Developmental Milestones

Milestones enable parents and physicians to monitor a baby's learning, behaviour, and development. While each child develops differently, some differences may indicate a slight delay and others may be a cause for greater concern. The following milestones provide important guidelines for tracking healthy development from four months to three years of age.

Before your child's next visit to the physician, please take the time to see if your child has met his/her key milestones. These milestones should not be used in place of a screening but should be used as discussion points between parents and physicians at each well visit. If a child does not have the skills listed – or if there is a loss of any skill at any age – be sure to let your physician know.

Check to see if your child is achieving these typical milestones at each age level:

By 3 to 4 months

Watches faces with interest and follows moving objects
Recognizes familiar objects and people; smiles at the sound of your voice
Begins to develop a social smile
Turns head toward sounds

By 7 months

Responds to other people's emotions
Enjoys face-to-face play; can find partially-hidden objects
Explores with hands and mouth; struggles for out-of-reach objects
Responds to own name
Uses voice to express joy and displeasure; babbles chains of sounds

By 12 months/1 year

Enjoys imitating people; tries to imitate sounds
Enjoys simple social games, such as “Gonna get you!”
Explores objects; finds hidden objects
Responds to “no”; uses simple gestures, such as pointing to an object
Babbles with changes in tone; may use single words (e.g., dada, mama, uh-oh!)
Turns to person speaking when his/her name is called.

By 24 months/2 years

Imitates behaviour of others; is excited about company of other children
Understands several words
Finds deeply-hidden objects; points to named pictures and objects
Begins to sort by shapes and colours; begins simple make-believe play
Recognizes names of familiar people and objects; follows simple instructions
Combines two words to communicate with others, such as “More cookie?”

By 36 months/3 years

Expresses affection openly and has a wide range of emotions
Makes mechanical toys work; plays make-believe games
Sorts objects by shape and colour and matches objects to pictures
Follows a 2- or 3-part command; uses simple phrases to communicate with others, such as “Go outside, swing?”
Uses pronouns (I, you, me) and some plurals (cars, dogs)

By 48 months/4 years

Cooperates with other children; is increasingly inventive in fantasy play
Names some colours; understands concepts of counting and time
Speaks in sentences of five to six words
Tells stories; speaks clearly enough for strangers to understand
Follows three-part commands; understands “same” and “different”

By 60 months/5 years

Wants to be like his/her friends; likes to sing, dance, and act
Is able to distinguish fantasy from reality
Shows increased independence
Can count ten or more objects and correctly name at least four colours
Speaks in sentences of more than five words; tells longer stories