When your child is 12 month old, he/she is considered as a toddler. Like babies, toddlers can vary in size, shape, weight as well as their development skills also. Some toddlers are quick learners while others are little bit late and that is completely normal for them. Even my son was very quick learner till he was 12 month old but he started walking around when he was 14 month old, little late then his other milestones. Toddlers love to learn at their own pace and learn whenever they want to.
There is no fix sheet for this that what should a 12 month old do. But there are some defined development and milestone at 12 month that most children are able to do. Just like babies toddlers need plenty of sleep, so make sure they are getting 12 to 14 hours of sleep daily. By the time your toddler may be able to sleep for long hours during night and taking 1-2 short naps in daytime.
Below are the milestones you can expect your child to reach from 12 to 18 months. But if they don’t follow this exact schedule, try not to worry – every kid is different and they’ll likely get there in their own time. Still if you are concerned about your child’s development then you can reach out to your health care provider.
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Development and milestone of a 12 month old baby
During this time your child’s brain grows rapidly and many amazing changes happen. Suddenly you can feel like oh wow, now my little munchkin can do this also. The development and milestones during this time can be grouped in five areas.
- Physical and motor skills
- Cognitive and Sensory development
- Social and emotional development
- Language and communication development
- Behavior and independence
Physical and motor skill
A 12 month old child is expected to be three times their birth weight and expected to grow about 3 inches to 5 inches in size. They have a head circumference equals to their chest size and can have 1 to 8 teethes.
Here are some of the other physical milestones that you can expect from 12 to 15 month old baby
- Can stand without help or support between 12 to 15 months.
- Many toddlers start walking on their own between 12 to 15 months but some take time and start walking around 15 to 18 months.
- Sit down without help
- Build two blocks tower
- Sleep long hours at night like 8 to 10 hours and 1 to 2 naps during daytime
- Pick up a small object using the tip of their thumb and index finger
- walk up and down stairs with help
- crawl up stairs
- Wave “bye” and clap
- Play independently for short periods
- Try to help you put their clothes on
- play with pull and push toys
- Pick up a small object from the ground while standing without falling
Life of a newborn baby : First few weeks of a newborn baby life
Cognitive and sensory milestones for 12 month old
Cognitive skills are your child’s mental skills like thinking, learning and problem solving etc. This is your child’s ability to think, learn, and remember. Your child will start to remember recent events and actions, understand signs, imagine and pretend.
Some of the changes that you can see are:
- Respond to their name
- Can say 1 to 2 words like mamma, papa
- Understand simple commands
- Can point to objects
- Sometime can attached to a toy or object
- Begin to pretend play
- Try to make some sounds
- Play simple games with you
- Start to show tantrums
- Begin to use spoon and fork and can drink from cup
- Shake their head “no” or nod “yes”
Social and emotional development
Toddlers have strong emotional attachment from their loved once, they start to show separation anxiety when they are separated from their loved ones. Around the same time, toddlers typically want to do things on their own or according to their own wishes.
Here is a list of social and development milestones that you can expect from a baby after 12 month.
- Separation anxiety
- They can feel sad when someone else is crying near to them
- They begin to feel self aware
- Can make strong eye contact
- Can read book indecently and turn the pages of book
- Show interest in communicating and want some attention.
- Enjoy looking at picture books
- Can express themselves
- Emotionally attach to some toy, pillow, or object
- Can hug and kiss you
- May be Afraid of strangers
- Explores alone but with parent close by
3 Month old baby milestone, What to expect from birth till 3 months
Language and communication development
You’ve probably noticed for several months that your baby seems to ‘babble’. Now you’ll start to hear real words among the grunts, nods and pointing. At 15 to 18 months, a typical toddler understands 10 times more words than he or she can speak. There may be 1 or 2 words at about 12 months, increasing to 6 or more words by 18 months.
Here are some of the changes that you can notice:
- Can points to body parts and objects when you ask them
- Follow simple instruction like give this and take this
- Around 15-18 months they start recognize themselves in mirror
- Can say several single words
- Points to something he wants
- Can shake hands and say no or yes
- Try to seek attention of others
- Can hold colors or brush (not properly) and try to scribble.
- Shows interest in books with pictures
- Try to help when you’re putting on her clothes
Behavior and independence milestones for 12 month old
Toddlers love exploring and they feel safe when their care-givers are around them. They try to do many things by themselves and love their independence. By the time they know that they can do things independently.
Here are some of the Behavior and independence milestones that you can notice in a 12 month old:
- Try to use spoon and fork themselves
- Can take off socks and shoes
- Help put toys away
- Try to explore everything they saw
- Display separation anxiety
- Use body language such as pointing, nodding and grunting to express their needs
- Try to copy you and can use household objects like broom, vacuum cleaner, phone etc like pretend play.
- Search for hidden or lost toys
- Play independently for longer periods
- Dislike sharing toys
- Laugh at silly behavior
- Explore new places
- Independent eating like finger foods that they can hold in hands
All about first month of a baby : What can you expect?
When to worry about your child’s development
Every child is different so their development and milestones are. Each child meets their development and milestone when they want. Some are quick learner and some are late, this is completely normal. A child who is slow to reach milestones in one area, such as talking, may be ahead in another area, such as walking. But here are some things to look for and if your child is unable to do, visit your health care provider.
- If you feel like your child is not responding to loud voices and have some hearing difficulties
- Doesn’t notice or mind when a caregiver leaves or returns
- Loses skills he once had
- Walks on toes
- Doesn’t use pincer grasp (thumb and forefinger) to hold small objects
- Doesn’t enjoy being cuddled or touched by parents
- Shows unusual level of fear whenever feet are lifted off of the ground
- Doesn’t babble
- Unable to do eye-contact
- Doesn’t make any attempts to communicate
- can’t stand even when holding on to you or the furniture
- uses one hand a lot more than the other
- not following moving objects with eyes
