To new parents, a baby's first year is often nothing short of miraculous. In just 12 months, your infant will go from a helpless newborn who mostly eats, sleeps and cries to a crawling, playing, talking and possibly even walking child. In fact, the changes your child goes through during his first year will be some of the most dramatic of his entire life.
Size
Your baby's size will change dramatically during her first year. Newborns usually start life at between 5.5 and 9 pounds and are 18 1/2 to 21 1/2 inches long, according to the Illinois Early Learning Project. By the time she is six months old, your baby should weigh twice as much as she did at birth. By her first birthday, she should weigh in at three times her birth weight.
Types
Infants experience several different types of development during their first year. Motor development includes the development of both gross motor skills, like walking, crawling and throwing; and fine motor skills, like picking up small objects and using their hands. Language development includes the ability to understand and respond to other people's speech, in addition to making sounds and ultimately words of his own. Infants also experience cognitive and social development during their first year as they begin to understand cause and effect, relationships and communication.
Highlights
Over the first year, your baby will learn to recognize and respond to her family, smiling at you when you talk to her by as early as six weeks. She'll learn to control her head--usually by her third month--and sit up by herself--usually around 7 months. She'll start expressing an interest in toys around three months and be playing with them on her own around the five-month mark. She'll also learn how to get around, usually creeping and crawling when she is about seven months old, pulling herself to a standing position for the first time around the same time, and taking her first steps around her first birthday.
Expert Insight
The University of Missouri Extension recommends several ways to help your baby develop during her first year. Be sure your baby has plenty of floor space to roll, crawl and scoot, and dress her so that her arms and legs can move easily. As your baby gets closer to crawling, encourage her by placing a toy just beyond her reach.
Considerations
Milestones for growth and development are based on an average baby, and your child may reach milestones earlier or later. Babies who are born prematurely, have a low birth weight or have a number of illnesses during early infancy may be slower to reach milestones. It's a good idea to work closely with your pediatrician to measure your child's development, but in most cases, development that doesn't adhere strictly to the established milestones is nothing to worry about.
