Your Child’s Development

 

Bringing a new baby home can be overwhelming. You may feel joy, excitement, fear or exhaustion. You will begin to bond with your new family addition. You may watch their every move to make sure they are breathing, eating, sleeping, and gaining weight. You will take them to the baby well child check-ups where their health and physical development is followed. It is exciting to be a new parent!

 

Do you know all the ways to measure your child’s development?
A child’s growth is more than just physical. Starting at birth, your child will begin to reach milestones in how they play, learn, act, and speak. Milestones that mark a child’s development include:

 

Communication: the ability to use and understand language.

 

Cognitive: the ability to understand cause and effect and to problem solve

 

Social & Emotional: the ability to manage ones emotions and to relate to others

 

Motor: the ability to use large and small muscles for movement, balance, reaching and grasping

 

Adaptive: the ability to engage in self help skills such as toileting, eating and dressing

 

It is important that every parent knows how their child is developing. Children grow, develop, and learn throughout their lives and you as a parent can help monitor your child’s development to make sure your child is meeting milestones in all of these key areas. Every child is different and will develop at his/her own pace but if your child is not developing properly, you can take the necessary steps to help your child reach his/her full potential.

 

Learn more about developmental milestones by using this interactive tool for parents.