This is where your baby gets mobile, and that changes everything — the house, the day, and the way they learn. A baby who can move toward something gets control over what they spend attention on for the first time. At the same time, many babies become wary of strangers, which feels like a regression and is in fact a leap.
The skills most children pick up somewhere inside this age range, grouped the way development actually happens rather than as one long checklist.
Motor
Sits without support
Sits briefly with an upright back, no help needed.
Belly crawls forward
Moves forward on tummy using arms or legs.
Fine motor
Coordinates hands
Coordinates hands and body, e.g. grasping while moving.
Passes objects hand to hand
Moves a toy from one hand to the other.
Language
Babbles syllables
Strings syllables like da-da or ba-ba.
Responds to their name
Turns or looks up when the name is called.
Social
Seeks caregiver closeness
Shows attachment or separation awareness toward familiar people.
Recognises familiar people
Reacts differently to strangers vs. known faces.
Reaches to be picked up
Lifts both arms toward a caregiver.
Cognitive
Recognises familiar things
Recognises familiar people or objects.
Bangs two objects together
Brings two toys together to make a sound.
Self-care
Shows wariness
Shows fear, e.g. by pulling back from something new.
Moves body parts on request
Deliberately moves specific body parts, e.g. wiggles fingers when asked.
Eats finger food
Brings pieces of food to the mouth without help.
Firsts
First solid food
First tooth
First time in the water
Pool, sea or lake — the first proper splash.
Every range below is a window, not a deadline. Children arrive at these in their own order, and a skill that comes late says far less than one that disappears.
Sitting without support arrives for most babies between six and eight months. First with hands planted forward, then free for a few seconds, then stable enough to play with both hands while sitting. That last step is the real milestone — it frees the hands for everything else.
Movement almost never starts with crawling. Belly crawling usually comes first, often backwards, because pushing is easier than pulling. Some babies roll across the room; some shuffle on their bottom. All of it is normal and all of it arrives at the same place.
Language starts as syllable babble: ba-ba, ga-ga, ma-ma. It sounds like words and is not one yet — attaching a sound to a person usually comes near the end of the first year. It is still the most important language step in this stretch.
And stranger wariness. It sets in around eight months for many babies and means your baby can reliably tell familiar from unfamiliar people and knows you still exist when you leave the room. Cognitively that is a large jump, however it feels at a family lunch.
Babyproof before you need to. Babies become mobile without warning — usually on an afternoon when nobody happens to be watching. Sockets, stairs, cables and everything below a metre need a pass.
Do not take the stranger wariness personally, and do not force it. If your baby cries with a grandparent, the answer is not leaving them there longer but letting them warm up while you are close. It usually eases within a few months.
Raise it if, by nine months, your baby does not sit unsupported, does not babble in syllables, does not take weight on their legs when held standing, or barely responds to their name or to eye contact.
More important than any single delay is the direction of travel. A baby who had a skill and lost it — babbled and stopped, made eye contact and no longer does — should be seen promptly, whatever their age.
This page is general information, not medical advice. Your paediatrician or health visitor knows your child; a chart never will. If something worries you, ask them — that is what the appointment is for.
How we built this
The milestone windows follow the developmental ranges used in routine child health checks, cross-checked against the WHO motor development study and the CDC's milestone guidance. They describe when most children reach a skill, not when yours has to.
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