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  4. Milestones and Developmental Delay

Tracking your child's milestones

If you are concerned about your child, there must be a reason.

Your next step is to see what milestones your child "should" be doing at their age. Then you can compare with what you see in your child.

There are ways to find out if your child is in the normal range of development, or if some parts of their development are unusually delayed. Often a warning sign is what a child is NOT doing.

Here’s what you can do:

  • Click here to learn more about Developmental Milestones. (It will open in a new tab on your screen) This is a very helpful website!

  • Find your child's age on this site and look up what they should be doing. There are checklists, pictures, and videos that show the normal milestones.

  • If your child is not doing some of these things, check with your doctor and ask to get a developmental screening. We'll talk about that next.

Image of a checklist titled 'Your baby at six months'; with a list of what most babies do at this age. To the right of the image of the checklist is text that says: Here's an example! You can find checklists like this from ages 2 months to 5 years. For each age, there's a list of signs that mean you should talk to the doctor. Fill it out and bring it when you see your child's doctor. Each checklist has Spanish on one side and English on the other.

an image of the CDC Milestone Tracker app for smart phones. For iPhone or Android. Search for CDC Milestone Tracker.

Sources: CDC, Act Early