Stages of Development
The following is meant to be an overview of the stages of development your child will go through from birth to five years old. Remember that children grow and develop at their own pace. Look for progress in your child. If you begin to question your child’s development, speak to your pediatrician.
Birth to six months:
- Sleeps an average of 15 hours per day
- Primary source of nutrition is breast milk or formula and may eat several times a day/night
- Able to track objects by sight
- Responds to sounds: parents’ voice, sudden loud noises
- Begins to smile, later laughs out loud
- Loves bright and contrasting colors
- Able to lift head; later able to support head on own
- Rolls over on own
- Reaches and touches things
- Makes babbling or gurgling sounds
- Will benefit from being read to
- Enjoys the sound and rhythm of your voice as he/she has become accustomed before birth
Six to nine months:
- May sleep through the night
- Sits up on own
- Begins on solid foods
- Begins to crawl
- Enjoys interactive games, such as peekaboo
- Puts things in mouth a lot
- Teething may begin
- Loves finger games and songs
- Enjoys playing with and mouthing soft toys
- Is attentive to storybooks with clear, individual photos of objects
Nine months to one year:
- May get onto a more regular sleep schedule, with one morning and one afternoon nap
- Begins to drink from a cup, and is able to feed self with finger foods
- Pulls self up from sitting to standing position
- Begins to "cruise" (walking while holding onto things)
- Likes to be around other children, beginning to be more social
- Laughs out loud frequently
- Claps hands together, responds to music by "dancing"
- May have a special blanket or toy
- Realizes when he is separate from parent
- May develop "stranger anxiety," a fear of new people
- Enjoys looking at picture books and still loves to be read to
One year to two years nine months:
- Still napping during the day
- Begins to acquire more body control, becomes aware of own body and self
- Stands up on own, and begins to take steps
- Able to feed self on more regular basis
- May develop picky eating habits
- Watches and imitates behavior of others
- Speech and language development are very important-will need to be spoken to often in order to develop language
- Language will come first in single words, later in simple sentences
- May develop "irrational" fears and anxieties
- Learns to run and jump
- May begin toilet-training
- Learns self-help skills
- Tests limits that are set around behavior or safety -- says "no" a lot
- Wants control over surroundings, but also needs boundaries
- Loves routines and consistency
- Relatively short attention span, goes from one activity to another quickly
- May show frustration through temper tantrums
- Engages in "parallel play" with peers (side-by-side play)
- Transitions in the day can be very hard
- Begins to learn concept of cause and effect
- Begins to demonstrate empathy for others (e.g., if another child is upset)
- May show aggressive behavior through biting, hitting, and pushing
- Develops gender identity
- Enjoys being read to, or looking at picture books with an adult or alone
Two years nine months to five years:
- May still nap during the day (for shorter periods of time)
- Gains much more body control; becomes fully toilet trained
- Better able to express himself through words
- Able to play cooperatively with other children
- Starts to have more self-control over behavior
- Develops close attachments or "best friends"
- Still not able to differentiate between fantasy and reality
- Acts out a lot of fears and anxieties; nightmares may occur
- Still needs control, may have set ideas of what to wear or eat
- Benefits greatly by having “real” jobs to do to help the household
- Transitions can still be hard
- May experiment with lying or telling “tall tales”
- Develops awareness of death
- Loves to engage in dramatic or fantasy play
- Loves to be read to, often asking for favorite book repeatedly