. Soon after, they embark on the adventure of crawling, with some babies opting for a classic all-fours approach. By nine months, they can even manage to stand while holding onto supportive objects like tables, chairs, or chest of drawers.
Within a few weeks, their curiosity extends to walking along these objects, holding onto them for balance and support.
At this stage, around nine months, infants often develop a newfound wariness of strangers, expressing their fear through tears and apprehension. Simultaneously, fine motor skills begin to progress. The baby becomes adept at grasping tiny objects, engaging in activities like throwing a ball and threading rings with growing dexterity.
Starting as early as seven months, the baby’s vocal repertoire expands to include more complex sounds like ‘bah-bah-bah,’ ‘ga-ga-ga,’ ‘mah-mah-mah,’ and others. Gradually, these sounds evolve into sentences comprising combinations of syllables.
The baby’s understanding of language blossoms, with them comprehending many words by this stage. As they approach their first birthday, they will likely start uttering real words, marking a significant step in their linguistic development.
From One to Two Years
Around the age of one and a month, the toddler embarks on the exhilarating journey of learning to walk independently. Initially, they may take tentative steps while holding onto objects or relying on crawling for support. However, with time and practice, they achieve the remarkable milestone of walking without assistance.
As this year unfolds, the toddler’s newfound mobility allows them to run, jump, explore the art of walking backward, and even attempt to conquer the challenge of climbing stairs. During this period, the toddler’s motor skills flourish, encompassing both fine motor skills, such as grasping crayons and self-feeding with a spoon, and gross motor skills, including climbing ladders and ascending onto chairs.
Their hand-eye coordination continues to improve, enabling them to accomplish more intricate tasks like assembling small puzzles and constructing towers from building cubes. This year is a time of remarkable physical and cognitive growth.
Curiosity and the insatiable thirst for exploration are prominent features during this stage, as the toddler embarks on a captivating journey of discovering the fundamental laws that govern the world around them, such as gravity and the physics of a rolling ball. These discoveries become the centerpiece of their universe.
Within their rapidly developing mind, the toddler begins to categorize and sort objects into groups, organizing their perceptions of the world into categories like animals, food, toys, and people. This cognitive growth paves the way for a burgeoning ability to comprehend and engage with language.
As the toddler’s language skills gain momentum, they display a growing capacity to understand sentences comprised of a few words and steadily progress to constructing sentences containing three or four words. Their journey of linguistic exploration is an essential facet of their overall development during this fascinating period.
From Two to Three Years
The ‘terrible twos’ mark this phase, as toddlers firmly assert their newfound independence. They are convinced they can handle everything by themselves. During this period, they often exhibit behaviors such as refusal, demands, insistence on their preferences, and dramatic displays of frustration, including lying on the floor in fits of anger, crying, and screaming. They are in a constant quest to test boundaries and establish rituals surrounding everyday actions, occasionally compelling those around them to partake.
Their fine motor skills are notably well-developed at this stage, making activities like puzzle games, cutting, and pasting particularly engaging. In addition, their gross motor skills continue to flourish, supporting their physical exploration and experimentation.
From Two and Three Years
During this phase, the toddler’s spoken language and perceptual abilities undergo significant sharpening, allowing them to communicate almost as fluently as adults. Their vocabulary expands rapidly, and their understanding of spoken language encompasses a wide range of topics.
Memory skills also advance, and the toddler can recall events and experiences from a few days prior, demonstrating growing cognitive development. Their vivid imagination flourishes, leading them to engage in imaginative play and storytelling.
Furthermore, the toddler becomes increasingly aware of their bodily needs, such as the need for toileting. This is an opportune time to initiate the process of transitioning from diapers to more independent toileting practices.
From Three to Four Years
During this transformative stage, the toddler evolves into a more independent child. They eagerly dress themselves, navigate the toilet independently, and even take the initiative to retrieve food from the fridge. Their curiosity knows no bounds, and the questions ‘what is it?’ and ‘why?’ become frequent companions as they seek to unravel the mysteries of the world.
At night, despite incentives and rewards, bedwetting may occasionally occur as their bladder control continues to develop. Most children in this age range demonstrate fluent speech and comprehension, understanding prepositions and articulating their thoughts effectively.
In terms of gross motor skills, the child exhibits remarkable progress. They engage in activities like passing and kicking a ball, balancing on one leg, sitting in oriental postures, ascending stairs one step at a time, and descending them with both feet placed firmly on each step. This period is marked by impressive physical and cognitive growth.
During this period, the child demonstrates remarkable physical dexterity. They confidently walk forward, backward, and sideways, effortlessly run and leap, maneuver a tricycle, and navigate ladders and slides with ease. Their fine motor skills enable them to thread beads onto laces, wield a paintbrush with precision, and cut pages, resulting in increasingly clear and intricate drawings.
Cognitively, their capacity to comprehend and use language expands significantly. They can count to ten, showcasing budding mathematical skills. Socially, they develop a broader range of interpersonal skills. Simultaneously, they begin to encounter and grapple with various fears related to unfamiliar objects and situations. Additionally, they come to recognize the structured order of daily routines and schedules, marking an important aspect of their growing awareness.
From Four to Five Years
During this crucial period, a child begins to form their sexual identity and often identifies strongly with the parent of the same sex. Questions surrounding birth and reproduction pique their curiosity, leading to a fascination with the concept of how babies come into the world. They engage in imaginative role-playing games, often centered around family dynamics, with their friends.
Gross motor skills flourish, and the child exhibits excellent body control. They can swing high on swings, ascend structures with ease, and confidently ride a bicycle equipped with training wheels. Their fine motor skills have also advanced significantly. They grasp a pencil proficiently, color within lines, cut straight lines with scissors, draw geometric shapes, and solve puzzles with 25 pieces or more.
The social dimension takes center stage as the child enjoys playing imaginative games with friends, demonstrating a flair for inventing new games and rules. Their ability to articulate thoughts continues to develop, enabling them to express their emotions and craft imaginative narratives.
Language & Speech Development
The table below presents recognized milestones for language and speech development up to the age of six years. It’s important to note that the standard in child development is ‘broad’ and adaptable. Nonetheless, if you have concerns about your child’s progress in any of the areas mentioned, we encourage you to proactively seek guidance from a speech therapist for a thorough evaluation.
From birth to 6 months:
Language Comprehension
Language and Speech Production
From 6 to 12 months:
Language Comprehension
Language and Speech Production
From 12 to 18 months:
Language Comprehension
Language and Speech Production
From 18 to 24 months:
Language Comprehension
Language and Speech Production
From 2 to 2.5 years:
Language Comprehension
Language and Speech Production
From 3 to 4 years:
Language Comprehension
Language and Speech Production
From 4 to 5 years:
Language Comprehension
Language and Speech Production