Childhood Milestones in the First Year
Here is a comprehensive set of milestones for speech, motor, and social interaction that a child should reach in their first year. If you think your child is not meeting these milestones, don’t worry, we can help! Contact us to set up a speech, occupational, or feeding therapy evaluation.
Gross Motor Skills
- Your newborn will likely sleep most of the day, which is completely normal.
- Tummy Time is crucial—encourage your baby to spend time on their belly, looking up at toys or even at you.
- When you pull them into a sitting position, they should hold their head centered.
- They should be bending and straightening their arms and legs and bringing hands to their midline while lying on their back.
Important tip: Try to limit time spent in positioning devices like bouncy seats, baby swings, car seats, and strollers. Prolonged use can put pressure on the back of your baby’s head, which may lead to flat spots.
Fine Motor Skills/Visual Motor Skills
- Explores bringing hands to mouth
- Grasps rattle or toys if placed in hand
- Reaches out and touches toys
- Reaches and swings at dangling objects with hands
- Starts to follow toys or parents with eyes
Speech & Communication Skills
-
Newborns primarily communicate through crying, signaling that they’re hungry, tired, need a diaper change, or simply want your attention.
-
Talk to your baby and repeat any cooing sounds they make, as this helps them hear and mimic these sounds.
-
At this stage, your baby will be very curious and will love interacting with you, learning your voice and facial expressions.
-
They may also start to calm themselves briefly.
-
Cooing typically consists of vowel sounds.
-
An infant at this age sees best at a distance of 9-11 inches from their face, so they will be more interested in your face then toys.
Self-Care
Your baby depends on you for all their self-care, so cherish these moments together! You can never love your little one too much!
Oral Motor Skills & Feeding
-
Takes 2-6 oz of liquid per feeding, at 6 or more feedings per day (1 month)
-
Easily locates nipple with mouth (1 month)
-
Suckles or sucks thin liquid from bottle or breast, sequencing two or more sucks (1 month)
-
Coughing or choking occurs only occasionally (3-4 months)
-
Mouth and digestive system are getting ready for cereals and pureed foods 4-6 months)
-
Baby is ready to experiment with drinking from an open cup with the cup held by the parent (4-6 months); drinks from an open cup held by parent (6 months)
-
Baby stops pacifier sucking (4-6 months)
-
Baby’s mouth is ready for a soft baby cookie, thicker puree or cereal, and foods with very small, soft lumps (5-7 months)
-
Baby learns to manage many different food and liquid textures and relies less on breast and bottle-feeding (6-12 months)
-
By 6-7 months baby looks at the spoon and holds mouth still prior to taking food from spoon; lips move inward slightly when food remains on them.
-
Lip and cheek begin to tighten to keep food in place during chewing on the side where the food is placed (around 6 months)
-
Movement of food from one side of the mouth to the other becomes increasingly sophisticated and mature (9-12 months)
Sensory & Sleeping
- Cries when startled. Can be calmed down with rocking, touching, and gentle sounds.
- Enjoys a variety of movements.
- Sleeps throughout most of the day about 1-2 hours at a time and will sleep a total of 14-17 hours a day.
Social/Play
- Gets fussy for attention
- Pays attention to faces
- They may begin smiling at 3 months – encouraging smiling and smile at them.
Best Toys at This Age
- YOU (most babies prefer people over toys)
- Black and white toys or bright colors
- Rattles
- Any toys that light up or make sound