Your Baby's Developmental Milestones

Watching your baby grow and develop is exciting and wonderful... and worrisome. Every parent wonders if their baby is developing according to schedule. It’s important to remember that there are normal variations for most developmental milestones – babies like to do things on their own schedules. However, if you’re ever concerned about your child's development, discuss it with your child's pediatrician.

The following are some of the most common developmental milestones:

At three months old, your baby will probably:

• Imitate some facial expressions and movements
• Raise her head and chest when she’s lying on her stomach
• Bring her hand to her mouth in a coordinated way
• Reach for toys and take them in her hand
• Follow an object with her eyes as it moves
• Recognize familiar people and objects
• Turn her head toward the direction of your voice or other sounds

At seven months old, your baby will probably:

• Respond to her own name and the word “no”
• Make sounds in response to sounds and babble
• Roll from her stomach to her back, and from her back to her stomach
• Sit up, sometimes using support from her hands
• Try to get objects out of her reach and rake them toward her
• Support her weight on her legs
• Interact with others in an increasingly social and playful fashion

At one year old, your baby will probably:

• Show a preference for her primary care giver
• Feed herself with finger foods
• Help when she is being dressed by moving her arms and legs
• Begin to drink from a cup and use other objects appropriately
• Recognize common objects by their names
• Sit without help
• Pull herself up to a standing position and walk around while holding on to furniture
• Take a few steps without help
• Say simple words, such as “dada,” “mama”, and “uh-oh”
• Shake her head “no”
• Take objects in and out of a container
• Display increasing manual dexterity

At two years old, your baby will probably:

• Become excited at seeing other children
• Become excited at seeing other children
• Begin to show increasing independence
• Start playing make-believe, also known as imaginative play
• Be able to sort objects by color and shape
• Say simple phrases and short sentences
• Be able to follow simple instructions (“Find the ball.”)
• Walk without assistance
• Go up and down stairs with help
• Begin to show a preference for one hand over the other
• Scribble using crayons or markers
• Build block towers or stack other objects

At three years old, your baby will probably:

• Know how to take turns when playing
• Show affection spontaneously
• Understand “mine” and “yours”
• Be unhappy if you change her routine
• Play with mechanical toys
• Follow commands that have more than one action (“Find the ball and bring it to mommy.”)
• Use longer four or five word sentences
• Be able to say her name and age and understand gender
• Be understood by strangers when talking most of the time
• Walk, run, climb, kick a ball, be able to ride a tricycle
• Properly hold a pencil or crayon and be able to use it to draw circles and lines that go side to side, or up and down
• Turn the pages in a book one at a time