Watching your child grow can be such an exciting few years. Seeing the changes they make as they develop from a baby into a toddler and then into a child are highly interesting. They are also important to note too. This is so you can tell if your child is developing at the right speed. If anything seems off with their development, it can be reassuring to get them checked over by a doctor to make sure nothing is wrong. How do you know if your child’s development is on track? Make sure they are hitting these key milestones.
Face Recognition
Babies begin to recognize faces between one and five weeks. Young babies will start to make eye contact from this young age, letting you know that they recognize your face. When you are talking and playing with them, check to see if they are making eye contact with you. This shouldn’t be made by chance, so see if your baby is being active in trying to make contact with your eyes. New faces will also excite young babies. If your baby gets to a couple of months old and isn’t making a lot of eye contact, or seems not to be able to recognize faces, take him or her to a doctor. They may be suffering from impaired vision.
Height and Weight
It is very important to check the height and weight of babies, toddlers, and young children continually. You can see how heavy and tall they should be with websites such as this one: http://www.babycenter.com/0_your-childs-size-and-growth-timeline_10357633.bc. If your baby is overweight, you may just have to cut down on their food. If they are underweight, there may be a problem with their metabolism, which a doctor should check out straight away. It is important to check height as well. Usually, having a child who is above or below the average height is nothing to worry about. However, sometimes it could be a sign of a hormone deficiency. You can turn checking height into a game as children get older. You can always compare their measurements to their favorite celebrities by looking at http://heightline.com.
Speech
Keeping track of toddler’s speech is very important. From three to four months, babies should begin to babble to themselves. After a couple more months, this will turn into reciprocal babbling as she learns to interact using speech. His or her first word should come at about twelve months. See your doctor if these milestones aren’t met. They might refer you to your local speech therapist. You can also test out your child’s speech development using trackers such as this one: http://www.talkingpoint.org.uk/progress-checker.
Walking
Once your baby starts to pull themselves up into a standing position, they are almost ready to walk. This usually happens around the ten-month stage. Once you notice this, you can encourage them to use their legs more by letting them sit on the floor out of a chair more often. They will want to get around and, therefore, try and pull themselves up and crawl around more often. If your child isn’t taking an interest in being mobile by this age, they may need to see an occupational therapist. Your baby should start taking steps around ten months and will be able to walk completely unaided by the fifteen-month mark. Of course, some babies may be later than average. But if your child isn’t walking by twenty months, it is best to take them to a doctor.
Bladder Control
Each child is different when it comes to potty training, but most usually start to learn to control their bladder around one and a half to two years old. You can easily tell when a baby starts to understand bladder control. They will know when their nappy is wet, and they might even start to tell you when they need to wee or have a bowel movement. One way to prepare a child for potty training is to leave a potty in a room for them just to get them used to one being around. You should also take them with you when you go to the toilet. This will show them what to do and encourage them to follow in your example.
It is important to remember that each child will develop differently. The month milestones mentioned here are just the national averages. So don’t panic if your child is slightly quicker or slower in developing than over children.
So Helpful, as my wife is 4 months pregnant this article will come in handy. Is there an article about Parents Milestone or something like that? I would love it, not only me but others as well.