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Learn About Milestones - What to Expect Each Month

 MONTH ONE​

  • Encourage muscle strengthening and coordination on both sides of the arm

  • Encourage alternating leg kicking in preparation for the later skills of crawling and walking

  • Lifts head, responds to sound, stares at face, recognizes black and white spaces, follows objects, and can achieve head turns to each side (left and right) for visual perspective and head control

 MONTH TWO

  • Help develop purposeful grasping

  • Gain the ability to roll from belly to back

  • Holds head at 45-degree angle

  • Makes sounds, googling or gurgling; smiles, laughs

 MONTH THREE

  • Learn how to pull up to sitting position with head control and help develop the ability to bear weight through legs

  • Develop the ability to grab and hold things against the palm

  • May bring hands together

  • May turn head toward sounds

 MONTH FOUR​

  • Help baby discover that they have two hands in preparation for reaching, playing, and object transfer from one hand to another and grasp a toy

  • Develop the strength and ability to extend both arms fully with weight through open hands in tummy time

  • Able to bear weight through legs

 MONTH FIVE

  • Strengthen the ability to sit alone

  • Develop a mature grasp with the thumb, first and middle fingers

  • Plays with hands and feet

  • Should be able to roll over

 MONTH SIX​

  • Advance the ability to hold steady in sitting (Static Balance – baby can sit up without falling)

  • PROTECTION REACTION - help to develop the ability to protect themselves from a fall

  • Transfer objects from one hand to another

  • Roll in both directions

  • Start grasping for objects

 MONTH SEVEN​

  • Achieve moving balance in/from sitting position (the ability to reach for something while sitting and come back to that seated position without falling)
    Reach with extended elbow (the elbow is straight)

  • Likes to look in a mirror

  • Recognizes basic words like “hi,” “ball,” or “dog”

 MONTH EIGHT​

  • May begin to lunge forward in preparation for crawling  

  • May start to say "dada / mama"

  • Bounces when in a standing position

  • Uses a raking grasp (swiping at objects with fingers open) that progresses to a pincher grasp (using the pointer finger and thumb) over time

  • Bangs toys together

 MONTH NINE​

  • May start to pull up to a standing position from the floor, using furniture for control and help develop the ability to bear weight through legs

  • Points to an item they want

  • Can roll a ball back and forth

  • Can open and close things

 MONTH TEN​

  • Develop the ability to crawl forward on their hands and knees

  • Ability to shift weight and learn to twist and pivot while sitting

  • Responds to own name and loves music

  • May be able to imitate scribbling

 MONTH ELEVEN

  • Able to play in a supported kneeling
    position and advance to standing

  • Able to build or stack play items using hand-eye coordination and voluntary release of an object

  • May have the ability to stand alone for a few seconds

  • Sees colors well and can mimic animal sounds

 MONTH TWELVE​

  • Can walk sideways and cruise, holding onto furniture

  • Understands simple directions

  • Scribbles with crayons on their own

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