Child Development Stages

What You Have to Know about Child Development Stages

Executive Summary by Mary Boakyewaa and P. Banas

Child Development Stages

As your child grows and matures she follows along a certain sequence of child development stages. Although each child learns at their own pace and some children reach child development stages sooner than others, the children learn to conquer one stage and then move on to the next stage. These child development stages are sometimes referred to as developmental milestones.

Parents who are aware of child development stages have realistic expectations as to what their child can and cannot do. Knowledge in child development stages can also take some of the guesswork and frustration out of parenting. It is also fun to watch your child conquer child development stages and move on to the next phase in their growth and development.

As newborn babies grow, these are the various stages of development those they go through:

1-4 Months

• At this age, the baby's average length is 50.8 - 68.6 cm, with a growth rate of about 2.54 cm per month.

• The average weight is .7.9 - 16 lb and the growth rate is about 0.24 - 0.48 lb per week.

• The baby breathes using the abdominal muscles.

• The legs may be slightly bowed.

• The baby's eyes begin to move in unison with each other.

• The baby can grasp things with the entire hand.

• The baby's movements are jerky, random, and uncoordinated.

4-8 Months

• At this age of child development stages, the babies' average length is 69.8 - 73.7 cm, with a growth rate of 1.3 cm per month.

• The weight gain rate is about one lb per month.

• The breathing continues to be abdominal.

• Teeth begin to appear, with the lower and upper incisors sprouting first.

• The bowing of the legs gradually disappears.

• The true color of the eyes becomes established.

• The blinking reflex develops.

• The baby can use the finger and thumb grip to pick up objects.

• The baby develops the tendency to put things in the mouth.

• At this age, the baby can sit without help using the arms for support.

8-12 Months

• At this age of child development stages, babies usually achieve almost one and half times the length at birth.

• The average weight is 21.12 lb, which increases by about one lb per month.

• The baby continues to use abdominal muscles for breathing.

 • Both eyes can now function in unison and the child can see objects that are15 to 20 feet away.

• The baby reaches out to take objects with one hand.

• The child examines new things by using a finger to poke and press.

• At this age, the child starts trying to stand.

• The child also starts crawling, using the hands.

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Early Child Development

The Stage of Early Child Development

Executive Summary by Daniel D. Dwase

Early Child Development

During the first year of early child development your baby develops at an incredible rate, not just physically, but intellectually, emotionally, even socially. Your baby was born with a certain amount of reflexes, like sucking, grasping and crying. But within a few weeks of your infant's development she will become more and more efficient at these actions and gradually those reflex behaviors will be replaced by deliberate actions of sucking, grasping and crying. Your baby is learning that if she sucks, she will eat. 

It's interesting to note that at 4 months of age, your baby has yet to reach the stage of early child development known as 'object permanence'; so when an object is out of his sight he has forgotten about it (literally out of sight, out of mind). 

By around 8 months a baby will look for a toy he was playing with if it is taken out of his vision. This is why babies at this age love dropping toys and watching you pick them up! They have figured out that the toy has not disappeared when they drop it, and are thrilled to see it reappear! 

It is also at this stage of your baby's early stages of child development that she loves to play peek-a-boo. Parent's can test their baby's object permanence by sitting them in a high chair with a toy. If you drop the toy on the ground and she looks down for it, then she has grasped the concept of object permanence. If she doesn't look for it, then she is not quite at that stage of child development at the earliest stages yet.

There are lots of fun games to play with babies who are at this early child development stage. Let your 10 month old baby see you 'hide' her toy under a blanket. Babies at this stage also love to imitate the changes in your face. Stick your tongue out, and watch her imitate the action. 

Playing games like this with your baby is an excellent way to spend quality time as well as a way to help develop her grasp of object permanence.

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