Understanding baby milestones: A month-by-month guide to the first year

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‘Milestones’ can be a tricky subject in the world of parenting.

They can help us to gain an understanding of where our babies are at in their development and can be useful information in identifying a potential cause for concern. They can also fan the flames of anxiety, self-doubt, and competitive parenting.

So, should we pay attention to milestones? Should we think about inchstones instead? Or can we strike a balance? We spoke to Dr Sam Durrant, lecturer in psychology and language researcher at LuCiD, and Kerry Bennett, health visitor, to find out more about milestones during the first year.

“Milestones represent an average of when most children are likely to achieve a particular skill.”

“But, because they’re averages, there's a really wide range,” Dr Sam explains. “Some children are performing a skill earlier, some are performing a skill later.

“The average just gives us a kind of broad-brush idea of what to expect and when.”

A well-known milestone for new parents might be your baby’s first steps, or their first word.

Why the first year?

We talk about milestones beyond the first year of a baby’s life – potty training, writing their own name and a complete set of milk teeth. for example – so why are we focussing on those first 12 months?

Dr Sam says, “The first year is where they're developing a lot of the building blocks that they're going to use to develop those other skills beyond one.”

For example, learning about the sounds of language before really getting to grips with speech or writing.

“What sounds make up what words? Where will you find words in speech? What tells us where the beginnings and ends of a word are? Babies learn most of those skills in the first year.”

Well, yes and no…

Yes, tracking milestones is important

Health visitor Kerry Bennett explains that milestones are something that professionals consider when evaluating a child’s development.

“We want to monitor a child's development because we want to ensure that nothing has been missed or if we can give some additional . I also think it's reassurance for parents and carers.

“Parenthood doesn't come with an individual textbook for each child, and that can be really hard!”

Dr Sam adds, “We're looking at patterns within milestones, so a concern is not going to be triggered by one particular thing.”

“So, if your child is showing a pattern of being late with a lot of language milestones, for example, then that might be something that you want to follow up on.”

However, “If they say their first word at 14 months, instead of 12 months, but all of their other language milestones are where we would expect, then you probably wouldn't need to do anything about it as this is still within the range of typical development.”

No, parents shouldn’t pay too much attention to milestones

“Milestones, by their nature, compare children to an average. An average just represents what's most common in a population, not what every individual is doing,” Dr Sam explains.

“Just because a child isn't meeting a milestone at the same time as other children, it doesn't mean that there's something to worry about. It may be that they are achieving a different milestone faster.

“You might see differences, but it's about not comparing, not judging your child based on whether they hit a certain target and looking at the whole picture.”

“All children develop differently and shouldn't be compared, that is key,” Kerry says.

“I think we've got a culture in which we overly monitor children - by this age we should be doing this, by this age we should be doing that.”

Kerry explains that, as a health visitor, you often have to look past specific milestones: “You see parents that really home in on, ‘my child's not crawling’, but then you go and see that child and, on the whole, they're developing beautifully!”

We’ve split each age range into cognitive and physical development, but Kerry reminds us that the two, along with all kinds of development, are intertwined.

“They come hand-in-hand, because each one s the other. You’re looking at your child as a whole.”

And as Dr Sam emphasises, “these are really rough guides for what you can expect your baby to be doing”.

All babies develop differently, so don’t be too concerned if they aren’t showing evidence of a certain skill beyond each age range. Your health visitor will be able to help you understand your baby’s development.

Cognitive development at 0-3 months

Listening to language

“We know that in the first three months, they're learning about the sounds of their language,” Dr Sam explains.

“And they start to be able to differentiate between the sounds of the language that they're learning and sounds that they haven't encountered.

“For bilingual babies this means that it's really important for them to hear both languages [at home] so they can develop the sound system that they'll need to produce those words.

“We know that there's lots going on with language, even though it probably feels like you're talking to yourself a lot of the time!”

Smiling

“Within that first three-month period, you will start to see early cognitive and social interaction skills coming out. So, you might start to see your baby smiling at you.

“Initially, that's just a reflex action, but then the response that they get from you – who can resist a smiley baby? - leads to it becoming a more deliberate behaviour that they can use to get your attention or respond to you.”

Imitation

“You will also start to see lots of imitation. We see that babies are learning a lot from their environment within that first three months, so they will copy things that you're doing. If you poke your tongue out, they might poke their tongue out!”

Physical development at 0-3 months

Moving around and staying safe

“Babies are starting to kick their legs, lay on the back and move really early in that nought to three period,” Kerry says.

“So, parents absolutely must be thinking about safety - where they're changing baby and where they're leaving their baby, because they do move, they do wiggle, and they do roll from an early age.”

Kerry suggests at this stage, to help baby along, parents can try, “interactions that encourage the baby to reach out and grab you, or otherwise respond to you physically, like blowing raspberries on their tummy.”

Tummy time

“We would be encouraging supervised tummy time from an early age, in really small spells, allowing the baby to start to understand how they move their body.”

Cognitive development at 3-6 months

Making noises and babbling

At three to six months, “you start to see the onset of babbling,” Dr Sam says.

“Babies start making intentional sounds. That might be cooing or it might be a delightful, screechy sound - they're practising making the sounds that they've been learning about in the first three months.

“Babbling is a super important skill for babies in of their later language development. They practise making the sounds that they're going to use, but they're also practising the skills that they need for conversation like turn-taking.

“Chat to your baby - they might respond [in babble], then you can respond back to what they've said, and it takes on the format of a conversation, even though there are no recognisable words coming from them.”

Seeing the wider world

“What we also start to see is that they can follow moving objects, so they start to pay more attention to the wider world.”

Initially babies can only focus on things that are very close, but Dr Sam says, “at around four to six months they start to be able to see a bit further, and they'll track things that walk past.”

“They start to be more interested in [the world around them] and at that point it can be much easier for parents to interact a bit more with their baby because they're getting something back.

“We start to hear parents saying, ‘My baby has got their own personality,’ at this age. They laugh at certain things, and they'll start to recognise familiar people at this point. So, Mum and Dad become more important to them than the random person who wants to talk to them while they're in the trolley at the supermarket.”

Physical development at 3-6 months

Becoming responsive and building strength

Health visitor Kerry explains what you might expect to see in your baby at three to six months.

“Babies will want to sit in a ed position more often and explore what's around them. They’ll also want to hold things themselves, and grab at things like toys. They might be responsive to sounds by turning towards them.

“They’ll also want to chomp on things, so again think about safety.”

To help your child’s physical development at this age, Kerry says it doesn’t get more valuable than floor play.

“That's a really key time to be encouraging that supervised tummy time with objects and toys around the child to stimulate that reach and that roll and being able to their own body weight.”

Cognitive development at 6-9 months

Complex babble

At this age, baby’s babble might start to develop further. Dr Sam explains…

“We’re still seeing lots of babbling, but rather than just single sounds or noises, what we start to see at this age are babies putting a vowel and a consonant together, so you get things like, ‘Ma ma ma’, ‘Da da da’, or ‘Ba ba ba’ - repeated syllables.

“That's the onset of starting to build words.

“You will get some babies that say, ‘Mama’ and ‘Dada’, but it's probably to anybody who walks into the room and not necessarily related to Mum or Dad. They are practising the sounds but haven’t yet linked what they are saying to the specific person at this point”

Recognising their name and other words

“Babies have got quite a few words that they understand at this age, and, at six to nine months, they might start to respond to their name. So, if you say their name, they'll look for you in a room.

“They've started moving around at this age, so they also quite often learn the word no when they're trying to reach for things or pull the cat's tail - the mischief that babies get up to.

“So, they'll respond to these really familiar high frequency words that they've been hearing.”

Social playtime

Dr Sam also says that this age is often when you start to see responses to games and songs at playtime.

“Babies start to get even more interactive. We start to really see some of their social development coming out, so they'll clap along with things, they'll play games with you, like pat-a-cake and peekaboo.”

Object permanence

“And then you've got object permanence, where they start to realise that things they can no longer see still exist in the real world.

“The way they interact with objects changes as a result of that and that gives you lots of opportunities to talk to them about what has grabbed their interest. For example, they might ‘deliberately’ drop things off the highchair for you to pick up”

Physical development at 6-9 months

Weaning and exploring with their mouth

Six to nine months is often a period of food and weaning, Kerry explains.

“It's a really exciting age, six months, for children to sit and to explore textures and foods.”

“Parents might want to encourage that early stage of weaning and complementary feeding, alongside breast or bottle feeding.

“They’re learning to chew, learning to swallow - all of those things are developing in that period of time as they explore different foods.

“Being able to sit and learn head control is also important and that continues right up to that 12-month mark, as children are actively wanting to feed themselves more independently.”

With all of these changes, safety is a key concern.

“Parents are really worried about choking babies at that age. So, safe weaning practice and a responsive parent is important.”

More floor play and early crawling

“I can’t over-encourage floor play.”

Kerry explains that while busy parents understand the benefits of walkers for active babies, they should only really be used for “small periods”.

“If the child is on the floor, they’re more able to their own weight and try to pull up onto all fours.

“Some children at that age might be on all fours, but with a sort of weight-bearing rocking in that position – that can be the early signs of crawling.”

Cognitive development at 9-12 months

First words

It can be difficult for parents to discern when a baby says their first word – especially if they babble a lot! However, this milestone often comes along between 10 and 18 months.

If your baby is saying their first words, you might start to notice how they use them…

Linking words to objects

“At around nine to 12 months, they really start to link words to objects,” Dr Sam says. “You might get ‘Mama’ and ‘Dada’ and they're actually referring to Mama and Dada.”

However, this isn’t always perfect from the outset: “We often hear stories of babies referring to any man as ‘Dada’, because they're trying to fine tune, ‘Okay, so is ‘Dada’ this one particular person, or is it all men? What does this word really mean?’

“Or a baby who's learnt the word ‘cat’ might see a dog when you're out on a walk and say ‘cat’, because they share a lot of features – furry, four legs and a tail - and the baby hasn't yet learnt the subtle distinction.

You can help them learn these differences by letting them know the correct word and praising them when they get it right.

“They also start pointing at things, because they want you to tell them about it or they want to share what they've seen with you.”

Imitation and early pretend play

“At this stage, we also start to see early pretend play. And this links back to imitation -they’re copying everything that you're doing and this is the point at which babies might pick up a phone and put it to their ear, for example, because they’ve seen you do that.

“They start to understand eating and things like that a little better. They want to use the spoon themselves because that's what you've been doing as the grown up.”

Social gestures

And, while imitating you, they might show off their first social gestures.

“They might wave hello or goodbye at this age or hold out objects [for you to look at]. So, there's lots of opportunities for interaction with your baby at this point.”

Following their attention

“They also start to lead shared attention-type activities. So, they are intentionally drawing your attention to what they're interested in, whether that's through pointing, through gaze, or through gesture.

“It might occasionally be through language, but their vocabulary is still quite small so this is likely to be single words to label something they can see.”

Separation anxiety

“And at this age, you might start to see signs of separation anxiety. That links with object permanence, because they've realised that you are still there, even though you're not with them in the room.

“But it comes and goes in this period and it's only at around 18 months when you start to see strong signs of separation anxiety.

“If there’s another familiar adult, they might not be quite so bothered that you've popped out the to the supermarket, but when they get to 18 months it becomes a bit more focussed on particular individuals.”

Physical development at 9-12 months

“You will see a real increase in physical development at this stage,” Kerry says.

“So, we will see children that may be crawling, but some children don't crawl, or they find their own style - whether that be bum shuffling, commando crawl, or going backwards!”

“Cruising around furniture and wanting to move independently certainly comes in at that age.

“They might be pulling to stand and sitting without . From nine months you might even get an early walker.”

Pincer grips

From nine months, Kerry says you might start to see the development of a pincer grip – a fine motor skill where your child uses their thumb and forefinger to pick up objects.

“We’ve got to be mindful, at this point, of what they’re picking up - small pieces that they might find [and potentially put in their mouth]. So, we're encouraging that independence, but we've got to think about safety as well.”

First teeth

Although it can be earlier or later, most children will have their first milk teeth by 12 months, completing the set between 2 and 3 years old.

Weaning

As your weaning journey continues, you might introduce your child to new flavours and textures. Safety is an important consideration at this point, Kerry says.

You can learn more about safe weaning on the NHS Start for Life website.

For Dr Sam Durrant, the best way to your baby’s cognitive and physical development is to…

“Engage with your baby as much as you can, in whatever way you can.”

Health visitor Kerry Bennett agrees, “Babies are responsive from Day One and must be responded to.

“It's all about understanding and learning baby’s cues and how your individual baby responds and being an in-tune parent.”

Speaking about language, Dr Sam says, “We know that talking to babies and giving them lots of experience with language is really important. The more we talk to them, the more opportunities they have to learn language.

“Also, we know that babies prefer what's called child-directed speech - which is the way that people often talk to babies, but it doesn't come naturally to everyone.

“It's a slower, high pitched, sing-song way of speaking and babies really like it. When we use this way of speaking we're making it easier for them to identify the features of language and sounds.”

Another tip from Dr Sam: “If you're a person who's quite happy to narrate your day: ‘Oh, what are we going to do now? I'm going to make a cup of tea. I'm putting the water in the kettle.’ All of that is really useful for your baby.

“Although they may not be learning the individual words while they're very little, they are learning about the sounds and patterns within those words and as they get older the words will start to have meaning.”

Take a look at our Tiny Happy People activities and Tools for Talking tips to learn what you can do at each age – from birth to pre-school.

What is the most important baby milestone?

No one milestone is more important than the rest. As health visitor Kerry says, “You’re looking at your child as a whole.”

Each skill your child gains has a knock-on effect on the rest of their development.

“When babies start walking,” Dr Sam explains, “that opens up an entirely different environment to them, which changes their cognitive development.

“Even things like going from laying down all the time, looking at the ceiling, to being able to sit uned, your view of the world is completely different, so that's going to affect your development as well.”

What happens when babies skip milestones?

Of course, babies do skip milestones – some skip crawling entirely, for example, and progress to walking with no issues.

to think of your child’s development as a whole and use your personal child health record (PCHR) book, or as Kerry calls it, ‘the red book’.

“If your child misses a milestone, continue to monitor that and be ready to discuss it with your healthcare professional at their next check-in,” she adds.

“And in between those assessments, you can your health visitor or drop into a wellbeing clinic, if there's any concerns at all.

“But there are key points when healthcare professionals should get in touch to monitor [your child’s development].”

Does hitting milestones early or late mean anything?

Your child is an individual, so to discuss their overall development with your health visitor.

Dr Sam Durrant spends a lot of time researching the development of young children.

In her research of the first year she says, “The evidence suggests that while we do care about milestones, they don't really seem to have a massive impact on where children end up at school entry or beyond.

“A couple of months difference in the early stages doesn't seem to have a massive long-term impact.

“And particularly with language: babies that are potentially going to be classified as late talkers - with a small vocabulary at age two – around 50% of those will never need to have any speech and language intervention.

“They will just catch up on their own and end up in line with their peers.

“We often don't know what the factors are that are influencing whether a baby reaches a milestone at a particular point. There’s a whole host of different reasons.

“Some of that is likely due to the baby themselves and the things that they're interested in. Some of it could be about their environmental experiences. If you're a family that are out and about all the time your baby is getting lots of experience of the social world, but may be spending less time crawling around on the floor.”

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