A guide to monitoring your child’s milestones

Watching your child’s first developmental milestones, like walking is a priceless experience, but can also cause worry if they do not occur on time. — Filepic

Witnessing your child’s first smile or step is always a memorable experience for parents.

Keeping watch on your child’s developmental milestones early in their life is crucial to identifying when intervention is needed, but being overly anxious about them often leads to unnecessary worries.

Parents may have questions like, at what age should my child start talking?

Which of these milestones should appear first?

And why do other children start walking earlier than my child?

Acknowledging that each child is unique is important in answering these questions, while understanding the topic deeper will give parents the much-needed peace of mind.

Why keep track?

Developmental milestones provide clues to your child’s developmental health.

When their milestones are reached within the expected timeframes, it means your child is developing as expected.

Parents are advised to start milestone tracking from two months to five years of age, and several tools like manual checklists or mobile apps can be used to ease the task.

These records can be shared with healthcare providers during your child’s medical assessment for progress updates.

An often-asked question by parents is whether a child walks or talks first.

The answer is: it depends.

The majority of children will start walking before forming simple words by their first birthdays.

Variations in developmental milestones are normal as long as progress is made in time.

Parents need to pay attention to the foundational attainments that lead to the final milestones, like sitting and standing prior to walking, or babbling and responding to sounds prior to talking, to identify if there is a delay.

There is no robust scientific proof to the claim that early talkers will become late walkers.

In addition, these skills develop in different parts of the brain.

What if it’s too late?

Many children who miss their milestones will catch up to them later in their lives.

Even so, when it comes to your child’s development, acting early is important to enable intervention to be started as promptly as possible.

Delay in multiple or all milestones, as well as losing previously-acquired skills, can be early signs of developmental disability.

However, before coming to any conclusion, it is wise to seek medical advice for a proper diagnosis and treatment plan.

This can initially be in the form of consulting your family doctor or paediatrician.

Sometimes speech, physical, occupational or behavioural therapy is all your child needs to help them gain new skills.

Commencing school and other enrichment opportunities are also reasonable avenues to consider.

How about too early?

Parents may have this perception that if their children can walk or talk earlier than normal, they are probably gifted.

Reaching milestones early is a normal variation and measuring intellect is not always straightforward.

Adopting this belief might put pressure on parents to ensure top-notch performance from their child at a young age.

Therefore, it is advisable to view milestones as a stepping stone for your child to acquire the next set of skills and not as a predictor of future success.

Tracking your child’s developmental milestones can be nerve-racking at times.

Accepting that each child’s progress is not the same can be liberating for parents, allowing them to provide an unconditional nurturing environment at all times for positive child development.

Dr Norazlin Kamal Nor is a ­consultant developmental paediatrician. This article is courtesy of the Malaysian Paediatric Association’s Positive Parenting programme in collaboration with expert partners. For further information, please email [e-mail]. The information provided is for educational and communication purposes only, and it should not be construed as personal medical advice. Information published in this article is not intended to replace, supplant or augment a consultation with a health professional regarding the reader’s own medical care. The Star does not give any warranty on accuracy, completeness, ­functionality, usefulness or other assurances as to the content appearing in this column. The Star disclaims all responsibility for any losses, damage to property or personal injury suffered directly or indirectly from reliance on such information.