Your Baby’s Developmental Journey
For the first year of life, your precious one will grow and develop at an amazing rate. She will be constantly learning, exploring, and transforming that you’ll be astonished by the major breakthroughs you’ll luckily witness.
These major achievements are called developmental milestones, and they are defined as behaviors or physical skills observed in infants and children as they grow and develop. This includes rolling over, sitting up, standing, and taking her first step. Your heart will surely melt at the sound of her first “mama” or “dada.”
New parents often wonder what to expect next and how to know if their baby’s development is on target. To help you and your baby on this journey, we’ve rounded up what you need to know regarding your baby’s developmental journey
Those little feet won’t be little forever.
– Ashlee Edens
From the moment your baby enters the world, she’s ready to learn. In fact, her early months are the most crucial time periods in her development.
What are developmental milestones?
These are a set of age-specific tasks and skills that most kids achieve by a certain age.
Why are your baby’s milestones important?
The skills your little one is building now may seem small, but they form the foundation for bigger skills that’ll be developed later on the baby milestone chart. This may help you know how you can help your baby throughout her journey. It can also be used by your doctor to diagnose an issue early if you notice something isn’t right. All the milestones are a big deal because they build upon one another.
What are the important things you should remember?
- Milestones are behavioral or physical checkpoints in children’s development as they grow. However, it’s also very important to remember that all babies develop at their own pace.
- No two babies are exactly alike. Most babies reach certain milestones at similar ages. However, it’s not unusual for a healthy, “normal” baby to fall behind in some areas or race ahead in others.
What important developmental milestones are needed to be evaluated?
Your baby’s developmental milestones can be divided into four categories:
- Speech & Language – the ability to absorb and learn to communicate and speak a language
- Cognitive – the ability to learn, think, and solve problems
- Social & Emotional – ability to follow rules and directions, effectively express emotion, form healthy relationships
- Physical – the ability to learn large and fine motor skills, such as sitting up, crawling, and walking.
When should you be concerned about your baby’s development?
The biggest reason for concern is if you feel your child isn’t moving forward and making progress toward new skills.
But while it’s helpful to acknowledge and understand your baby’s development as it unfolds, you don’t need to monitor your child’s progress obsessively. As long as you’re keeping up with the baby’s visits to the doctor. If you feel concerned about your baby’s milestones, talk to your doctor and see if this is something you should be concerned about. An assessment will be made and, if necessary, they will recommend the next steps to take.
Your child will grow up in a blink of an eye. So, hug them tight, sing them lullabies, shower them with all the love they deserve.
– Intuitive Moms
Understanding that your child is constantly growing and developing is a vital part of parenting. However, as your little one grows into a toddler, she may encounter some emotional, physical, and other issues. Being able to recognize and treat these issues early as possible can help her in the long run.
In this section, we’ll share with you a general guide that you can use to understand better the developmental journey of your precious one. This is called the baby milestone chart. Use it to know what you can expect during the first 3 years of your baby’s developmental journey.
HERE’S YOUR ULTIMATE GUIDE TO YOUR BABY’S MILESTONE CHART
TAKEAWAY:
Your baby’s development, especially in the first few months of life, is amazing. By having warm and responsive interactions with the people around them, as well as engaging in play, they learn to communicate, think, and express their emotions and much more. This development occurs in the same order in most children, but the different skills might develop at different ages or paces. Always bear in mind that development happens uniquely. Differences among babies are usually nothing to worry about. Learn to trust your instincts but also listen to your baby’s pediatrician.
While we try to teach our children all about life, our children teach us what life is all about.
– Angela Schwindt