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Baby Development

Terminology

Use the correct terminology when talking about baby development.

Child development stages

By Mikael Häggström - Own work, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7209351

Baby Timeline

There are different sources for baby development123456. However, it may not be easy to read and track. We found that a Gannt chart is helpful. One of the tricks is to select some important and skills of interest, and create a Gannt chart like the following. We have listed more detailed milestones in the Milestones section.

gantt
    title A Demo of a Customized Baby Development Timeline by Weeks
    dateFormat X
    axisFormat %s
    section Gross Motor Milestones
        "When held upright, holds head erect and steady." : 4, 6
        "When prone, lifts self by arms; rolls from side to back." : 6, 8
        "Rolls from tummy to side" : 8, 10
        "Rests on elbows, lifts head 90 degrees" : 8, 10
        "Sits propped up with hands, head steady for a short time" : 8, 10
        "Sitting without support"   : 15, 28
        "Standing with assistance"  : 20, 46
        "Hands-&-knees crawling"    : 21, 54
        "Walking with assistance"   : 24, 55
        "Standing alone"            : 28, 67
        "Walking alone"             : 33, 70
    section Speech and Language
        "Cooes and babbles"         : 4, 6
        "Vocalizes"                 : 6, 8
        "makes vowel-like noises"   : 6, 8
    section Vision & Hearing
        "Focuses on parents"        : 4, 6
        "Focuses on objects as well as adults" : 6, 8
    section Social
        "Startled by sudden noises" : 4, 6
        "smile at parents" : 4, 8
        "Loves looking at new faces" : 4, 6
        "Recognition of familiar individuals" : 4, 6
        "Loves looking at new faces" : 6, 8
    section Vaccine
        BCG  : 0, 1
        Oral polio 1 : 0, 1
        Oral polio 2 : 6, 7
        Oral polio 3 : 10, 11
        Oral polio 4 : 14, 15
        DTP 1 : 6, 7
        DTP 2 : 10, 11
        DTP 3 : 14, 15
        Hepatitis B Schema A 1 : 0, 1
        Hepatitis B Schema A 2 : 6, 7
        Hepatitis B Schema A 3 : 14, 15
        Hepatitis B Schema B 1 : 6,7
        Hepatitis B Schema B 2 : 10,11
        Hepatitis B Schema B 3 : 14,15

Each Baby is Different

The following timeline is only one possibility, and the actual development and other schedules may vary from baby to baby.

Useful Booklets

WHO has a booklets to help parents and caregivers understand and record the growth and development of their children1. Please visit this page and find the booklets as highlighted below. The booklets includes important information such as milestones and growth charts.

Growth Record Booklets

Growth Record Booklets

Research Papers

  1. WHO, “The WHO Child Growth Standards,” World Health Organization. Available: https://www.who.int/toolkits/child-growth-standards. [Accessed: May 31, 2025] ↩↩

  2. Contributors to Wikimedia projects, “Child development stages,” Wikipedia, May 21, 2025. Available: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_development_stages. [Accessed: Jun. 01, 2025] ↩

  3. Scharf RJ, Scharf GJ, Stroustrup A. Developmental milestones. Pediatrics in review 2016; 37: 25–37; quiz 38, 47. ↩

  4. Wilks T, Gerber RJ, Erdie-Lalena C. Developmental milestones: Cognitive development. Pediatrics in review 2010; 31: 364–367. ↩

  5. Gerber RJ, Wilks T, Erdie-Lalena C. Developmental milestones: Motor development. Pediatrics in review 2010; 31: 267–76; quiz 277. ↩

  6. Gerber RJ, Wilks T, Erdie-Lalena C. Developmental milestones 3: Social-emotional development. Pediatrics in review 2011; 32: 533–536. ↩

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