We have a dedicated network of paediatric doctors and practitioners committed to helping with the assessment and treatment of children with developmental needs. We offer a comprehensive evaluation with investigations and recommendations for treatment.
GlobMed has worked hard to find the highest quality partners, allowing for early intervention, giving you peace of mind and offering the best care for your child. We assess all family dynamics and each case on an individual basis.
What Are Developmental Milestones?
Milestones are predicted points for when a child reaches a critical stage in their development. There are five broad categories of developmental milestones:
- Gross motor skills, like rolling over, crawling, walking, running and jumping.
- Fine motor skills like picking up small objects, drawing and fastening buttons.
- Communication and language, including babbling, learning words, stringing together sentences and having discussions.
- Cognitive development and problem-solving involve sorting, counting, understanding cause and effect, and solving puzzles and problems.
- Social skills like smiling, responding to people, playing with others, expressing emotions and empathy.
There are many different specific milestones within each of these categories, based on the average age by which children usually achieve those skills. A delayed milestone is when your child does not achieve this by a certain age, whether gross motor, fine motor, language or communication and social skills. GlobMed has specialists in all areas of development milestones to help identify any underlying cause.
When Should I Be Worried?
Each child is unique – they grow and learn at their own pace. It might be that your child is far ahead for one area of development, but might be lagging in another. Developmental milestones are not there to force children and parents to conform to a schedule. Instead, they are there to give parents a guideline by which to tell if something might be wrong.
Milestones progress as your child grows. Here is a general guide for the developmental milestones your child should reach by the age of three:
Gross motor skills:
- Rolling over (around 3-6 months)
- Sitting independently (around 6-8 months)
- Crawling (around 6-10 months)
- Standing with support (around 9-12 months)
- Walking (around 9-18 months)
- Running (around 2 years)
- Jumping with both feet (around 2-3 years)
- Climbing stairs (around 2-3 years)
Fine motor skills:
- Grasping objects (around 3-4 months)
- Transferring objects between hands (around 6-8 months)
- Pincer grasp (using thumb and index finger) (around 9-12 months)
- Scribbling (around 12-18 months)
- Building towers with blocks (around 18-24 months)
- Using eating utensils (around 2-3 years)
- Drawing basic shapes (around 3-4 years)
Language and communication skills:
- Cooing and babbling (around 2-6 months)
- Responding to their name (around 6-9 months)
- Saying first words (around 12 months)
- Using simple gestures like waving or pointing (around 12-15 months)
- Understanding and following simple instructions (around 1.5-2 years)
- Combining words to form short sentences (around 2-3 years)
- Vocabulary spurt and sentence complexity increase (around 3-4 years)
Cognitive development:
- Showing interest in objects and people (around 2-3 months)
- Object permanence (around 6-9 months)
- Imitating actions and sounds (around 9-12 months)
- Pretend play (around 12-18 months)
- Sorting and categorizing objects (around 2-3 years)
- Counting and number recognition (around 2-3 years)
- Problem-solving with simple puzzles (around 2-3 years)
Social and emotional development:
- Making eye contact (from birth)
- Recognizing familiar faces and showing separation anxiety (around 6-9 months)
- Engaging in parallel play (playing alongside peers) (around 1-2 years)
- Showing empathy and understanding others’ emotions (around 1-2 years)
- Engaging in cooperative play (around 2-3 years)
- Expressing emotions and using words to describe feelings (around 2-3 years)
- Developing a sense of self-identity (around 3-4 years)
If your child is behind on more than two of their milestones, mention this to your doctor or nurse at their next checkup. Early intervention is key for treating developmental delays. If you feel worried that something might be amiss with your child’s development, please make a booking with us so that we can get you in touch with a paediatrician.
Frequently Asked Questions
Children who were born prematurely had a low birth weight or have any congenital conditions are much more likely to have developmental delays.
Parents know their children best. You experience your child’s environment with them and you can observe them over time. Parental intuition is ingrained for a reason. If you feel that something might be wrong, start writing down what you observe, with a description of the symptom. Take this along to your child’s checkup.
If your child’s behaviour changes suddenly, or they are inconsolable, take them to the emergency room - especially if they are still an infant.
71–75 Shelton Street, Covent Garden, London, WC2H 9JQ
+44 (0) 20 4577 1127
