Baby Development Skills
From Birth to 12 Months

This question is often followed by a statement such as "I don't want to sound like a nutty paranoid mommy but I'm worried".

As a mother, pediatric occupational therapist and baby-toddler development specialist I completely understand and respect these feelings.

My entire career has been dedicated to educating families on strategies that will help boost their baby's development. A baby typically develops neurologically in a precise order. This order is from head to feet and from the center of their bodies(mid-line)outward.

For example, your baby will lift his head before he can stand on his feet. This is pretty obvious to most people but think about all the other skills that must happen before your baby stands by himself. Your baby will learn to roll over, push-up on his arms,sit-up and crawl all before he walks.

Your baby will also develop from mid-line outward. This means he will be able to stabilize his head and trunk before his hand skills become precise.

This is a very simple over view of neuro-development of infants. When a typical child is growing he or she will follow a predictable pattern of childhood development.

The stages of child development happen in a time frame not at a particular month. For instance, walking typically occurs between 12-18 months not at 12 months. A baby does not have an internal walking switch that gets flipped at 12 months magically.

So many child development charts place developmental milestones at a particular month and this can be confusing and alarming to parents.

Below is a stages of child development chart for birth through 12 months. The chart is designed to place skills in the typical child development ranges. The chart is divided up into two parts. The first part covers typical baby development and the second covers typical toddler development.

The second part discusses typical toddler development. For stages of child development for ages 13-36 months click here. Toddler Development Chart

This page covers the 5 developmental milestone areas.

The first area is motor skills. This includes fine motor skills which is hand coordination. Visual Perception skills which is eye and hand coordination. Last is gross motor skills which is ability to move the body.

The cognitive skills is how your baby learns and uses his mind.

The social/emotional skills are how your baby forms bonds with his important people and how he relates to his environment. These are also pre-communication skills.

Speech and language skills are usually separated into two areas. The receptive speech area is how your baby begins to understand both non-verbal and verbal communication. Expressive communication is your baby's ability to use words to get his wants and needs met.

The last area is the self help skills. These are those skills that your baby has that provides survival (eating and sleeping) and later self care independence like dressing and toileting.

Baby development stages between the ages of 0 and 2 months....

MOTOR SKILLS

• Lifts head when lying on tummy to clear his face
• Hands will begin to remain open more often
• Notices his hands
• Holds head up for short periods at 45-degree angle
• Have repetitive movements like waving arms or kicking legs
• Follows objects briefly with eyes when 12-15 inches from face in the horizontal plane(left-right/right-left)
• Can see black-and-white patterns

SOCIAL

• Focuses at faces for short times then looks away
• Quiets to your voice or being picked up
• Begins to smile

COGNITIVE

• Brings hands to mouth

SPEECH

• Responds to sound by blinking, pausing his movements or startling
• Vocalizes: oohs, goos and aahs

SELF CARE

• Sucks well from either a breast or bottle
• Has regular eating schedule for age (i.e.every 2-3 hours)
• Coordinated sucking,swallowing and breathing patterns during feeding

Baby development stages between the ages of 3 and 5 months to....

MOTOR SKILLS

• Holds head steady in all positions
• Visually tracks moving objects up/down,side to side and in a circular pattern
• Can stay up on bent elbows while on tummy
• Does baby-push up
• First rolls over, from tummy to back
• Next rolls from back to tummy
• Can bring hands together, bats at toys
• Can hold a toy when placed in his hand
• Can stand up on legs when held for short time
• Sits momentarily with minimum support
• Passes objects from hand to hand

COGNITIVE

• Recognizes your voice
• Looks at objects in hands
• Shakes rattles
• Plays with his hands and feet
• Mouths objects

SOCIAL/EMOTIONAL

• Squeals, gurgles, coos
• Blows bubbles
• Smiles, laughs during social interaction
• Watches familiar adults move around room

SPEECH

• Squeals, gurgles, coos
• Turns toward loud sounds
• Coos when you talk to him
• Imitates sounds: "baba," "dada"
• Begins to have different cries

SELF CARE

• May be ready for Baby Cereals
• Gums or mouths pureed foods

Baby development stages between the ages of 6 and 8 months...

MOTOR SKILLS

• Rolls over in both directions
• Creeps forward with belly on ground
• Get into the hands and knees crawling position
• Begins to transition into sitting from the crawling position
• Sits without support for at least 30 seconds
• Distinguishes between bold colors
• Passes objects from hand to hand
• Lunges forward or starts crawling
• Bangs objects together

COGNITIVE

• Turns toward sounds and voices
• Recognizes own name
• Drags objects toward himself
• Bangs objects together
• Begins to understand object permanence by finding a partially hidden object
• Looks for a object when it falls

SOCIAL/EMOTIONAL

• Separation anxiety may begin
• Plays patty-cake and peek-a-boo
• Reaches for self in a mirror
• Enjoys being with people

SPEECH

• Imitates sounds
• Jabbers or combines syllables
• Says "mama" and "dada" (isn't specific)

SELF CARE

• Is ready for pureed baby foods
• Gums and swallows crackers
• Begins to use a sippy cup

Baby development stages between the ages of 9 and 12 months...

MOTOR SKILLS

• Stands while holding onto something
• Crawls well, with belly off the ground
• Picks things up with thumb-finger pincer grasp
• Pulls self to standing from sitting
• May start to side step along solid objects (cruise)
• Puts objects into a container
• Scribbles with a crayon

COGNITIVE

• Imitates scribbling with a crayon
• Waves goodbye
• Points at objects
• Finds a completely hidden object
• Understands "no" and simple instructions
• Imitates others' movements

SOCIAL/EMOTIONAL

• Moves from familiar persons for short distances
• Enjoys the attention of adults and will perform to get attention
• Will give a toy

SPEECH

• Waves goodbye
• Indicates wants with gestures
• Says "mama" and "dada" to the correct parent
• Understands "no" and simple instructions
• Says two words besides "mama" and "dada"
• Responds to name being called

SELF CARE

• Drinks from a sippy cup
• Eats soft table foods
• Eats with fingers

Baby Development Resources

Language Activities

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