Pediatrics Checklist

With so many responsibilities beyond child-rearing, staying organized about your child’s health can be helpful. We follow the CDC’s guidelines for maintaining good health. Click here for details on CDC Developmental Milestones or continue reading for a summary of how to follow health guidelines for your child.

Click here for more information beyond the first year.

  • Your Baby By Two Months

    Social and Emotional
    • Begins to smile at people
    • Can briefly calm herself (may bring hands to mouth and suck on hand)
    • Tries to look at parent
    Language/Communication
    • Coos, makes gurgling sounds
    • Turns head toward sounds
    Cognitive (learning, thinking, problem-solving)
    • Pays attention to faces
    • Begins to follow things with eyes and recognize people at a distance
    • Begins to act bored (cries, fussy) if activity doesn’t change
    Movement/Physical Development
    • Can hold head up and begins to push up when lying on tummy
    • Makes smoother movements with arms and legs

  • Your Baby By Four Months

    Social and Emotional
    • Smiles spontaneously, especially at people
    • Likes to play with people and might cry when playing stops
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    • Copies some movements and facial expressions, like smiling or frowning
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    Language/Communication
    • Begins to babble
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    • Babbles with expression and copies sounds he hears
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    • Cries in different ways to show hunger, pain, or being tired
    Cognitive (learning, thinking, problem-solving)
    • Lets you know if he is happy or sad
    • Responds to affection
    • Reaches for toy with one hand
    • Uses hands and eyes together, such as seeing a toy and reaching for it
    • Follows moving things with eyes from side to side
    • Watches faces closely
    • Recognizes familiar people and things at a distance
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    Movement/Physical Development
    • Holds head steady, unsupported
    • Pushes down on legs when feet are on a hard surface
    • May be able to roll over from tummy to back
    • Can hold a toy and shake it and swing at dangling toys
    • Brings hands to mouth
    • When lying on stomach, pushes up to elbows

  • Your Baby By Six Months

    Social and Emotional
    • Knows familiar faces and begins to know if someone is a stranger
    • Likes to play with others, especially parents
    • Responds to other people’s emotions and often seems happy
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    • Likes to look at self in a mirror
    Language/Communication
    • Responds to sounds by making sounds
    • Strings vowels together when babbling (“ah,” “eh,” “oh”) and likes taking turns with parent while making sounds
    • Responds to own name
    • Makes sounds to show joy and displeasure
    • Begins to say consonant sounds (jabbering with “m,” “b”)
    Cognitive (learning, thinking, problem-solving)
    • Looks around at things nearby
    • Brings things to mouth
    • Shows curiosity about things and tries to get things that are out of reach
    • Begins to pass things from one hand to the other
    Movement/Physical Development
    • Rolls over in both directions (front to back, back to front)
    • Begins to sit without support
    • When standing, supports weight on legs and might bounce
    • Rocks back and forth, sometimes crawling backward before moving forward

  • Your Baby By Nine Months

    Social and Emotional
    • May be afraid of strangers
    • May be clingy with familiar adults
    • Has favorite toys
    Language/Communication
    • Understands “no”
    • Makes a lot of different sounds like “mamamama” and “bababababa”
    • Copies sounds and gestures of others
    • Uses fingers to point at things
    Cognitive (learning, thinking, problem-solving)
    • Watches the path of something as it falls
    • Looks for things she sees you hide
    • Plays peek-a-boo
    • Puts things in his mouth
    • Moves things smoothly from one hand to the other
    • Picks up things like cereal o’s between thumb and index finger
    Movement/Physical Development
    • Stands, holding on
    • Can get into sitting position
    • Sits without support
    • Pulls to stand
    • Crawls

  • Your Baby By One Year

    Social and Emotional
    • Is shy or nervous with strangers
    • Cries when mom or dad leaves
    • Has favorite things and people
    • Shows fear in some situations
    • Hands you a book when he wants to hear a story
    • Repeats sounds or actions to get attention
    • Puts out arm or leg to help with dressing
    • Plays games such as “peek-a-boo” and “pat-a-cake”
    Language/Communication
    • Responds to simple spoken requests
    • Uses simple gestures, like shaking head “no” or waving “bye-bye”
    • Makes sounds with changes in tone (sounds more like speech)
    • Says “mama” and “dada” and exclamations like “uh-oh!”
    • Tries to say words you say
    Cognitive (learning, thinking, problem-solving)
    • Explores things in different ways, like shaking, banging, throwing
    • Finds hidden things easily
    • Looks at the right picture or thing when it’s named
    • Copies gestures
    • Starts to use things correctly; for example, drinks from a cup, brushes hair
    • Bangs two things together
    • Puts things in a container, takes things out of a container
    • Lets things go without help
    • Pokes with index (pointer) finger
    • Follows simple directions like “pick up the toy”
    Movement/Physical Development
    • Gets to a sitting position without help
    • Pulls up to stand, walks holding on to furniture (“cruising”)
    • May take a few steps without holding on
    • May stand alone