Your baby’s milestones: development during the first year

During your pregnancy, your baby could already hear sounds and learnt to recognise your voice. Shortly after being born, it will already be able to distinguish its parents' voices from those of others. At around one month of age, it will learn to recognise different voices and will react to these more so than to monotonous sounds.

Theoretically, your baby will already be able to react to different tastes by two months of age.

During the second month, you may see your baby smile for the first time. This is their first attempt at making conscious contact with you. Initially however, your baby will smile at everyone. Between the sixth and eighth month, they will learn to recognise specific people and react to them in different ways.

When you pick your baby up, it may start to reach out to you more consciously.

Shortly after birth, your baby was only able to recognise you from about 20 to 30 cm away. From the ninth week onwards, your baby’s three-dimensional vision will improve and it will become better at recognising objects that are further away.

Until this point, you always had to support your baby’s head. From the third month onwards, your baby may gradually start lifting its head and looking around on its own.

At three or four months of age, your baby may try to move forwards by kicking its legs.

During the third month, your baby may start to babble and make sounds when they feel happy.

You may notice from four months of age that your little darling will start reaching for things more purposefully.

Your baby will also learn to combine different movements into a single sequence. For example, if it reaches out for something and does not get it, it will correct its own movement and try again.

At this point the phase begins in which your baby wants to examine everything extensively. They do this by chewing and sucking on everything. From now on, everything your baby gets their hands on they will put in their mouth.

Your baby may also start laughing by the fourth month and the sounds they make will also become more varied. Even if your baby can't speak yet, they will begin to understand more of what you say to them.

Some babies may start to roll from their tummy to their back (or vice versa) on their own at five or six months.

Other babies may try to crawl or sit up for the first time. However, these first attempts are usually not successful and you can help your baby with this.

In general, you will notice that your baby’s reflexes shortly after being born will change.

From the sixth month onwards, some babies may start teething.

Over time, your little one will learn that every action is followed by a reaction. For example: when it throws an object on the floor it makes a sound. This will teach your baby that they can get what they want if they keep trying. This strengthens their self-confidence.

At this age, your baby may be able to sit on its own if you prop them up.

Between the seventh and eighth month you may be able to see their first little teeth.

Now your baby’s urge to move gets stronger and they try to propel themselves forwards any way they can. They usually do this by rocking back and forth.

From this point on, you may also notice that your baby can grab toys with their thumb and index finger. This is a complex fine motor skill.

From the eighth month onwards, your little darling will be able to recognise faces and will now know which people are familiar and which are strangers. Initially, your baby will reject strangers. However, this is a completely normal stage of development and is merely a phase that will quickly pass if you make your baby feel safe and secure.

At nine months of age, a lot of babies learn to crawl. In preparation for this, some babies first stand on all fours and rock back and forth.

Your little one will start to examine objects with their hands more than with their mouth. This process also includes tossing the object aside after they have inspected it. The sound it makes teaches your baby if the object is soft and quiet or hard and loud.

Every baby develops individually. Some babies are already crawling by 10 months, whilst others can sit up on their own.

From ten month on, your baby may say their first word. Spoken words now take on more meaning (e.g. your baby can point to something and specifically say "there"). They already understand many more words and are constantly learning new ones.

Some babies also bounce up and down whilst sitting when they are having fun.

By the eleventh month, your baby may become quite active and they may start to pull themselves up on objects.

Some babies may also take their first steps with your support.

From now on you can practice walking with your baby regularly. When exactly they will start to walk on their own is different for each baby. So be patient with your little one and let them learn in their own time.

Your baby will also learn to say words more clearly and learn new ones.