Guides

Developmental leaps

Milestones, growth spurts, leaps and speech: what typically happens when, and which gaps are worth an assessment rather than a wait.

5 guides · general information, never a substitute for your paediatrician

• Growth spurts vs developmental leaps: how to tell them apart

  A growth spurt is physical — the body grows fast, so the baby feeds constantly, and it lasts two to three days. A developmental leap is neurological — a new skill is forming, so sleep and mood are disrupted, and it lasts one to several weeks.

  7 min read

• Developmental milestones by age, and what a delay really means

  Milestones describe what most children do by a given age, not what every child must do by then. Wide variation is normal. Two things are worth acting on rather than watching: missing several milestones in one area, and losing a skill a child previously had.

  9 min read

• Speech milestones by age, from first sounds to sentences

  Most babies coo by 2 months, babble strings of sounds by 9, say a first real word around 12, put two words together by 24 months and use about 50 words by 30 months. Understanding always runs ahead of speaking — a child who follows instructions but says little is in a very different situation from one who does neither.

  8 min read

• Tummy time: how much, from when, and what to do when they hate it

  Start on the day you come home. The AAP suggests two to three sessions a day of three to five minutes each, working up to 15 to 30 minutes a day by seven weeks; the NHS asks for at least 30 minutes a day spread across the waking day through the first year. It is a daily total built out of short goes, not one long stretch, and a baby who protests needs shorter sessions more often rather than a longer one endured.

  11 min read

• Rolling, sitting and crawling: what happens when

  The AAP puts the precursors — rocking, kicking and “swimming” on the tummy — at about five months, rolling in both directions by the end of the four-to-seven-month period, sitting upright without leaning on the arms at six to eight months, and crawling usually mastered between seven and ten months. One date is worth acting on rather than watching: a baby not sitting independently by nine months should be mentioned to your doctor. Crawling is the exception — a few children never crawl and scoot or slither instead, and that is not a problem.

  11 min read