That first precious roll from tummy to back, the day your baby sits on her own, and those first few wobbly steps – what do all of these have in common? Although they may seem simple to us adults, for your baby these are major motor skills milestones.

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Between birth and 12 months your baby is rapidly developing, and building a foundation for movement skills that she’ll use throughout the rest of her life. What motor milestones can you expect to see during your baby’s first year? Check out these movement-based markers that are commonly seen by the age of 12 months. Keep in mind that these are generally ‘accepted’ milestones and not must-meet-by dates. There’s certainly some wiggle room when it comes to the exact age that your baby rolls, sits, stands, walks or makes other new moves. If you have any concerns about your baby meeting these markers, contact a qualified medical or developmental professional.

Newborn Motor Skills

 

The first three months aren’t exactly packed with refined movements. Your newborn is relying on reflexes that aren’t terribly purposeful yet (just hold on a few months and you’ll start to see some pretty major improvements in this area). That said, your baby is stretching and kicking her little legs when she’s on her back, opening and shutting her hands, and may bring her hand up to her mouth.

Between six and eight weeks, your newborn is starting to develop muscle control when it comes to holding her head up. During the first month, you’re gently cradling baby’s head, making sure that her floppy neck gets enough support. By the end of the second month, she’s able to raise her head without your help (when she’s on her back). By three to four months, she builds enough neck strength to pick her head up while on her tummy.

Motor Skills At Four To Seven Months

Even though your baby isn’t ready to stand up and run just yet, she’s much more active than she was as a newborn. Her movements are becoming much more purposeful, and you’ll notice that instead of random sways, swings and flails she’s actually reaching for objects or trying to move her body.

At around the age of four months, your baby is starting to roll over. It’s likely that she’ll go from tummy to back first, later building up to moving from back to front. As she nears or reaches the six-month mark, she should be doing more than just rolling both ways. Babies at the half-year mark may be able to sit completely unassisted, reach and grab for toys, and even move objects from one hand to the other.



Motor Skills At Eight To Twelve Months

The end of the first year brings a boom in motor development. Not only can your baby hold her head high, sit without your hand behind her back, and grab at almost anything you put in front of her, she’s also ready to take off and motor around the house. During this time period your baby is doing much more than simply holding her head up when she’s on her tummy. It’s likely that she’s pushing her whole body up off the ground, rocking back and forth, and eventually crawling.

Your baby is already sitting by herself, and she’s not waiting for you to plop her into this position. Before the age of 12 months, she’ll move herself up into the sitting stance without your help. What else is she doing by herself? You may see her pull herself up to standing and ‘cruise’ (walk while holding onto furniture) by her first birthday. Some babies take their first steps (without holding onto a piece of furniture or another person) at this point. If your baby isn’t walking at 12 months, don’t worry; some need a few extra months to get the hang of taking steps.

As your baby is going through these changes, we can capture her newly developed skills in our Tummy to Tippy Toes package. When planning your baby’s photo session and determining which setups to propose to our customers, we take her current stage of motor development into consideration, as safety and your baby's comfort is paramount to us. Depending on your little one’s age, she may be more of a tummy poser or she could be up on her tippy toes! Whatever it is, you can look forward to a very fun time with us during this session.

Visit Ashley Low Photography page to find out more about Ashley's work.

_{Photos from Ashley Low}

_{Edited by Nedda Chaplin}

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