NEWBORN TO 1 YEAR
BABY MILESTONES
1 MONTH OLD BABY MILESTONES
Baby’s senses are still developing—and she’ll be busy testing them out to help make sense of this strange new world.
Monthly 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
Observe these 2 month baby milestones closely—if baby isn’t achieving them, your pediatrician may want to explore further. “The ability to track an object is important,” because the inability to do so may indicate a visual or brain problem, “just like not turning their head to sounds could indicate a hearing issue.
Monthly baby milestones:
- Starts to smile at people
- Briefly calms herself (may bring her hands to her mouth to self-soothe)
- Begins to follow things with eyes and recognizes people at a distance
- 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
Baby’s emotional skills will begin to develop: He may start to use different cries to tell you what he’s feeling and turn his head away to let you know he’s bored.
Monthly baby milestones:
- Can distinguish your face from others
- Starts to have different cries for different needs—hunger, diaper change, pain, etc.
- Turns his head away to express boredom
- Opens and shuts his hands
- 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
How time flies—baby is no longer considered a newborn! Right now she’s probably becoming more alert and eager to explore the world around her.
Monthly 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
The skills baby is building now may seem small, but they form the foundation for bigger skills that’ll pop up later on the baby milestone chart—and may help your doctor diagnose an issue early if you notice something isn’t right.
Monthly 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
At the 6-month mark, baby may be ready to start accomplishing some huge developmental milestones—like mobility! But even if she doesn’t start creeping (pushing herself around on her tummy) at 6 months, there’s no reason to worry.
Monthly baby milestones:
- Starts creeping along the floor
- Passes things from one hand to the other
- Starts sitting unaided
- Starts to understand simple words
- Responds to her name
7 MONTH OLD BABY MILESTONES
Baby is becoming a little scientist, manipulating objects around him to learn about them. That can lead to the pretty annoying habit of dropping things onto the floor, but it’s an encouraging sign of baby’s curiosity.
Monthly 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
At this age, you might be paying particular attention to baby’s developing mobility—especially if you’re baby proofing like mad to help keep your little explorer safe.
Monthly baby milestones:
- Develops a pincer grasp (using the thumb and index finger)
- Begins crawling
- Stands while holding onto something
9 MONTH OLD BABY MILESTONES
Your babbling baby may start to experiment with different tones and sounds as he inches toward one of the biggest baby milestones—talking. But experts say not to worry if you aren’t hearing that long-awaited “mama” or “dada” quite yet.
Monthly baby milestones:
- May be wary of strangers and clings to familiar people
- Has favorite toys
- Makes a lot of different sounds, like “mamamama” and “bababababa”
- Copies sounds and gestures of others
- Uses fingers to point at things
10 MONTH OLD BABY MILESTONES
If you’re part of a playgroup, you may start to see a wide range of abilities emerge at this age—many babies may still be crawling, but some are starting to cruise and a few bold souls may be nearly ready to take their first steps. And all of them are right on track.
Monthly baby milestones:
- Explores things in different ways, like shaking, banging and throwing
- Pulls to stand
- Starts cruising (shuffling along while holding onto furniture)
- Gets into a sitting position without help
- Begins feeding herself finger food, thanks to better hand-eye coordination
11 MONTH OLD BABY MILESTONES
Even if baby hasn’t taken her first step, don’t rush her
Monthly baby milestones:
- Understands object permanence
- Crawls up the stairs (while supervised)
- Makes sounds with changes in tone (sounds more like speech)
- Develops separation anxiety
12 MONTH OLD BABY MILESTONES
Congratulations! Baby has officially graduated to toddler status. You can look back on all the amazing things on the baby milestone chart that your child has mastered over the past 12 months—it’s quite a lot!
Monthly 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 “uh-oh!”
- Looks at the right image or object when it’s named
- Starts to use things correctly; for example, drinks from a cup or brushes his hair
- May take a few steps without holding on
- May stand alone