7 Baby Development Milestones To Watch Out For In Their First 6 Months

There are many baby development milestones to watch out for as your child grows. Between the ages of 0-6 months, there are seven key milestones that babies typically reach. Each milestone is an important step in their development and marks a new level of growth and understanding.

Here’s a look at those seven baby development milestones to watch for during your child’s first six months. Don’t forget to check out this complete developmental chart for babies and toddlers. 

Let’s dive right in!

Smiling

Smiling is one of the first baby development milestones to remember. Remember how your baby couldn’t stop smiling at you when they were born? Babies start developing this muscle between the ages of two weeks and three months. Yup, that’s pretty early! Smiling is usually the first sign of social interaction and is your baby’s way of communicating with you.

You can expect them to be smiling all the time (and you will too)! This is a good milestone for parents because it means that their child is happy, healthy, and developing normally.

Recognizing Faces 

The second baby development milestone that you can expect to see is your child recognizing faces. This means that, when they look at someone’s face, their eyes will move from side to side and take in the whole picture.  This milestone usually occurs around two to four months old.

One way to help your child with this milestone is by talking to them and pointing out different aspects of people’s faces. For example, you can say “Mommy has green eyes like a cat!” or “Daddy has a big nose!” This will help your child understand that people look different.

At this age, the best thing you can do is to keep socializing with your baby and exposing them to other faces (and places), so they get used to how things actually are!

While it might not seem like much now – this skill is an important step in your baby’s development!

Babbling 

Another one of the baby development milestones that you can expect during a child’s first six months is babbling.  Babies start babbling between the ages of four and seven months, but it might be hard to distinguish at first. 

You can expect to hear “ba-ba”, “da-da”, etc. – even though they aren’t actually saying those words yet! This is a milestone because your child starts practicing their language skills early on.

You will notice them making a lot of noise, but they won’t have any real words yet! This milestone typically occurs when babies are between two to four months old. It’s an important step in their language development, so make sure to listen and talk to them often!

Movement  

At four months old, you can expect your baby to start moving around on his own. They will start to crawl or scoot around, and their movements will become more purposeful. As a parent, you can help develop fine motor skills. 

This is the time when they begin trying to use objects in new ways (like shaking a rattle). At this stage of development, you can expect your baby to spend most of their waking hours on the move!

They will still be wobbly and uncoordinated, but they will get the hang of moving around on their own eventually. This is a big step towards them being able to crawl and walk!

Babies learn best through movement, so this is a great milestone!

 Learning and Socializing

When babies reach five months old, they start to learn about their surroundings.  This includes learning about people, objects, and what is happening around them. They will also start interacting with those around them more – this could involve smiling at you, cooing, or even laughing!

Moreover, they start to figure out what is around them, and they learn how to make the connection between an object itself and its use. This can happen in a variety of ways – for example; your baby might understand that their bottle will provide food when you tap on it! 

Babies at this age are social beings as well. They love playing with other babies and adults that they trust. Babies will start to socialize at this age, so be sure to have lots of visitors!

This is one of the important baby development milestones because it lays the groundwork for future social interactions.

Communication

The sixth milestone is communication. This usually starts happening around four to six months old.  Your baby will probably start using gestures to communicate their needs, which is great because it means that they are learning how to express themselves. 

This milestone usually includes them being able to respond when you talk directly to them or wave goodbye!

Babies will start making noises and trying to communicate with you. They might also start cooing or babbling at this stage.

Emotions

The seventh baby development milestone is emotions. This usually occurs between four and six months old.  Your baby will show their feelings through facial expressions, crying, and bodily movements. They will start using different tones of voice depending on the situation (happy or sad).

Moreover, your baby will start recognizing and responding to different emotions. This is a big step in their development, so let them experience all of the different kinds of feelings that they want!

It’s an important step in developing empathy towards others!

Note: Don’t forget to check this complete guide on developmentally appropriate toys for babies.

Baby Development Milestones: What Can Parents Do to Help Children?

Now that you know about the seven baby development milestones, what can parents do to help their children?

• First of all, be patient! It might take a while for your child to hit each milestone. Just keep providing them with a loving and supportive environment, and they will eventually get there!
• Secondly, talk to your baby! Even if they can’t yet understand what you’re saying, talking to them will help stimulate their language development.
• Thirdly, provide your baby with plenty of opportunities to move around! Let them crawl and explore – this will help them learn about their surroundings.
• Fourthly, expose your baby to different kinds of emotions. This will help them learn how to recognize and respond to different feelings.
• Fifthly, help your baby learn about the world around them. This can be done through playing games or just talking to them about everyday objects.
• Sixthly, encourage your baby’s communication development by responding to their gestures and noises. Try repeating what they say back to them!
• Last but not least, give your baby lots of love and affection. This is the most important thing you can do to help their development!

Wrapping Up

The blog post provides a list of baby development milestones, which are common things your baby may do during the first 6 months. This is helpful if you ever forget what stage they’re at and feel like something might be wrong with them.

For example, when I was worried about my daughter’s lack of interest in eating solid foods or that she wasn’t sitting up on her own yet, then it helped me see that these were just normal developmental stages since she had hit most other milestones early on.

Knowing this has given me more confidence as a parent knowing that everything seems to be going well so far! Please let us know how these tips have helped you by leaving us a comment below!