Developmental milestones in children are broadly divided into 4 categories : Gross motor, fine motor, language and social 

1. Gross Motor :  like sitting ,standing  etc...

  • 3 months      – Head holding 
  • 5 months      – Sitting with support ( either of floor or of  the thighs) 
  • 6 months      – Rolling over starts ( first prone to supine then supine to prone)
  • 8 months      – Sitting without support (Can turn head and shoulders without falling)
  • 9 months      – Crawling 
  • 11 months    – Standing with support 
  • 12 months    - Walks independently  
  • 18 months    – Runs well
  • 2 years           – Climbs upstairs and downstairs two feet per step 
  • 3 years           – Rides a tricycle            
  •                         - Climbs upstairs with one foot per step
  • 4  years        – Hopping ( jumping on single foot)
  •                        - Downstairs with one foot per step 
  • 5  years        – Skipping ( jumping on both feet) 

2. Fine motor :  like feeding , writing etc

- Birth                     - Grasp reflex present 

- 3 months             – Grasp reflex absent

- 5 months            – Bidextrous approach ( both hands brought forward when offered any object)

-  6 months            – Drops one object when offered another 

-   7 months            – Transfer of objects (unidextrous approach)

-   9 to 10 months – Pincer grasp (Can pick up small objects using index finger and thumb) 

-   13 months          – Throws the objects 

-   15 months          – Feeds with spoon with slight spilling 

-   18 months          – Feeds with cup with slight spilling 

                                   - Can scribble with pen

                                  - Makes a tower of 3 cubes

-   2 years                – Can draw vertical strokes  

                                 - Can turn 1 page of book at a time

                                 - Makes a tower of 6 cubes

-   3 years                – Can draw circle

                                - Makes a tower of 9 cubes 

-   4 years               – Can draw ‘+’ and square 

-   5 years               – Can draw ‘X’ and triangle

3. Language :· 

.   3 months      – Cooing ( makes cooing sound ).

·   6 months      – Monosyllables babbling like ba-ba-ba-ba…

·   9 months      – Bi syllables. Eg .Ba-ba , Da-da etc.

·   1 year           – Speaks 2 or 3 words with meaning .

·   18 months   – Can speak around 10 words with meaning . 

·   2 years          – Can form simple sentence.

·   3 years          – Can tell his name and gender·

.   4 years          – Can tell story / poem. 

 ·   5 years         – Can identify 4 colors .

 4 . Social milestones : 

·   2 months     : Social smile ( smiles when someone interacts ) ·

.   3 months     : Recognizes mother.

·   7 months     : Stranger anxiety .

                          -Baby enjoys mirror image .

·   9 months     : Waves bye-bye , Claps.

·   1 year           : Waves head in ‘NO’ response. 

·   15 months  :  Hugs the parents.

·   18  months : Kisses the parents .

·   2 years        : Dry by day (tells parents about urine and stools , but wets the bed at night).

 ·   3 years       : Dry by night .

·   4 years        : Goes to toilet alone .

·   5 years        : Dresses and undresses without the help of anyone.