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Hi, I'm Dr. David Hill, and today we're going to talk about, milestones in your baby's development,
during the first year of life. Now obviously a ton of stuff happens in that year, the baby's
brain grows tremendously, and their skills grow tremendously. When we think about infant
development, we like to break it up in different categories. We think about gross motor skills,
fine motor skills, communication, interpersonal skills, and problem solving, and we'll try
and break that down today. One warning, don't get too stuck on any one skill, different
babies develop at different rates, and even though big sister, or the neighbors kid maybe
doing something your child is not, don't sweat it too much. If you get real concerns, talk
to your doctor, and they can do developmental testing. So, lets think first of all about
gross motor skills. At birth a baby may or may not be able to lift his or her chin up
a little bit when he's lying on his tummy, and that's about all. But by two months he's
going to get his head way up, and even a little bit of his chest. At four months many babies
can roll from their fronts to their backs, although, now the babies sleep on their backs,
that's less common than it use to be. At six months a baby can probably hold himself in
a sitting position, at least briefly, although he may prop himself forward on his hands.
By nine months, that baby is pulling up on the furniture, cruising around, and at twelve
months, not all babies are walking, but they're probably taking some preliminary steps, like
standing on their own, or stepping one or two steps, before they fall down. When we
think about fine motor skills, we begin with the hands clinched in fist, but by two months
of age, those hands are relaxed, at least as often as they're ***. At four months
your baby is going to reach out for things that he or she sees that they want, but they're
not going to be able to drop those objects until twelve months of age, voluntarily. At
six months they're picking up small items, using a raking grasp, with the entire hands,
but by nine months, they're probably using the begins of a pincher grasp, so they can
feed themselves. At twelve months again, they can not only pick something up, they can drop
it. When we think about communication skills, obviously most the communication you're going
to get from a newborn is crying. However, even by the end of the first month of life,
they're starting to make some vocal sounds, they're smiling at you, at two months of life,
and laughing at four months, as well as turning to your voice, because now they know which
direction to look. At six months they're making some babbling sounds, and at nine months they
understand their name, they understand, no, which is important for beginning discipline.
And they are probably beginning to understand some simple commands. By twelve months, your
baby is going to come when called, they've been waving bye bye for a long time, and they're
probably starting to use, ma ma, da da, and one other word. In terms of personal, social,
and problem solving skills, again, a newborn is not doing very much, except a little non
verbal communication. A two month old smiles back at you when you smile at them, and a
four month old is going to giggle with you, and laugh and play. A six month old, working
with you, is going to be, starting to recognize who you are, and who strangers are, they may
be beginning to show some fear of people that they don't know, by nine months that fear
is heightened, but they're able to obey some of your commands. And by twelve months, that
baby is starting to become independent, still fearful to strangers, but definitely able
to follow some simple commands, and able to interact with you in a very playful way, even
imitating your household activities. So to review, when we think of infant development,
we break it down in gross motor, fine motor, communication, and personal, social, and problem
solving skills. And remember, don't get too caught up in any one skill, it's the whole
group that counts. I'm David Hill.