Baby Milestones by Month: What to Know At Each Stage

Whether it’s baby’s first smile, first step or first word, it’s always special to watch your little one learn new skills. Before baby reaches each one, you’re probably eager to know when to be on the lookout for important baby milestones, camera at the ready.

While it’s helpful to understand how baby development generally unfolds, you shouldn’t feel like you have to obsessively monitor your child’s progress against a baby milestones chart. As long as you’re keeping up with baby’s well visits, their doctor will keep track for you. “Pediatricians will ask parents questions about their child’s development at each well visit and look for certain developmental [concerns],” says Karen Fratantoni, MD, MPH, a pediatrician at Children’s National Hospital in Washington, DC.

Also, keep in mind that every baby is unique, and there’s a large range for when children achieve their infant developmental milestones. My son, for example, was way ahead with all of the language milestones (and, at age 4, he’s a big chit-chatter!), but needed some help when it came to rolling over both ways.

Looking to track baby milestones by month? The below month-by-month infant milestones chart gives you an overview of what your child’s behavior may be like at each age—and when you can expect to check the big developmental milestones for babies off the list.

Key Takeaways

• A month-by-month infant milestone chart is a great way to track baby’s progress and spot any developmental red flags worthy of your pediatrician’s attention.
• You can use our baby milestones chart to document baby’s physical, language, social and emotional, and cognitive milestones.
• You can also use a baby book or an app to track baby’s skills. But even if you don’t have a formal way to monitor baby milestones by month, your pediatrician will help track them for you at well visits.
• Keep in mind that every baby’s different. Make sure to speak with your pediatrician about your little one’s individual progress.

Developmental Chart: Birth to 12 Months

Check out our baby milestones chart for an easy way to track baby’s development. But know that if baby’s not doing exactly what’s on the chart, it’s not necessarily a reason to worry. “A baby milestone chart is a great guide to see if baby’s working toward expected physical, verbal and social goals. The exact progression, however, can’t be rushed or pushed forward any faster than your baby’s brain allows,” says Natasha Burgert, MD, FAAP, a pediatrician at Pediatric Associates in South Overland Park, Kansas, and the blogger behind KC Kids Doc.

See our month by month infant milestones chart, here:

Newborn Milestones by Month: Birth to 3 Months

Believe it or not, babies learn lots of skills in utero that they’ll show you after birth. Most of these newborn milestones help baby adapt to and thrive outside of the comfort of the womb, notes the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP).

Here are the newborn milestones by month you can expect baby to achieve, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention CDC.

Newborn milestones

A newborn baby typically:

• Exhibits rooting and sucking reflex, which help baby feed
• Closes fists and curls toes when hands and feet are stroked (known as the grasp reflex)
• Startles at sudden movements and loud noises
• “Walks” across a flat surface when being supported under the arms and head (known as the stepping reflex)

1-month-old infant milestones

Baby’s senses are still developing—and they’ll be busy testing them out to help make sense of this strange new world. At 1 month old, baby typically:

• Notices faces
• Sees bold patterns, especially in black and white
• Recognizes the sound of your voice
• Brings hands within range of their eyes and mouth

2-month-old infant milestones

“By 2 months, babies turn their heads toward your voice and smile back at you—a ‘social smile,’” says Amir Miodovnik, MD, MPH, a developmental-behavioral pediatrician who helps parents navigate the challenges of raising children with ADHD, autism and learning differences. “They’re interested in your face.” At 2 months old, baby often:

• Starts to coo and make sounds beyond a simple cry
• Starts to smile at people
• Briefly calms when spoken to or picked up
• Can briefly self-soothe by bringing their hands to their mouth
• Begins to follow things with eyes and recognizes people
• Turns their head in the direction of sounds and reacts to loud sounds
• Makes smoother movements with their arms and legs
• Holds their head up when lying on their stomach

3-month-old infant milestones

At 3 months old, baby’s emotional skills are developing: They may start to use different cries to tell you what they’re feeling and begin to enjoy playing with other people. Here’s what else you can expect:

• Can distinguish your face from others
• Starts to have different cries for different needs—hunger, diaper change, pain, etc.
• Opens and shuts their hands
• Swipes at dangling objects
• Follows moving objects with their eyes
• Enjoys playing with other people (and may cry when the playing stops)

Baby Milestones by Month: 4 to 8 Months

Baby’s getting more mobile and communicative. They might also begin sleeping through the night at this age—though not necessarily!—and will start experimenting with solid foods. Here’s what else to look for at this stage.

4-month-old infant milestones

Baby’s becoming more alert and eager to explore the world around them. At this age, you might hear baby’s adorable chuckle or watch them try to lift themselves up during tummy time. “By 4 months, they can follow your face with their eyes,” says Miodovnik. “They smile or make cooing sounds when you make silly sounds or talk to them.” At 4 months old, baby:

• Starts to chuckle (not quite a full laugh)
• Copies facial expressions
• Holds their head up, unsupported
• Pushes up onto their elbows when they’re lying on their tummy

5-month-old infant milestones

The skills baby’s building now may seem small, but they form the foundation for bigger skills that’ll pop up later on the infant milestones chart—and may help your doctor diagnose an issue early if you notice something isn’t right. “All the milestones are a big deal because they build upon one another,” says Burgert. Here’s what baby’s doing at 5 months old:

• Babbles
• Entertains themselves for short periods of time
• May be becoming more aware of strangers
• May be rolling over more

6-month-old infant milestones

At 6 months old, baby may be ready to start accomplishing some huge developmental milestones—including those associated with mobility! But even if they don’t start creeping (pushing themselves around on their tummy) at 6 months, there’s no reason to worry. “There’s a range of time during which each skill is expected to develop, and that range can be narrow for some and wider for others,” Fratantoni says. At 6 months, baby:

• Rolls over from tummy to back (though some babies may accomplish this earlier, around 4 months)
• Explores toys by putting them in their mouth
• Reaches for toys they want
• Loves to look at themselves in a mirror
• Starts creeping along the floor
• Passes things from one hand to the other
• Starts to understand simple words
• Leans on hands for support when sitting

7-month-old infant milestones

Baby’s becoming a little scientist and manipulating surrounding objects to learn more about them. That can lead to the pretty annoying habit of dropping things onto the floor, but it’s an encouraging sign of baby’s curiosity. At 7 months old, baby:

• Enjoys dropping things on the floor
• May start to copy sounds and gestures of others
• Can process and understand a wide range of sounds
• Finds partially hidden objects
• Sits up without support

8-month-old infant milestones

At this age, you might be paying particular attention to baby’s developing mobility—especially if you’re babyproofing to help keep your little explorer safe. “Parents may focus more closely on one domain of a child’s development, such as gross motor skills like crawling or walking on time, but I think it’s helpful for parents to consider all domains of a child’s development,” Fratantoni says. This is especially important because some babies never crawl at all—they skip straight to walking! In fact, the developmental milestone isn’t listed in the CDC’s guidance for this very reason. At 8 months old, baby:

• May be able to stand while holding onto something
• May start to lean over to pick up toys
• Lifts arms to be picked up

Baby Milestones by Month: 9 to 12 Months

This is an exciting age, with baby inching toward toddlerhood! Here’s what milestones to expect as you approach baby’s first birthday.

9-month-old infant milestones

Your babbling baby may start to experiment with different tones and sounds as they inch toward one of the biggest infant developmental milestones—talking. “They’re more expressive and they use early gestures,” says Miodovnik. At 9 months old, baby:

• May be wary of strangers and clings to familiar people
• Has favorite toys
• Makes a lot of different sounds, like “mamamama” and “bababababa”
• Uses fingers to point at things and “rake” food towards themselves—and probably has or soon will have a pincer grasp (using the thumb and index finger)
• Responds to their name
• Plays simple games like peekaboo
• Gets into a sitting position without help and sits unaided
• Begins to understand object permanence, and looks for objects dropped out of sight
• Explores things in different ways, like shaking, banging and throwing

10-month-old infant milestones

If you’re part of a playgroup, you may start to see a wide range of abilities emerge at this age—many babies may still be crawling, but some may be already starting to cruise (shuffling along while holding onto furniture). A few bold souls may even be nearly ready to take their first steps. All of them are right on track. At 10 months old, baby:

• Starts to develop a pincer grasp
• Begins feeding themselves finger food, thanks to better hand-eye coordination
• Develops separation anxiety
• Has different facial expressions to show emotions, such as happy, sad and surprised

11-month-old infant milestones

At 11 months old, baby’s continuing to work on milestones like pulling up to stand—and becoming more expressive with gestures. Baby also:

• Makes sounds with changes in tone (sounds more like speech)
• Waves and/or claps

12-month-old infant milestones

Congratulations! Baby has officially graduated to toddler status. You can look back on all the amazing things on the baby milestones chart that your 12-month-old child has mastered—it’s quite a lot!

“By 12 months, babies are using gestures such as shaking their head, waving and pointing to what they want,” says Miodovnik. “They produce speech sounds with varying rhythm and pitch, as if ‘talking’ to you. They can follow simple gestures like ‘come here’ or ‘give it to me.’” Here’s what else to look out for:

• Uses basic gestures, like shaking their head “no” or waving “bye-bye”
• Begins to respond to “no”
• Says “mama” and “dada,” and exclamations like “uh-oh!”
• Starts to use things correctly; for example, drinks from a cup or brushes their hair
• Can pick things up (like small bits of food) between thumb and forefinger (pincer grasp)
• Pulls up to stand and may be able to stand alone
• Starts cruising (walking while holding onto furniture)

How to Track Baby’s Growth and Development

There’s no one best way to track baby’s growth and development. Some parents track them in an app, some have a baby book and others take pictures so they can remember. Of course, you can always use our handy infant milestones chart above. “I have a baby book. I made a goal to keep up with it, and so far I’ve done a pretty good job. If I don’t have the book in front of me, I type a note on my phone and put it in the book later,” says The Bump community member missbrightside10.

Baby milestones: Tracking tips

Even if you don’t have a formal way to track baby milestones by month, your pediatrician will help track them for you. Doctors typically use a tool called the Ages and Stages Questionnaire (ASQ) to track infant milestones—it’s a series of questions you’ll answer at the beginning of each well visit, after which you get a score that translates into normal range, borderline or delayed. You can use this information to communicate with your pediatrician about baby’s progress.

To Sum It Up

More information about baby’s development is always better—but it’s not designed to make you anxious. So while a month-by-month infant milestones chart is a helpful tool, know that there’s a huge variation in baby milestones by month. It’s important to speak to your pediatrician about baby’s individual progress before jumping to any conclusions. “What’s most important is to enjoy every phase of development as it’s occurring. When you crave fast progress, you can miss the magic of the moment,” says Burgert.

Please note: The Bump and the materials and information it contains are not intended to, and do not constitute, medical or other health advice or diagnosis and should not be used as such. You should always consult with a qualified physician or health professional about your specific circumstances.