Child development is an expansive and complicated area. For first-time parents, it can be tricky (and worrying) to understand whether or not their child is developing as they should.
Children develop faster from 0-3 than at any other point in their lives. From walking and talking, to playing peek-a-boo, and expanding their vocabulary, there's a huge amount of development that builds the foundation of their lives.
It also means there's a heck of a lot of things to keep an eye on.
Over the course of this guide, we explain what child development is, the key ares in which our children develop, and, you can find our detailed development guides for each age group.
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Developmental milestones guides
You can find detailed guides on each of the major development milestone windows below, containing information of the major milestones your child is likely to hit in each window and how you can aid their development.
Understanding developmental milestones
Child development is a complicated area. In many respects, it's important for us (and our healthcare provider) to monitor our children's development to identify any developmental delay. Early detection can be vital in addressing any issues in the appropriate way.
However, there is a risk of parents becoming overly worried when other children of similar ages are doing things their own child isn't.
It's incredibly important that we, as parents, understand that children develop at their own pace. Babies reach milestones at different times - that why experts give an age range for certain milestones and use phrases use as 'most babies'.
Your child will be on a slightly different course than to others.
The core developmental milestones
Infant development is broken down into four key areas; physical development, cognitive development, communication development, and social and emotional development.
Let's explore each of these in a little more detail.
Physical developmental milestones
Physical development is exactly what you think it is. It's the development of their gross motor skills and fine motor skills.
In your baby's first year, you are looking for gross motor skills such as rolling over, sitting up, crawling and perhaps standing, walking and climbing towards the end of the year. During the toddler years it becomes more about balance and confidence, as well as things like jumping and running.
In terms of fine motor skills, we're looking for the ability move different body parts independently, grab objects and baby toys, using a pincer grasp to pick up small objects correctly, use things like pencils, crayons and utensils.
It's also about your baby's growth. Remember there are no set height and weight measurements children should hit for each age group. Every baby grows at their own pace - your baby's health care provider will monitor their growth against their starting height and weight.
Cognitive developmental milestones
Cognitive development is the brain function aspect of your baby's development. It covers your child's ability to make decisions, solve problems, thinking creatively and use their imagination, recognise familiar objects and people, and figure out how to find hidden objects.
It also considers things like a child's ability to follow simple instructions and track moving objects with their eyes.
Communication and language development
As you've probably guessed this all about how children develop the ability to communicate. Of course, we know that a baby's cries are the first method of communication during the newborn phase. However, as they grow older learn a variety of skills that enable them to communicate, such as shaking head, simple gestures with their arms.
Then, of course, babies start to mimic sounds they heard around them, say one or two words to start off with before a whole host of simple words and simple phrases. By the time your child reaches the age of three, they'll have more than 1,000 words in their vocabulary, be able to use four word sentences and love having conversations with you.
Communication is also about their comprehension of the world around them.
Social and emotional developmental milestones
Social skills and understanding emotions are a significant aspect of children's development.
In the early months and years, your baby's development focuses on recognising familiar people and the separation anxiety that can follow. Over the coming years, we look to things such an understanding other people's expressions, how they understand and express joy and other emotions.
It also considers how your children plays and interacts with others. Naturally in the early years, you're likely to see them pull toys away from others. But over time, they'll learn to share, develop empathy, and look to help those around them.
Other types of developmental milestones
Infant development is so vast that it cannot be confined to just four key areas. There are a number of other developmental milestones that parents need to consider.
Sleep
There are certain milestones we all look out for as parents, and sleep is arguably one of the most monitored for two reasons. Firstly, because how often they sleep, where they sleep, and how long they sleep changes regularly; especially in baby's first year. Secondly, because sleep regressions often go hand-in-hand with your baby's development (and toddlers, and older). In fact, sleep regressions can be triggered when your child hits a developmental milestone.
Check out our sleep regression guides below for more information
Food
Like sleep, what our children eat, how they eat, when they eat and how often they eat changes a lot during the first few years of their lives.
To start, they will be exclusively fed breastmilk or formula milk before introducing mashed up solid foods around six months old. You'll slowly be able to introduce different finger foods and plain version of 'regular' meals when your child has cut their teeth.
Naturally, your child's diet and nutrition will have an impact on their wider development.
Teething
Most babies start teething around six months of age, but it's not uncommon for some to start around four months. Some babies are even born with a tooth, while others don't cut their first tooth until closer to their first birthday.
Potty training
Some see this as a cognitive developmental milestone, however, we think it warrants highlighting on its own.
We all know what potty training is. But some parents may not know when it happens (or when it should happen).
In previous generations, most children were out of nappies between the ages of two and three. And it's certainly possible for children as young as 18 months to be potty trained. However, there is a growing trend of children starting school at the ages of four and five in nappies.
When to seek help
As we've stressed, hitting developmental milestones later than other children is not necessarily a sign of an issue or a developmental delay.
However, if you become concerned about your child's development, you should speak to your healthcare provider. They will be able to determine whether early intervention is required.
There are some warning signs to look out for, typically your child not hitting certain developmental milestones by a certain age. These warning signs can be found in each of our individual guides on developmental milestones.
