10 baby milestones in the first 2 years

The first 2 years of a babys life is mapped out in milestones, below is the top 10 milestones to look out for in your babys life.

Eye contact

This is one of the first milestones you’ll notice, and it’s a big deal not just because your baby is finally paying attention to you, and following you with her eyes, but also because it indicates that her neurological growth and ability to communicate are on track.

Social smile

This is one of the nicest milestones.
A social smile is reciprocal, meaning your baby smiles in response to someone else’s smile. It’s a sign that several different parts of the brain are maturing and developing.

Cooing and Gaaing

During your baby’s first several weeks, she communicates mainly by crying. But around 8 weeks, there’s a lot of activity that begins to take place in the brain’s front temporal lobe that lets your baby coo.

Babbling

A bit more advanced than cooing, eventually your baby will move on to babbling. This is different from cooing because it requires using the tongue and the front of the mouth to make sounds.

Reaching and grabbing

To encourage reaching and grabbing, get down on the floor with your baby and place a favorite toy just out of reach. The more opportunities you create, the more you engage her senses and entice her to touch, smell, look, and learn about objects.

Pulling up to a stand

One of the first signs that your baby is getting ready to walk is that he begins to pull himself up to a standing position. This is a sign of their developing stability on their feet.

Pincer grasp

This is actually quite important.
There’s the crude pincer grasp that occurs around 7 or 8 months, when babies use all of their fingers and their thumb to pick up a spoon or toy. Then, a few months later, they refine the skill and, with either hand, very neatly take their thumb and forefinger to pick up one Cheerio or one piece of a puzzle.

Gestures

When your child has eaten all his food and motions with wide-open hands “all gone,” or points to his favorite book on the bookshelf, this is a preverbal form of language - Guesturing

First word

The past months of cooing, babbling, pointing, and gesturing have all been steppingstones to the formation of speech. When your daughter sees a ball and pronounces “ba” or “ball,” her brain is making the connection between that sound and the object.