Understanding Baby Developmental Milestones: A Month-by-Month Guide to the First Year

first word

This may be difficult for parents to understand When a baby says his first word – Especially if they grumble a lot! However, this milestone often occurs between 10 and 18 months.

If your baby is speaking his or her first words, you’ll start to notice how he or she uses them…

connecting words to objects

“At about nine to 12 months, they really start to associate words with objects,” says Dr. Sam. “You can get ‘mom’ and ‘dada’ and they’re actually talking about mom and grandpa.”

However, this isn’t always true from the start: “We often hear stories of children referring to a man as ‘Grandpa’ because they’re trying to explain, ‘Okay, so is ‘Grandpa’ this one particular person, or all men? What does this term actually mean?’

“Or a child who has learned the word ‘cat’ may look at a dog when you go on a walk and say ‘cat’, because they have so many of the same characteristics – furry, four legs and a tail – and the child has not yet learned the subtle differences.

You can help them learn these differences by telling them the correct words and praising them when they say the right words.

“They also start pointing out things because they want you to tell them about it or they want to share with you what they’ve seen.”

Imitation and Early Pretense Games

“At this stage, we also begin to see early pretense drama. And this is linked to imitation – they are copying what you are doing and this is the point when children may pick up the phone and put it to their ear, for example, because they have seen you do that.

“They start to understand food and things like that a little bit better. They want to use a spoon themselves because that’s what you’re growing up doing.”

social cues

And, while imitating you, they may show their first social gestures.

“At this age they may say hello or goodbye or hold out objects for you to look at. So, there are lots of opportunities to interact with your baby at this time.”

taking care of them

“They also begin to lead Shared meditation-type activities. Therefore, they are intentionally drawing your attention to what interests them, whether by pointing, gaze, or pointing.

“This may occasionally happen through language, but their vocabulary is still quite small, so it’s possible these are single words to label something that they can see.”

separation anxiety

“And at this age, you may start seeing symptoms of separation anxiety. This thing is associated with permanence, because they have realized that you are still there, even if you are not in the room with them.

“But this period comes and goes and it’s only at about 18 months that you start to see strong signs of separation anxiety.

“If there’s another familiar adult, they won’t be so upset that you’ve gone to the supermarket, but as they turn 18 months it becomes a bit more focused on particular individuals.”