What most children can do
Each list shows what about three in four children manage by that point. It is a guide to what is coming, not an exam: children arrive at these in different orders and at different speeds, and a baby born early should be measured from their due date.
By 2 months
- Calms down when spoken to or picked up
- Looks at your face and smiles when you smile or talk
- Makes sounds other than crying
- Watches you as you move
- Holds the head up when lying on the tummy
By 4 months
- Smiles on their own to get your attention, and chuckles
- Coos back when you talk, and turns towards your voice
- Looks at their own hands with interest
- Holds the head steady without support
- Brings hands to mouth and pushes up onto elbows on the tummy
By 6 months
- Knows familiar people and likes looking in a mirror
- Laughs, squeals and takes turns making sounds with you
- Reaches to grab a toy and puts things in the mouth to explore
- Rolls from tummy to back
- Leans on hands to support themselves when sitting
By 9 months
- Is shy or clingy with strangers and looks when you call their name
- Makes strings of sounds: "mamamama", "babababa"
- Lifts arms to be picked up
- Looks for a thing that has dropped out of sight
- Sits without support and passes things from hand to hand
By 12 months
- Plays games with you such as pat-a-cake and peekaboo
- Waves bye-bye and calls a parent "mama", "dada" or another special name
- Understands "no" (pauses briefly)
- Puts something into a container and looks for things you hide
- Pulls up to stand, walks holding furniture, and picks up small things between thumb and finger
What helps at this age
- Talk all day. Describe what you are doing as you do it. The number of words a baby hears in the first year is one of the strongest predictors of their language at three — and it has to be a real voice, not a screen.
- Tummy time, every day. A few minutes on the tummy, several times a day from the first weeks, builds the neck, shoulder and back strength that everything else depends on.
- Answer the babble. When your baby makes a sound, make it back and wait. That back-and-forth is conversation, and babies who get more of it talk sooner.
- Peekaboo and hiding games. From about six months these teach that things still exist when they cannot be seen — one of the great discoveries of the first year.
- No screens. The WHO recommends no screen time at all under one year, other than video calls with family. There is a gentle page for later: our toddler mode starts at about one.
If you only have ten minutes a day
Get down to your child's level, put the phone in another room, and follow their lead: play what they choose, describe what they are doing, and copy them. Ten minutes of that, daily, does more than an hour of distracted company — and it is the part children remember.
When to ask a doctor
Most differences are just differences. But some signs are worth raising early, because early help works far better than waiting, and asking costs nothing:
- Does not respond to loud sounds, or does not turn to your voice by four to six months
- Does not smile at people by three months
- Does not bring things to the mouth, or seems very stiff or very floppy
- Does not babble by nine months
- Does not sit with help by nine months, or does not bear weight on legs when supported
- Does not point, wave or use any gesture by twelve months
- Loses a skill they once had — at any age, this is always worth asking about
You know your child better than any list does. If something worries you for more than a few weeks, that is reason enough to ask — you do not need to be certain. This page is general information, not medical advice or a diagnosis.
The range of normal is wide
Some children walk at nine months and some at seventeen; both are normal. Children growing up with two languages may say their first words a little later and then catch up completely, with both languages intact — do not drop the home language. Girls and boys, first-borns and third-borns, cautious children and bold ones all take different routes. What matters is steady progress in their own direction, not the date on the calendar, and never the neighbour's child.
Other ages
See every age from birth to six on the child development milestones page. For day-to-day ideas there is a twelve-week plan for parents, and for the hard moments — tantrums, sleep, biting, food — there is feelings first aid.
Now do it for real
When the screen goes off, do something with your hands. Try 🌞 Draw your shadow — an easy science experiment for ages 3-6, with every step read aloud in your language. You will need sunshine and a paper or a chalk, a toy; nothing that needs a trip to a shop.
There are 56 more on the things to do at home page, and free printable worksheets if you would rather have something on paper. Ten minutes on a screen and twenty minutes off it is a good shape for a day at this age.
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