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Supporting Your Child’s Growth
Developmental Milestones
At Bright Start Connect, we understand how exciting and sometimes overwhelming it can be to watch your child grow and develop new skills. Developmental milestones are important indicators of your child’s physical, social, and emotional growth. These milestones are monitored at every well-child visit by your family practitioner. They help track key abilities, behaviors, and skills that children typically achieve by certain ages.
What Are Developmental Milestones?
Developmental milestones are skills most children learn by a certain age. These include everything from a baby’s first smile to a toddler’s first steps and a preschooler’s ability to share with friends. Knowing what to expect can help you support your child’s development and understand their individual pace of growth.
It’s important to remember that every child develops at their own pace. If your child isn’t hitting every milestone at exactly the same time as other children, it’s often nothing to worry about.
Other Milestones Resources
Pathways.org
Pathways provides free resources so that every parent is fully empowered to support their child’s development, and take advantage of their child’s neuroplasticity at the earliest age. They offer free tools to maximize all children’s motor, sensory, and communication development.
Pathways Tracking APP
Track your baby's development & important milestones with this free app. All materials have been reviewed and approved by an expert healthcare provider. All milestones are validated by The American Academy of Pediatrics findings.
CDC’s Developmental Milestones
CDC’s developmental milestone checklists are communication tools intended to encourage ongoing conversations between families and professionals. The checklists also help identify the need for additional screening when there is a potential developmental concern.
HealthyChildren.org
The Ages & Stages section on HealthyChildren.org provides expert guidance on children's development across various age groups, from newborns to teens. Parents can explore insights on health, behavior, safety, and growth milestones to support each stage of their child’s journey.
Physical
- While lying on tummy, pushes up on arms
- While lying on tummy, lifts and holds head up
- Able to move fists from closed to open
- Able to bring hands to mouth
- Moves legs and arms off of surface when excited
Emotional
- Calms down when spoken to or picked up
- Looks at your face
- Imitates some movements and facial expressions
- Becomes more communicative and expressive with face and body
Social
- Quiets or smiles in response to sound or voice
- Turns head towards sound or voice
- Shows interest in faces
- Makes eye contact
- Cries differently for different needs (e.g. hungry vs. tired)
- Coos and smiles
Cognitive
- Watches you as you move
- Looks at a toy for several seconds
Physical
- Uses hands to support self while sitting
- Rolls from back to tummy and tummy to back
- While standing with support, accepts entire weight with legs
- Reaches for nearby toys while on tummy
- While lying on back, reaches both hands to play with feet
- While lying on back, transfers a toy from one hand to the other
Emotional
- Chuckles (not yet a full laugh)
- Looks at you, moves, or makes sounds to get or keep your attention
- Begins to develop a social smile
- Enjoys playing with other people and may cry when playing stops
Social
- Reacts to sudden noises or sounds
- Listens and responds when spoken to
- Begins to use consonant sounds in babbling, e.g. “da, da, da”
- Makes different kinds of sounds to express feelings
- Notices toys that make sounds
- Uses babbling to get attention
Cognitive
- Uses both hands to explore toys
- Generally happy when not hungry or tired
- Brings hands and objects to mouth
- Able to calm with rocking, touching, and gentle sounds
- Is not upset by everyday sounds
- Enjoys a variety of movements
Physical
- Rolls both ways (front to back, back to front)
- Sits with, and then without, support of her hands
- Supports her whole weight on her legs
- Reaches with one hand
- Transfers object from hand to hand
- Uses raking grasp (not pincer)
Emotional
- Enjoys social play
- Interested in mirror images
- Responds to other people’s expressions of emotion and appears joyful often
Social
- Responds to own name
- Begins to respond to “no”
- Distinguishes emotions by tone of voice
- Responds to sound by making sounds
- Uses voice to express joy and displeasure
- Babbles chains of consonants
Cognitive
- Finds partially hidden object
- Explores with hands and mouth
- Struggles to get objects that are out of reach
Physical
- Sits without support
- Sits and reaches for toys without falling
- Moves from tummy or back into sitting
- Starts to move with alternate leg and arm movement e.g. creeping, crawling
- Picks up head and pushes through elbows during Tummy Time
- Turns head to visually track objects while sitting
- Shows more control while rolling and sitting
- Picks up small objects with thumbs and fingers
- In simple play imitates others
Emotional
- Is shy, clingy, or fearful around strangers
- Shows several facial expressions, like happy, sad, angry, and surprised
- Responsive to name
- Reacts when you leave (looks, reaches for you, or cries)
- Smiles or laughs when you play peek-a-boo
Social
- Uses increased variety of sounds and syllable combinations in babbling
- Looks at familiar objects and people when named
- Recognizes sound of their name
- Participates in two-way communication
- Follows some routine commands when paired with gestures
- Shows recognition of commonly used words
- Simple gestures, e.g. shaking head for “no”
- Imitates sounds
Cognitive
- Enjoys a variety of movements – bouncing up and down, rocking back and forth
- Explores and examines an object using both hands and mouth
- Turns several pages of a chunky (board) book at once
- Experiments with the amount of force needed to pick up different objects
- Focuses on objects near and far
- Investigates shapes, sizes, and textures of toys and surroundings
- Observes environment from a variety of positions – while lying on back or tummy, sitting, crawling, and standing with assistance
Physical
- Pulls to stand and cruises along furniture
- Stands alone and takes several independent steps
- Moves in and out of various positions to explore environment and get desired toys
- Maintains balance in sitting when throwing objects
- Claps hands
- Releases objects into a container with a large opening
- Uses thumb and pointer finger to pick up tiny objects
Emotional
- Cries when mother or father leaves
- Enjoys imitating people in play
- Shows specific preferences for certain people and toys
- Tests parental responses to his actions during feedings (What do you do when he refuses a food?)
- Tests parental responses to his behavior (What do you do if he cries after you leave the room?)
- May be fearful in some situations
- Prefers mother and/or regular caregiver over all others
- Repeats sounds or gestures for attention
- Finger-feeds himself
- Extends arm or leg to help when being dressed
Social
- Meaningfully uses “mama” or “dada”
- Responds to simple directions, e.g. “Come here”
- Produces long strings of gibberish (jargoning) in social communication
- Says one or two words
- Imitates speech sounds
- Babbling has sounds and rhythms of speech
- Pays attention to where you are looking and pointing
- Responds to “no”
- Begins using hand movements to communicate wants and needs, e.g. reaches to be picked up
Cognitive
- Enjoys listening to songs
- Explores toys with fingers and mouth
- Crawls to or away from objects baby sees in the distance
- Looks at correct picture when the image is named
- Imitates gestures
- Begins to use objects correctly (drinking from cup, brushing hair, dialing phone, listening to receiver)
Physical
- Walks independently
- Squats to pick up a toy
- Stacks two objects
Emotional
- May be afraid of strangers but will show affection to familiar people
- Points to show interest in something
- Likes to play by handing things to people or playing simple pretend
- May have some tantrums
- Might cling to caregivers in new situations or explore alone but with a parent close by
Social
- Responds to questions
- Repeats words overheard in conversation
- Continues to produce speech-like babbling
- Points at familiar objects and people in pictures
- Understands “in” and “on”
- Responds to yes/no questions with head shake/nod
Cognitive
- Helps with getting dressed/undressed
- Has a regular sleep schedule
- Eats an increasing variety of foods
Physical
- Starts to jumps with both feet leaving the ground
- When walking, able to pull toys behind them
- Runs
- Stands on tiptoes
- Climbs on low furniture
- Kicks large ball
- Goes up and down stairs with support
Emotional
- Imitates behavior of others, especially adults and older children
- Increasingly aware of herself as separate from others
- Increasingly enthusiastic about company of other children
- Demonstrates increasing independence
- Begins to show defiant behavior
- Increasing episodes of separation anxiety toward midyear, then they fade
Social
- Begins to use 2 word phrases
- Uses simple pronouns (me, you, my)
- Understands action words
- Uses gestures and words during pretend play
- Follows 2-step related directions e.g. “Pick up your coat and bring it to me”
- Enjoys listening to stories
Cognitive
- Flips switches on and off
- Uses crayons, pens, or markers to make marks on paper
- Sorts shapes and colors
- Stacks 5 or more small blocks or toys on top of each other
- Takes toys apart and puts them back together
Physical
- Moves forward and backward with agility
- Pedals tricycle
- Goes upstairs and downstairs without support
- Kicks ball forward
- Throws ball overhand
Emotional
- Calms down within 10 minutes –can start to self soothe
- Notices other children and joins them to play
- Imagines that many unfamiliar images may be "monsters"
- Views self as a whole person involving body, mind and feelings
- Often cannot distinguish between fantasy and reality
Social
- Consistently uses 2-3 word phrases
- Uses “in” and “on”
- At least 50% of speech is understood by caregiver
- Follows 2-step unrelated directions, e.g. “give me the ball and go get your coat”
- Understands basic nouns and pronouns
- Understands “mine” and “yours”
Cognitive
- Correctly names some colors
- Understands the concept of counting and may know a few numbers
- Approaches problems from a single point of view
- Begins to have a clearer sense of time
- Follows three-part commands
- Recalls parts of a story
- Engages in imaginative play
Physical
- Serves food or pours water, with adult supervision
- Unbuttons some buttons
- Holds crayon or pencil between fingers and thumb (not a fist)
- Starts to draw figures
- Begins to mimic numbers and letters
- Hops and stands on one foot up to five seconds
- Catches bounced ball most of the time
Emotional
- Interested in new experiences
- Cooperates with other children
- Plays “Mom” or “Dad”
- Increasingly inventive in fantasy play
- Dresses and undresses
- Negotiates solutions to conflicts
- More independent
- Imagines that many unfamiliar images may be “monsters”
- Views self as a whole person involving body, mind, and feelings
- Often cannot distinguish between fantasy and reality
Social
- Understands the concepts of “same” and “different”
- Has mastered some basic rules of grammar
- Speaks in sentences of five to six words
- Speaks clearly enough for strangers to understand
- Tells stories
Cognitive
- Correctly names some colors
- Understands the concept of counting and may know a few numbers
- Approaches problems from a single point of view
- Begins to have a clearer sense of time
- Follows three-part commands
- Recalls parts of a story
- Understands the concept of same/different
- Engages in fantasy play
Physical
- Stands on one foot for ten seconds or longer
- Hops, somersaults
- Swings, climbs
- May be able to skip
- Copies triangle and other geometric patterns
- Draws person with body
- Prints some letters
- Dresses and undresses without assistance
- Uses fork, spoon, and (sometimes) a table knife
- Usually cares for own toilet needs
Emotional
- Wants to please friends
- Wants to be like her friends
- More likely to agree to rules
- Likes to sing, dance, and act
- Shows more independence and may even visit a next-door neighbor by herself
- Aware of sexuality
- Able to distinguish fantasy from reality
- Sometimes demanding, sometimes eagerly cooperative
Social
- Recalls part of a story
- Speaks sentences of more than five words
- Uses future tense
- Tells longer stories
- Says name and address
Cognitive
- Can count ten or more objects
- Correctly names at least four colors
- Better understands the concept of time
- Knows about things used every day in the home (money, food, appliances)
Ready to Learn More?
Bright Start Connect offers a range of additional resources to support families and caregivers. From expert-led guidance to practical tools, we’re here to help you navigate every step of your child’s early development.