What are Developmental Milestones?
C.S Mott Children’s Hospital defines developmental milestones as “Developmental milestones are a set of functional skills or age-specific tasks that most children can do at a certain age range. Your pediatrician uses milestones to help check how your child is developing. Although each milestone has an age level, the actual age when a normally developing child reaches that milestone can vary quite a bit.”
Are Developmental Milestones Different For All Groups?
The developmental milestones are often expected for a child to be done at a certain age. Efforts conducted by one’s family play a crucial part in assessing a child’s developmental milestones.
Crawling, talking, walking, or rolling over are all examples of developmental milestones and are different for children of different age groups and can be divided as follows:
Developmental Milestones: 1- 2 Month
During the first few days, your baby might not do much except cry, eat, and sleep. However, the baby will be much more responsive by the end of its first month and start moving his body and hands in coordination. As a parent, you might start to notice the baby watching you as you hold him, listen to you as you speak, and oftentimes, he might move his body to respond to you or attract your attention.
We have compiled a list of various developmental milestones to look for in your 1-month-old child. (source: healthychildren.org)
Smell and Touch Milestones
- Prefers sweet smells
- Avoids bitter or acidic smells
- Recognizes the scent of his own mother’s breast milk
- Prefers soft to coarse sensations
- Dislikes rough or abrupt handling
Movement Milestones
- Makes jerky, quivering arm thrusts
- Brings hands within range of eyes and mouth
- Moves head from side to side while lying on stomach
- Head flops backward if unsupported
- Keeps hands in tight fists
- Strong reflex movements
Developmental Health Watch
- Sucks poorly and feeds slowly
- Doesn’t blink when shown a bright light
- Doesn’t focus and follow a nearby object moving side to side
- Rarely moves arms and legs; seems stiff
- Seems excessively loose in the limbs, or floppy
- Lower jaw trembles constantly, even when not crying or excited
- Doesn’t respond to loud sounds
Visual and Hearing Milestones
- Focuses 8 to 12 inches (20.3 to 30.4 cm) away
- Eyes wander and occasionally cross
- Prefers black-and-white or high-contrast patterns
- Prefers the human face to all other patterns
- Hearing is fully mature
- Recognizes some sounds
- May turn toward familiar sounds and voice.
Act early by seeking help from a medical professional if your child:
- Unable to bring the hand to mouth
- Does not respond to loud sounds around them
- Doesn’t watch things that might move around them such as a car, or a person
- Is unable to hold head up when pushing up to their tummy
- Does not smiles at people around them
Developmental Milestones: 3 Months
By the time a baby is three months old, they will start getting more responsive to the environment around them and they will acquire more control of their body. According to CDC, there are several developmental milestones to look for in a two-month-old baby.
Physical Movement Milestones
- Smooth movements with legs and arms
- Can push up when lying down
- Can hold their head up when lying down
Communication/Language Milestones
- Responds to sounds by turning heads
- Makes gurgling sounds
- Makes cooing sounds
Cognitive Learning
- Recognizes family members or friends at a distance
- Begins to follow things with eyes
- Pays close attention to faces
- Begins to cry (act bored) if his social or play activity doesn’t change
Economical and Social Milestones
- Tries to look at the parent
- Bring hands to mouth and sucks on it
- Smiles at people
- Starts to babble
- Head turns towards the sound direction
- Recognizes familiar people or objects
- Follows any object that might be moving
- Gazes at faces intently
Developmental Milestones: 4-5 Months Old
Just like the aforementioned milestones, there are certain milestones a child must complete by the time they’re four months old. (Source: CDC)
Social and Emotional Milestones
- Smiles spontaneously at things and people
- Like to play with things and people
- Copies facial expressions and movements such as frowning and smiling
Cognitive (Problem-Solving, Learning, Thinking) Milestones
- Expresses happiness or sadness through sounds, body movements, or facial expressions
- Watches faces around him closely
- Responds to affectionate touches or kisses
- Recognizes familiar things and people from a distance
- Reaches for toys with one hand
- Eyes follow moving things
- Using eyes and hands together, such as seeing a toy and reaching for it
Social and Emotional Milestones
- Smiles spontaneously at things and people
- Like to play with things and people
- Copies facial expressions and movements such as frowning and smiling
Cognitive Milestones
- Expresses happiness or sadness through sounds, body movements, or facial expressions
- Watches faces around him closely
- Responds to affectionate touches or kisses
- Recognizes familiar things and people from a distance
- Reaches for toys with one hand
- Eyes follow moving things
- Using eyes and hands together, such as seeing a toy and reaching for it
Language/Communication Milestones
- Coping sounds he hears
- Cries in numerous ways to express pain, hunger and also for portraying hunger
- Babbles with expressions he might hear around him
Physical Development Milestones
- Brings hands closer to their mouth
- Holding a toy and shaking it, mostly for dangling toys
- Can hold their heads up steadily without any support
- They can push up to elbows when lying on their stomach
- Can push their legs down when standing on a hard surface
Act early by seeking help from a medical professional if your child:
- Does not brings things close to their mouth
- Unable to hold head in a steady way
- Trouble moving eyes in one or more direction
- Unable to coo or make sounds
- Doesn’t watch things as they move
- Doesn’t smile at people
- Doesn’t push down with legs when feet are placed on a hard surface
(Source CDC)
Developmental Milestones: 6-7 Months Old
According to CDC, there are several milestones that a child must have completed by the time they become 6-7 months old.
Social and Emotional Milestones
- Likes to play with their loved ones, especially their parents
- Likes to look at themselves in the mirror or at the front camera
- Often seem happy
- Responds to the emotions of those around them
- Recognizes familiar faces and strangers
Cognitive Milestones
- Can bring things to the mouth
- Begins to pass things, toys, or objects from one hand to another
- Looks closely at the things around them
- Curious about out of reach thing
Language/Communication Milestones
- Can speak consonant sounds such as “b” and “m”
- Responds to words, actions and gestures by making sounds
- Expresses displeasure and joy by making sounds
- Responds to their name through facial expressions, or babbling sounds
Physical Development Milestones
- Can sit without support
- Can rock back and forth without crawling
- Can roll in different directions
- Supports weight of their legs when standing
- Might bounce when standing
Act early by seeking help from a medical professional if your child:
- Doesn’t try to get things that are in reach
- Shows no affection for caregivers
- Doesn’t respond to sounds around him
- Has difficulty getting things to mouth
- Doesn’t make vowel sounds (“ah”, “eh”, “oh”)
- Doesn’t roll over in either direction
- Doesn’t laugh or make squealing sounds
- Seems very stiff, with tight muscles
- Seems very floppy, like a rag doll
(SOURCE: CDC)
Developmental Milestones: 9 – 11 Months
According to CDC, several developmental milestones can be completed by the time a child reaches the age of 9-11 months.
Language and Communications Milestones
- Can say “babababa” and “mamama”
- Can understand the word “no”
- Pointing at things with their fingers
- Copies gestures and sounds of others
Physical Development Milestones
- Crawls
- Can stand while holding a stick
- Can sit properly without support
- Can get into sitting position comfortably
Social and Emotional Milestones
- Have toys they love
- Might be clingy to parents, or family members
- Might be afraid of strangers
Cognitive Milestones
- Plays pee-a-boo
- Can look for lost things, toys, or tools
- Puts things in their mouth
- Moves things smoothly from one hand to the other camera
- Watches the path of something that might fall in front of them
Act early by seeking help from a medical professional if your child:
- Doesn’t bear weight on legs with support
- Doesn’t sit with help
- Doesn’t babble (“mama”, “baba”, “dada”)
- Doesn’t play any games involving back-and-forth play
- Doesn’t respond to own name
- Doesn’t seem to recognize familiar people
- Doesn’t look where you point
- Doesn’t transfer toys from one hand to the other
(SOURCE: CDC)
Development Milestones: 1 Year
According to the CDC, there are several milestones that a child must complete by the time they reach 1 year of age.
Social and Emotional Milestones
- Plays “pat-a-cake” and “peek-a-boo” games with parent
- Acts nervous or shy with strangers
- Cries at the absence of parents
- Have favorite people and things
- Tries to grab attention by repeating actions or sounds
- Hands a book if he/she wants to hear a story
- Portrays fear in certain situations
Cognitive Milestones
- Pokes with the index finger
- Copies gestures of adults
- Can find things that might be hidden
- Looks at the right picture when it is named
- Can take out and put in things out of a box or a container
- Can let things go without additional assistance
- Can follow simple instructions such as “sit down” or “pick up the toy”
- Bangs things together
- Shakes, bangs, and throws things together
- Can drink from a cup
- Learns to brush their hair
Language/Communication Milestones
- Tries to imitate the words you say
- Implements simple gestures such as waving, “bye-bye” and shaking head, “no”
- Tries to say “dada” and “mama”
- Exclamates words such as “aaaa!” or “uh-oh!”
- Responds to spoken requests
- Tries to make sounds with changing voices, more sounding like a speech
Physical Development Milestones
- Can stand alone without support
- Might take a few steps without few steps
- Might sit without support
- Can stand without holding anything
Act early by seeking help from a medical professional if your child:
- Doesn’t crawl
- Can’t stand when supported
- Doesn’t search for things that she sees you hide
- Doesn’t say single words like “mama” or “dada”
- Doesn’t learn gestures like waving or shaking their head
- Doesn’t point to things
- Loses skills he once had
(SOURCE: CDC)
Development Milestones: 18 Months
According to CDC, there are several milestones that a child must complete before they reach the age of 18 months old.
Language/Communication Milestones
- Points at what he wants
- Shakes their head or verbally communicates “no”
- Points at what one might want
- Might verbally speak few single words
Physical/Movement Development
- Can eat with a spoon without assistance
- Can walk alone without anyone’s help
- Can drink easily from a cup
- Pull toy while walking
- May run
- May walk up the stairs without help
- Can assist in undressing themselves
Social and Emotional Development
- Might throw short tempers
- Might be afraid of strangers
- Points at things that might interesting
- Might initiate affection to people around you
- Likes to hand things to others as play camera
- May have temper tantrums
- May be afraid of the strangers
- Becomes more curious about their surroundings
- Explores their surroundings more
- Might cling to their caregivers
- Might simply play with their stuffed animals or dolls
Cognitive (Problem-Solving, learning, thinking)
- If provided with a pen, crayon, or a pencil, can scribble on their own
- Has basic knowledge of ordinary objects such as a spoon, a fork, a ball, a toy, or a phone
- Follows verbal commands by parents such as “put that away,” or “sit down”
- Points at things they recognize
- Tries to grab someone’s attention by making sounds or actions
- Plays with dolls, or stuffed animals by pretending to feed them
Act early by seeking help from a medical professional if your child:
- Doesn’t point to show things to others
- Can’t walk
- Doesn’t know what familiar things are for
- Doesn’t copy others
- Doesn’t gain new words
- Doesn’t have at least 6 words
- Doesn’t notice or mind when a caregiver leaves or returns
- Loses skills he once had
(SOURCE: CDC)
Developmental Milestones: 2 Years
According to CDC, there are several developmental milestones that a child must complete by the time they become 2 years old.
Language and Communications Milestones
- If shown a book, points at things they like
- Repetition of overheard words in a conversation
- Says phrases with two to four words
- Can follow simplified instructions
Physical Development Milestones
- Can kick a ball or any other toy
- Copies or draws circles or straight lines
- Throws ball over their hands
- Able to stand on tiptoe
- Can walk up and down the stairs
- Begins to run here and there
- Can climb up and down the furniture without extra support
Social and Emotional Milestones
- Gets excited around other children
- May portray defiant behavior over something he is told not to do
- Plays with children of his/her age many games such as volleyball, soccer, and football
- With each passing day, they might portray more and more independence
- Copies the actions of other children or adults
Cognitive Milestones
- Can build a tower with 2-3 pieces of toy blocks
- Successfully follow instructions given by parents or older adults such as “stop playing with your toys and put them back in your toy bag.”
- Names picture book items such as a dog, a bird, a rabbit, a lion, or a cat
- Enjoys sorting colors and shapes
- If parents hide things from them, they can find it even if it is under multiple covers
- Might use their one hand more than their other hand
Act early by seeking help from a medical professional if your child:
- Doesn’t use 2-word phrases (for example, “drink milk”)
- Doesn’t know what to do with common things, like a brush, phone, fork, spoon
- Doesn’t copy actions and words
- Doesn’t follow simple instructions
- Doesn’t walk steadily
- Loses skills she once had
(SOURCE: CDC)
Development Milestones: 3 Years
According to CDC, there are certain developmental milestones that a child must complete before they reach the age of 3 years.
Physical Development Milestones
- Easily runs here and there
- Successfully walks up and down the stairs
- Climbs stairs easily
- Can pedal a 3-wheel bike
Social and Emotional Milestones
- Can tell between mom and dad
- Dresses and undresses self
- Might show a wide variety of emotions such as anger, sadness, joy, and excitement
- Portrays affection to friends
- Portrays concern for a weeping friend
- Copies the actions and words of friends and the adults around them
- Understands the difference between “mine” and “his” or “hers”
- Major routine changes might upset the
Cognitive (problem-solving, learning, thinking) Milestones
- Can build a tower of more than 6 block toys
- Turns door handle
- Opens and Closes the jar lids
- Plays make-believe games with stuffed toys, animals, or dolls
- Tries to copy and draw a circle with the help of a crayon, or a pencil
- Can compile 3 or 4 pieces of the puzzle together
- Understanding the meaning of “two”
- Plays with moving parts, buttons, and levers
Language/Communication
- Carries a conversation with 2 or 3 phrases
- Learns their friend’s name and often repeats it during conversations
- Utters different words such as “I,” “you,” “me,” and “we.”
- Utters plural words such as cats, dogs, and cars
- Talks clear enough for strangers to understand
- Can comprehend words such as “under” “on” and “in”
- Utters someone else’s or their own name, age, and gender
- Names familiar things such as glass, cup, ice cream, bed, and car
Act early by seeking help from a medical professional if your child:
- Falls down a lot or has trouble with stairs
- Drools or has very unclear speech
- Can’t work simple toys (such as pegboards, simple puzzles, turning handles)
- Doesn’t speak in sentences
- Doesn’t understand simple instructions
- Doesn’t play pretend or make-believe
- Doesn’t want to play with other children or with toys
- Doesn’t make eye contact
- Loses skills he once had
(SOURCE: CDC)
Development Milestones: 4 Years
According to the CDC, there are certain developmental milestones that a child must reach by the time they become 4 years old.
Physical Development Milestones
- Mashes and cuts their own food
- Pours their own drink (water, milk, and juice)
- Catches a bouncing ball
- Stands on one foot for 2-3 seconds
- Hops on one foot for 2-3 seconds
Social and Emotional Milestones
- Talks about their interests and they like to do in their free time
- Oftentimes cannot differentiate between make-believe and reality
- Becomes more and more creative with their make-believe plays with toys and stuffed animals
- Enjoys exploring new activities
- Cooperatively plays with other children of their age group
Cognitive Milestones
- Plays card games or board games
- Uses scissors to cut paper, plastic boards, and more
- Understands the difference between “different” and “same”
- Remembers parts of a story they’ve been told such as the story of Sleeping Beauty or Cinderella
- Understands counting fingers, toys, and other things
- Names certain numbers, and some colors such as black, red, pink, etc.
- Roughly draws a person with 2 or 4 body parts such as arms, and legs
- Expresses their opinion on the future events of a movie, animation, or a story
Language/Communications Milestones
- Knows basic grammar rules such as “she” and “he”
- Utters poems they’ve memorized such as “Humpty Dumpty” or “twinkle twinkle little star”
- Can say their first or last name
Act early by seeking help from a medical professional if your child:
- Does not portray emotions
- Portrays extreme behavior such as extreme sadness, extreme fear, extreme aggressiveness, and extreme shyness
- Can’t remember their first and last name
- Cannot draw pictures
- Doesn’t like to involve themselves in activities
- Doesn’t play games
- Has difficulty focusing on a specific task or activity for more than 5 minutes
- Cannot properly differentiate between reality and imagination
- Doesn’t discuss their daily activities, or experiences with their parents, caretaker, or adult guardian
- Does not respond to questions asked by people
- Loses skills that they might have had once such as drawing, coloring, sketching, or more
- Is unable to do simple activities such as washing and drying hands, brushing their teeth.
- Is unable to get undressed without help
(SOURCE: CDC)
Development Milestones: 5 Years
According to CDC, there are several milestones that a child must finish by the time they become 5 years old.
Physical Development Milestones
- Climbs stairs and swings on the swing
- Conveniently uses a toilet on their own
- Is able to perform a somersault
- Playfully stands on one foot for 10 seconds or more
- Uses a table knife, a spoon, or a fork
Cognitive Milestones
- Has knowledge about the basic everyday things such as food and money
- Can write numbers and letters
- Can successfully count 10 or more things
- Draws geometric shapes and a triangle
Social and Emotional Milestones
- Agrees with rules and regulations set by their parents
- Understands the difference between real and make-believe,
- Portrays independence (under adult supervision)
- Knows their gender
- Enjoys dancing, singing and acting
- Like to please their friends
- Acts like friends and adopts their habits
- Might act cooperatively or sometimes demanding
Language/Communications Milestones
- Has memorized and says their name and address
- Uses future tense during conversation such as “Grandma will be here.”
- Can speak a simple story with the help of full sentences
- Can successfully speak clearly
Act early by seeking help from a medical professional if your child:
- Does not portray emotions
- Portrays extreme behavior such as extreme sadness, extreme fear, extreme aggressiveness, and extreme shyness
- Can’t remember their first and last name
- Cannot draw pictures
- Doesn’t like to involve themselves in activities
- Doesn’t play games
- Has difficulty focusing on a specific task or activity for more than 5 minutes
- Cannot properly differentiate between reality and imagination
- Doesn’t discuss their daily activities, or experiences with their parents, caretaker, or adult guardian
- Does not respond to questions asked by people
- Loses skills that they might have had once such as drawing, coloring, sketching, or more
- Is unable to do simple activities such as washing and drying hands, brushing their teeth.
- Is unable to get undressed without help
(SOURCE: CDC)