Milestones by Months

Four infants sitting on the floor playing with blocks

Developmental stages help parents/caregivers and early learning professionals recognize the types of activities and opportunities children need to continue healthy development.

For babies under one year old, research defines specific developmental milestones in the typical months during which they are achieved. The way your child plays, learns, speaks, acts, and moves at certain ages offers important clues to their current development. It can help you determine what kinds of activities and engagements will be best to help your child continue growing and learning. 

For more information about tracking your child’s developmental milestones, download the CDC milestone tracker app.

Two Months

At approximately two months old, a typically developing child begins demonstrating the following skills. These milestones are provided by the Center for Disease Control's "Learn the signs. Act early." campaign.

Social and emotional skills:

  • Begins to smile at others
  • Briefly calms self (maybe by sucking on hands or fingers)
  • Tries to find or look at a parent/caregiver

Language skills:

  • Turns head toward sounds
  • Coos and gurgles

Learning skills:

  • Begins to recognize people and pay attention to faces
  • Begins to watch and follow objects with eyes
  • May act bored if the activity doesn’t change

Physical and movement skills:

  • Can hold up head
  • Beginning to push up when lying on tummy
  • Makes smoother movements with arms and legs

 

Four Months

At four months, typically developing children show ongoing developmental signs that build on previous milestones and skills. These milestones are provided by the Center for Disease Control's "Learn the signs. Act early." campaign.

Social and emotional skills:

  • Smiles spontaneously, especially at people
  • Enjoys playing with people and may cry when playing stops
  • Copies some movements and facial expressions, like smiling and frowning

Language skills:

  • Begins to babble
  • Copies some sounds
  • Cries in different ways to express different needs (hunger, pain, tired)

 Learning skills:

  • Uses hands and eyes together, such as reaching for a toy they see
  • Recognizes familiar people and objects at a distance
  • Follows moving things with eyes from side to side

Physical and movement skills:

  • Holds head steady, unsupported
  • Pushes down with legs when feet are on a hard surface
  • Can hold and shake a toy

 

Six Months

At six months, a child begins showing these examples of developmental milestones. These milestones are provided by the Center for Disease Control's "Learn the signs. Act early." campaign.

Social and emotional skills:

  • Likes to look at self in mirror
  • Responds to other people’s emotions
  • Likes to play with others, especially parents/caregiverss

 Language skills:

  • Responds to sounds by making sounds
  • Responds to own name
  • Makes sounds to show joy and displeasure

 Learning skills:

  • Brings things to mouth
  • Shows curiosity and grasps at things out of reach
  • Begins to pass things from one hand to another

 Physical and movement skills:

  • Rolls over in both directions
  • When standing with assistance, supports weight on both legs and bounces
  • Begins to sit without support

 

Nine Months

The developmental milestones evident at nine months old include these examples provided by the Center for Disease Control's "Learn the signs. Act early." campaign.

Social and emotional skills:

  • May be afraid of strangers
  • May cling to familiar adults
  • Has favorite toys

 Language skills:

  • Understands “no”
  • Makes a lot of different sounds (for example: “mamamama”, “babababa”)
  • Uses fingers to point at things

 Learning skills:

  • Looks for things they watched you hide
  • Picks up things like cereal o’s between thumb and index finger
  • Plays peek-a-boo

 Physical and movement skills:

  • Stands while holding onto something
  • Crawls
  • Can get into sitting position

 

Twelve Months

The Center for Disease Control's "Learn the signs. Act early." campaign includes these developmental milestones at twelve months. Visit their site for a more complete list.

Social and emotional skills:

  • Hands you a book when they want to hear a story
  • Repeats sounds or actions to get attention
  • Puts out arm or leg to help with dressing

Language skills:

  • Responds to simple spoken requests
  • Uses simple gestures like shaking head “no” or waving “bye-bye”
  • Says “mama” and “dada” and exclamations like “uh-oh”

Learning skills:

  • Looks at the right picture or thing when it’s named
  • Puts things in a container, takes things out of a container
  • Copies gestures

Physical and movement skills:

  • Pulls up to stand, walks holding on to furniture (“cruising”)
  • May stand alone
  • Gets to a sitting position without help