Growth milestones for babies

There is nothing more fascinating than watching a baby hit the various growth milestones! They develop in stages; their first smiles, waves and sounds as they try to join in the family chat.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), healthy development depends on your child’s social, emotional and educational needs being met in those early years.

Proper nutrition, exercise, sleep, and a safe and caring home where your family engages fully with your newborn by playing, singing, reading, and talking are all very important in forming foundations.

In order to ensure good growth, you should consider how you parent and what positive parenting practices you can incorporate in your goal towards raising happy, healthy and progressing babies.

To this end, studies indicate that parents found when it comes to nurturing and supporting their baby’s healthy growth, the following ways work best:

Being consistent by responding to your child in a predictable way
Expressing warmth, sensitivity and kindness
Establishing routines and household rules
Ensuring health and safety
Being firm but avoiding harshness or unkindness
Engaging your baby by reading her stories, playing and talking to them.

The milestones

Children develop at their own pace, and developmental milestones are just there to give you an idea of what changes to expect as your baby grows, says Healthline.

And the absence of those changes can help you detect developmental problems which may have other underlying health causes. Always speak to your doctor or the clinic if you suspect something is amiss.

At two months, your baby could be doing this:

Smiles at people and pays attention to faces
She is able to pacify herself by bringing her hands to her mouth
Fixes her gaze on you
She turns her head when she hears sounds
She coos and makes gurgling sounds
She’ll follow movement with her eyes and begins to recognize people
Physically her arm and leg movements are smoother
And she’s able to hold her head up and begins to push up when lying on her tummy.

Talk to your doctor if your baby: doesn’t respond to loud sounds; doesn’t follow movement with her gaze; doesn’t smile at people, doesn’t stick her hands in her mouth and is unable to hold her head up when on her tummy and pushing up.

Your baby adds to her growing repertoire of skills at each passing month.

By six months, she is likely to:

Knows familiar faces and is able to pick out a stranger
Likes to play with you and others
Picks up on other’s emotions and is often quite happy
Likes to see herself in the mirror
Answers to sounds by making some of her own
Tries to reply to your chatter by babbling and stringing together vowels like “ah, eh and oh”
Reacts to her own name
Shows joy or displeasure with sounds
Starts to say consonant sounds like “m” and “b”
Lifts things to her mouth
Looks around at nearby objects
Is curious about things and tries to grab things that are out of reach
Passes objects from hand to hand
Physically she is able to roll front to back and back to front
Is able to sit up
Is able to stand against things, support weight on the legs and may even bounce
Is able to rock back and forth and start crawling backwards before gaining forward momentum

As you can see, your baby is growing in skills, but you should tell your doctor or the clinic if your baby isn’t doing these: doesn’t try to grab things in reach; shows no affection to caregivers; doesn’t respond to sounds close by; struggles to bring things to her mouth; doesn’t say the vowel sounds “ah, eh and oh”; doesn’t roll over in any direction; doesn’t laugh or squeal; seems very stiff with tense muscles or flops over like a rag doll.

At one year, your baby is quite a character already and is usually:

Shy or nervous around strangers
When you leave, she’ll cry
Is fearful in some situations
When she wants to hear a favourite story, she’ll make sounds and hand you a book
Has favourite people and things
Seeks attention by repeating sounds and actions
Helps by putting out an arm or a leg when you’re dressing her
Loves a game of “peek-a-boo.”
Follows simple spoken requests such as “pick up the toy.”
Uses simple gestures like waving “bye-bye” or a shake of the head for “no.”
Can change the tone of voice as if having a conversation
Says “mama” and “dada’ and exclamations like “uh-oh.”
Tries to repeat your words
Goes in search of things you hid
Likes to shake and throw things and bangs things together
Imitates gestures
Uses utensils correctly, like cups and spoons
Pokes or points an index finger
Sits up or stands up without help
Stands alone and walks along with furniture or takes steps without holding on.

Never fail to tell your doctor if something is amiss, such as your baby: not crawling; not standing with support; searching for hidden things; not saying “mama” or “dada”; doesn’t wave or shake her head; doesn’t point and loses skills she once had.

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