Infant Milestones - what your baby will be doing. This page looks at 12

The following page gives the usual age at which different infant milestones are reached during the period from 1 year to 2 years.

Each age band has the developmental stages broken down into gross motor, fine motor, speech and language and personal/social.

You will notice that in the second year of life, there is less in the way of gross motor development and more fine motor and speech development - you child has managed to go from helpless to walking in the first year, now she's about to learn to be delicate and precise.

12 month milestones

Motor Development

At 12 months, if your child has reached normal infant milestone, she will be able to:

walk alone
cast - objects are "cast" from the hand

Fine Motor / Vision Development

At 12 months, your infant will be able to:

use a neat pincer grip - so she will be able to pick small objects up between index finger and thumb
release objects when taken from her - before this she is likely to hold on for dear life!

Speech and Language Development

At 12 months, your infant will be able to:

use 2 to 3 words specifically
understand familiar names

Personal / Social Development

At 12 months, your infant will be able to:

indicate her needs
take off her shoes
drink from a feeding cup (like Tommy Tippee)
understand simple commands, like "give it to mommy"

15 months infant milestones

Fine Motor / Vision Development

At 15 months, your infant will be able to:

scribble
put a block in a cup

Speech and Language Development

At 15 months, your child, if she is following normal infant milestones, will be able to:

use jargon
point to body parts

Personal / Social Development

At 15 months, your infant will:

copy housework
drink from an open cup without spilling
no longer be putting everything in her mouth

18 months infant milestones

Motor Development

At 18 months, if your child has reached normal infant milestones, she will:

walk well and can carry a toy while walking
jump with feet together
bend to pick things up from the floor
walk backwards
climb into an adult chair and then turn and sit
have stopped casting

Fine Motor / Vision Development

At 18 months, your infant will be able to:

throw a ball
build a 3 brick tower using 1 inch cube wooden bricks
hold a crayon in her fist
dump a raisin from a jar - so she knows how to get something that is not easily accessible
copy a line

Speech and Language Development

At 18 months, your child, if she is following normal infant milestones, will be able to:

name one body part
identify one picture if asked
use 6 words

Personal / Social Development

At 18 months, your infant will:

feed with a spoon without making too much of a mess
use symbolic play - so will brush a doll's hair
find a completely hidden toy - so is aware of the permanence of objects
indicate toilet needs
alternate between clinging and resistance

24 months toddler milestones

Motor Development

At 24 months, your infant will be able to:

kick a ball
run
walk upstairs holding on using two feet per step

Fine Motor / Vision Development

At 24 months, your child, if she has normal infant milestones, will:

unscrew the top of a jar
build a tower of 6 using 1 inch cube wooden bricks
copy a vertical line
be developing hand preference, so will be starting to favor either the right or left hand
turn pages one at a time

Speech and Language Development

At 24 months, your infant will be able to:

put two words together - like "daddy gone", "mummy home"
name 4 or 5 body parts
identify 5 pictures in a picture book - for example, your child will be able to point to objects you name
use about 50 words

Personal / Social Development

At 24 months, your infant will be able to:

play alone
put socks and shoes on
give her first name
tell you when she wants to toilet
to have a fierce temper tantrum!!

When to be concerned

If your child has not reached the following infant milestones or is demonstrating the following signs, see your doctor:

demonstrating hand preference at 12 months of age
not pointing to share interest by 15 months of age
not walking by 18 months (unless she is a bottom shuffler when she may not walk until 2 years of age)
casting has persists after 18 months of age

References

Martin Bellman and John Cash. Schedule of Growing Skills. NEFR-Nelson. ISBN 0 7005 1161 X
Mary Sheridan. From birth to five years. NFER-NELSON. ISBN 0 85633 074 4

For infant milestones for babies from birth to six months of age, click here

For infants from 6 to 12 months of age, click here

For toddlers from 1 to 2 years of age, click here

For toddlers from 2 to 3 years of age, click here

For toddlers from 3 to 4 years of age, click here

For children from 4 to 5 years of age, click here

To go to the main Development page, click here

To return to the Home page, click here

Last reviewed 22 February 2007