Crying · Health & safety
Newborn Noises: Hiccups, Grunts, Sneezes and What Is Normal
Grunts, squeaks, sighs, sneezes and hiccups are all listed by the AAP as ordinary newborn noise.
Guides
Practical answers for the first years: what is happening in your baby's development, how sleep really behaves at each age, and what helps when nothing seems to. Written by the Growbaby team against AAP, CDC and WHO guidance, and where a guide makes a clinical claim, the sources are listed on it. How we write these
Series
Open the series →Baby Development Month by Month
36 months published, from newborn to three. Start wherever your child is.
Series
Open the series →Baby Sleep and Soothing
9 guides on the questions that come up at 2 AM.
Topic
Baby's age
55 guides
Development · Health & safety
Baby Teething: When It Starts and What Actually Helps
First teeth usually appear between 6 and 10 months, and the bottom two front teeth come first.
Development · Health & safety
If Your Toddler Is Not Talking Yet
You can request a free evaluation yourself. No doctor's referral and no diagnosis are needed first.
Development · Health & safety
Screen Time Before Two: What the Guidance Actually Says
The CDC's current advice, on every milestone page: screen time is not recommended under 2 years.
Development · Crying
Separation Anxiety in Babies and Toddlers
Reacting when you leave is on the CDC's 9-month checklist as a milestone, not a symptom.
Feeding · Sleep
Weaning Off the Bottle and the Pacifier
These are two different problems. In the first year the guidance pushes in opposite directions.
Feeding · Health & safety
Choking Hazards and Safe First Foods
Cut food into pieces no larger than half an inch. That single rule covers most of what you will serve.
Feeding
When Can Babies Start Solid Foods?
The AAP recommends only breast milk for approximately 6 months, then foods alongside continued breastfeeding.
Feeding · Health & safety
What Can Babies and Toddlers Drink, by Age
Water starts at 6 months, at 4 to 8 oz (0.5 to 1 cup) a day until the first birthday.
Sleep
Baby Nap Transitions: 4 to 3, 3 to 2, and 2 to 1
There is no official nap schedule. The AAP publishes 24-hour sleep totals and no nap-drop ages at all.
Development
When Do Babies Start Walking?
First unaided steps arrive anywhere from about 9 to 18 months, and the whole of that span is ordinary.
Development
When Do Babies Sit Up?
Sitting is two separate skills on the CDC's list, three months apart.
Development · Sleep
When Do Babies Roll Over?
Tummy to back usually comes first, at around five to six months.
Development
When Do Babies Start Talking?
'Mama' or 'dada' aimed at a specific parent is the 12-month checkpoint.
Development
When Do Babies Start Crawling?
Most babies start moving across the floor somewhere between 6 and 10 months.
Sleep · Soothing
Is White Noise Safe for Babies? Volume, Distance and Duration
White noise is widely used and generally considered safe when the volume is kept moderate.
Crying · Soothing
Why Is My Baby Crying? How to Read It and What Helps
Crying normally increases over the first weeks and peaks around 6 to 8 weeks, then eases.
Sleep · Development
Baby Sleep Regressions: What They Are and When They Happen
A sleep regression is a description of a pattern, not a medical diagnosis.
Sleep · Health & safety
Safe Sleep for Babies: The Rules That Actually Matter
Back to sleep, for every sleep, day and night, until your baby's first birthday.
1 month old
Your 1-Month-Old: Development, Sleep and Feeding
Most newborns sleep 14 to 17 hours across a full day, in short stretches.
2 months old
Your 2-Month-Old: Development, Sleep and Feeding
The social smile arrives for many babies around 6 to 8 weeks.
3 months old
Your 3-Month-Old: Development, Sleep and Feeding
Hands become fascinating: batting, grabbing and mouthing everything within reach.
4 months old
Your 4-Month-Old: Rolling, Laughing and Hands That Finally Meet
Hands find each other at the midline, which is the start of two-handed play.
5 months old
Your 5-Month-Old: Mouthing Everything, Sounds Copied Back
The mouth is now an investigating tool, not just a feeding one.
6 months old
Your 6-Month-Old: Rolling Tummy to Back, Passing Things Hand to Hand
Rolling from tummy to back is the CDC's milestone for this month; back to tummy usually comes later.
7 months old
Your 7-Month-Old: Cause and Effect, and the Run-Up to Crawling
Cause and effect clicks: push this, that happens, do it again.
8 months old
Your 8-Month-Old: Their Name, the First Crawl, and Pulling Up
Your baby responds to their own name, reliably rather than by chance.
9 months old
Your 9-Month-Old: Clapping, Waving, and Finding What Is Hidden
Clapping and waving are social gestures, learned by copying and repeated for the response.
10 months old
Your 10-Month-Old: Cruising the Furniture, Understanding What You Say
Cruising, walking sideways while holding furniture, is the usual route to walking.
11 months old
Your 11-Month-Old: Pointing, First Words, and Trying to Walk
Pointing is a milestone worth noticing: it means sharing attention, not just wanting.
12 months old
Your 12-Month-Old: First Steps, and Using Things the Way They Are Meant
Using a brush on hair or a cup to drink shows your baby has learned what things are for.
13 months old
Your 13-Month-Old: Walking, Carrying, and Following Simple Instructions
Walking looks steadier, with fewer wide-armed wobbles.
14 months old
Your 14-Month-Old: Imitating, Pointing, and the First Running Steps
Household actions get copied, often within minutes of being seen.
15 months old
Your 15-Month-Old: Books on Repeat and the First Word Pairs
Your toddler brings you a book and climbs in to hear it.
16 months old
Your 16-Month-Old: Grouping, Climbing, and Naming What They See
Toys get gathered into rough groups: cars here, animals there.
17 months old
Your 17-Month-Old: Balls, Puzzles, Spoons, and Big Feelings
Throwing comes long before catching, and aim is not the point yet.
18 months old
Your 18-Month-Old: Where Two-Step Instructions Start to Land
Objects are carried from room to room as the whole point of the game.
19 months old
Your 19-Month-Old: Jumping, Pretending, and First Short Sentences
Jumping is attempted well before both feet actually leave the floor.
20 months old
Your 20-Month-Old: Arranging, Asking, Singing, and Standing Steady
Rows of objects get arranged, inspected, and rearranged with intent.
21 months old
Your 21-Month-Old: When a Story Comes Back to You
Familiar stories are followed, and a wrong ending gets objected to.
22 months old
Your 22-Month-Old: Shapes, Dressing, and Solving Small Problems
A circle is told apart from a square before either is named.
23 months old
Your 23-Month-Old: Feelings, Rules, Stairs, and Sorting Things Out
Feelings get directed at you deliberately, not simply displayed.
24 months old
Your 24-Month-Old: When Play Starts Running Without You
A crayon makes deliberate lines rather than whole-arm scribble.
25 months old
Your 25-Month-Old: Three-Word Sentences, Counting, Colors, and Jumping
Three-word sentences carry detail the shorter ones could not.
26 months old
Your 26-Month-Old: Recounting the Day, Shapes, and Taking Turns
Real events get recounted, with the best part told first.
27 months old
Your 27-Month-Old: Because and Why Enter the Conversation
Sentences join up with words like because, but and so.
28 months old
Your 28-Month-Old: Counting by Touch, Hopping, and Invented Tales
A finger touches each object as the number is said.
29 months old
Your 29-Month-Old: Balance, Detailed Drawings, and Longer Games
Narrow lines and kerbs get walked along on purpose.
30 months old
Your 30-Month-Old: When Help Is No Longer Welcome
Your child insists on dressing alone and refuses your help.
31 months old
Your 31-Month-Old: Longer Sentences, Rules Understood, Feelings Named
Sentences run longer, with several ideas held in one breath.
32 months old
Your 32-Month-Old: Solo Play, Shared Stories, and Cause and Effect
Solo play holds together without you being in the room.
33 months old
Your 33-Month-Old: Play That Needs Somebody Else
Other children become collaborators rather than scenery.
34 months old
Your 34-Month-Old: Sticking to Rules and Explaining Feelings
A rule survives a whole game rather than the first two turns.
35 months old
Your 35-Month-Old: Retelling, Multi-Step Tasks, and Playing Together
A known story is retold with beginning, middle and end intact.
36 months old
Your 36-Month-Old: Three Years Old, Learning on Their Own
Stories run to several linked parts and keep their characters straight.