The first birthday. Most babies now pull up to stand, step along the furniture, wave bye-bye and have a special name for you. Here is what most babies do by 12 months, four easy ways to play this week, and what to check as your baby moves on to family food.
What most babies do by 1 year
From CDC's 2022 checklists: things at least 3 in 4 babies do by this age. A guide for a chat with your pediatrician, not a test.
Calls a parent “mama”, “dada”, “amma”, “appa” or another special name
Understands “no” — pauses or stops when you say it
Thinking and exploring
Puts something in a container, like a block in a cup
Looks for things they saw you hide, like a toy under a towel
Moving
Pulls up to stand
Walks while holding on to furniture
Drinks from an open cup while you hold it
Picks things up between thumb and pointer finger, like small bits of food
Every baby has their own timing
WHO followed 816 healthy babies in five countries, India among them, and timed six movement milestones. Each bar is the window in which 98 of every 100 of them got there.
Sits without support4–9 mo
Stands with help5–11 mo
Crawls on hands and knees5–14 mo
Walks with help6–14 mo
Stands alone7–17 mo
Walks alone8–18 mo
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Your baby: 1 year
Walking alone came anywhere from about 8 to 18 months — one of the widest windows of all. Plenty of one-year-olds are still cruising, and that sits well inside it.
Play together this week
Five or ten minutes each, with things already in your home. Do them in any language you speak at home.
1
Dabba drop
5–10 min · nothing to buy
You need: A steel dabba with its lid off, and four or five big things: wooden spoons, steel tumblers, a rolled-up sock
Drop one thing into the dabba — clang! — and say “in”.
Hand the next one to your baby and wait. Cheer the clang.
Tip it all out together, “out!”, and start again.
Stay close. Only things bigger than your baby's fist, so nothing fits in the mouth.
Puts things in a container
Thumb-and-finger pick-up
2
Where did it go?
5 min · nothing to buy
You need: A hand towel and one thing your baby likes — a ball or a steel tumbler
While your baby watches, cover the ball with the towel. “Where did it go?”
Wait for them to pull the towel off. Then make it a little harder: two towels, ball under one.
Let them hide it for you too, and act surprised every time.
Looks for hidden things
Plays games with you
3
Sofa road
5–10 min · nothing to buy
You need: Your sofa or diwan, and a favourite thing for the far end
Put the favourite thing at one end of the sofa and stand your baby, holding on, at the other.
Call them along. Every step sideways is the game.
Next time, move it to a chair a short gap away, so they let go with one hand to reach.
Stay close. Clear sharp corners and the centre table out of the way, keep the floor soft, and stay within arm's reach.
Pulls up to stand
Walks holding on to furniture
4
Clap-and-wave rhymes
5 min · nothing to buy
You need: Any clapping rhyme from your family, in any language
Sit face to face and do the rhyme with big, slow claps and actions.
Stop just before the last clap and wait — most babies fill it in.
End every round with a wave: “bye-bye, see you!”, and wave to everyone who leaves the house today.
Plays pat-a-cake games
Waves bye-bye
What your baby eats and uses now
Your baby now eats more of what the family eats, and packaged snacks start to appear — biscuits, puffs, juices, “toddler” drinks. On the back, check for:
Scan a label
Free. No sign-up. Pick 12–36 months on the result to check it for this age.
Water in an open steel tumbler at meals, with you holding it, is practice for one of the milestones above.
If something worries you
You know your baby best. If your baby is not doing some of these things yet, or has stopped doing something they used to do, tell your pediatrician — at the next visit, or sooner. CDC's advice is not to wait: acting early is what helps most.
Born early? For the first two years, pediatricians usually count from the due date — the corrected age.
In India, your pediatrician can also refer you to the District Early Intervention Centre (DEIC) at your district hospital, part of the government's Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram.
Questions CDC suggests taking to the visit:
What do you and your baby enjoy doing together?
What does your baby like to do?
Is there anything your baby does, or does not do, that worries you?
Has your baby stopped doing anything they used to do?
Was your baby born early, or do they have any special health needs?
Pikabee