Late Infancy (10-12 Months Adjusted Age)

At 10-12 months, your little explorer is on a mission! They’re busy crawling, cruising, and maybe even taking those first wobbly steps. Every day is an adventure as they discover new textures, tastes, and sounds. They’re learning to communicate their needs more clearly and love playing games like peek-a-boo. Enjoy this magical time of discovery and growth with your curious and active explorer!

Fine Motor Skills

Improved Coordination: Your baby’s fine motor skills will continue to improve. They will become better at picking up small objects, using their fingers to manipulate toys, and possibly even attempting to feed themselves with a spoon!
Hand Dominance: You might start to notice a preference for one hand over the other, although true hand dominance won’t be established until later. Your baby should also have equal skills in both hands.

Toe Walking

It’s common for babies to toe-walk occasionally. By age 2, toe-walking should be happening less than 50% of the time. This behavior can be due to extensor muscle stiffness and lack of ankle flexibility, stemming from limited movement opportunities in utero.

Motor Development

Mobility

Crawling, Standing, and Walking: At around 12 months, babies are eager to walk and may show strong motivation to do so, which can sometimes be challenging for caregivers! However, remember that walking isn’t the only path; other forms of mobility are equally important for learning and development. If your child isn’t walking or won’t be able to walk, provide different opportunities for mobility, such as using assistive devices like Go Baby Go walkers.
Huge Variance in Walking Ages: There is a wide range of normal when it comes to when babies start walking. The window can be from 9-10 months corrected age to 18 months corrected age. This is driven by factors such as temperament, motor abilities, environment, vision, and hearing.
Encouraging Exploration: Let your baby explore different ways to become mobile. Encourage them to push a small wagon or cart, and you can weigh down a bag to add stability. The key message is to let your baby explore and find their own way.
Helping with Balance:
- Try putting some obstacles in their way to maneuver around/over.
- Practice walking on inclines and declines (hills, ramps, driveways, etc.).
- Practice walking on different surfaces (carpet, grass, sand).
- Practice stepping up and down from small steps.
- Allow toddlers to walk barefoot when it is safe to do so because the feedback from the floor helps develop balance. When they need shoes, inexpensive shoes that protect the feet are fine!
Walking with Assistance: Some babies may start to take their first independent steps, while others may prefer to walk with assistance. Hold their hands at shoulder height or lower to help them balance.

Communication

First Words: Some babies will start to say their first words, like “mama,” “dada,” or simple words related to their daily routine.

Understanding More Words: Their language comprehension will grow, and they will start understanding more complex commands and words.
Interactive Conversation: Engage in conversations with your baby, asking simple questions and responding to their attempts at communication.
Labeling: Clearly label objects and actions during play to help build their vocabulary.
Play Sounds: Encourage your baby to play with sounds to explore their oral muscles, which is important for language development.

Baby Sign Language

By now, your little one may be starting to understand and use a few basic signs, such as “more,” “eat,” or “all done.” Baby sign language continues to be a fun and effective way for them to communicate their needs and interests before they can speak clearly. Encourage their signing efforts by responding positively and reinforcing their attempts to communicate with you. Remember, signing with your baby enhances their early language skills and strengthens your bond through shared understanding.

Early Conversations

Imitating Sounds: Babies will enjoy imitating the sounds they hear, which is a crucial step in language development. Encourage this by repeating their sounds and introducing new ones.

Pointing and Gesturing: Babies will start using pointing and gesturing to communicate their needs and interests. Respond to these gestures by naming the objects they’re pointing to.

Encouraging homemade versions of these activities not only saves money but also allows for more creativity and personalization to suit your child’s preferences and developmental needs!

Early Imitative Play

Opportunities in the Kitchen: Provide play kitchen toys and child-safe utensils to encourage early imitative play. This allows your child to mimic activities they see adults doing, fostering imagination and cognitive development.

Social Interaction

Interactive Games: Play interactive games that involve turn-taking, such as rolling a ball back and forth or playing with stacking toys. These games help babies learn about social interactions and cooperation.
Reading Together: Continue to read books together. Babies will enjoy looking at pictures and turning pages, and it’s a great way to build early literacy skills!

Play

Exploration

Cause and Effect: Provide toys that demonstrate cause and effect, such as stacking cups, shape sorters, and musical toys.
Sensory Play: Introduce sensory play activities, such as playing with water, sand, or playdough, to stimulate their senses. Some examples of sensory play include:
- Play with different toys in a sandbox, rice bin, bead bin, etc. Learn how to use different tools (shovels, spoons, etc.) to search for items, learn about scooping and pouring, and use your hands to explore the sensation of these bins.
- Food play incorporates the senses of smell, taste, and touch, giving our kids an opportunity to explore new foods without the pressure of having to eat them.
- Play with foam, slime, shaving cream, etc. Put these items in an area you don’t mind getting messy (tabletop, baking sheet, etc.) and let your kids draw shapes, squish, squeeze, and whatever else they want to do.
- Homemade sound tubes and colored calming bottles are also great ways to do an arts and crafts activity with a fun end product, which can help your kid stay calm during tough situations.

Feeding

Healthy Eating Habits

Variety of Foods: Offer a wide range of healthy foods, including fruits, vegetables, whole grains, proteins, and dairy. Introduce new foods gradually to allow your child to explore different tastes and textures.
Encouraging Self-Feeding: As your child develops, introduce child-safe utensils like small spoons and forks designed for their little hands. These utensils help promote fine motor skills and independence during mealtime. Start with easy-to-grip handles and blunt edges for safety, allowing your child to practice scooping and stabbing foods.

Meal and Snack Times: Maintain a regular schedule for meals and snacks. Consistency helps establish a routine and prevents overeating or excessive hunger between meals.
Positive Mealtime Atmosphere: Create a positive environment during mealtime. Avoid distractions such as television or toys, and encourage family meals where everyone eats together.

Attention

Fostering Attention

Play is the Work of Childhood: Remember, play is essential for learning and development. It’s through play that children explore, experiment, and solve problems, laying the foundation for future skills.
Focused Activities: Engage in activities that require concentration and focus, such as simple puzzles, building blocks, or sorting games. These activities help develop your child’s attention span and problem-solving skills. Avoid relying solely on toys that involve pushing a button and something happening; while these can be entertaining, it’s beneficial to include activities that encourage problem-solving.

Gradual Complexity: As your child’s attention span grows, gradually introduce more complex tasks. This can include threading beads, completing more intricate puzzles, or following multi-step instructions. Be mindful of the size of beads to ensure they are safe for your child.
Limit Distractions: Create a quiet and distraction-free environment during focused activities to help your child concentrate better.
Limit Screen Time: While screens can be engaging, it’s important to limit screen time to ensure your child engages in a variety of play activities that stimulate different aspects of their development. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends avoiding digital media use (except video chatting) in children younger than 18 to 24 months.

Pre-literacy

Promote Pre-literacy Skills

Reading Together: Make reading a daily activity. Choose books with simple text and colorful illustrations to capture your child’s interest—point to and name objects in the pictures to build vocabulary.
Singing and Rhyming: Sing songs and nursery rhymes to your child. The repetitive patterns and rhythms help develop their listening skills and phonemic awareness.
Playing with Shapes: Introduce activities that involve drawing circles or copying lines. Allow them to use crayons to explore these early writing skills.

Entering the Larger World

Prepare for Larger Community

Next Steps: The first year was all about family, and now your child is emerging into a larger community. Consider joining playgroups, visiting the library, enrolling in daycare, or attending swim classes to expand their social experiences and learning opportunities outside of the home.

Sleep

Maintain a Consistent Bedtime Routine

Calming Bedtime Activities: To help your child relax before sleep, include calming activities like reading, singing lullabies, or gentle rocking in their bedtime routine.

Sufficient Sleep: Ensure your child gets enough sleep by setting and maintaining regular sleep and wake times, even on weekends.
What Happens if My Child Can’t Sleep: If your child struggles with sleep, consider these questions and resources. Remember, sleep begets sleep; babies don’t fall asleep easily if overtired, and sleep is a skill that can be developed.

Fine Motor Skills

Encourage Fine Motor Skills

Providing Materials: Offer a variety of writing materials like crayons, markers, pencils, and paper. Allow your child to explore and experiment with making marks, scribbles, and drawings.

Guided Activities: Engage in guided activities like drawing shapes, tracing letters, or creating simple drawings together. Praise their efforts to build confidence and interest in writing.

Fine Motor Skills: Encourage activities that develop fine motor skills, such as playing with playdough, using child-safe scissors, or threading beads. These activities strengthen the muscles needed for writing.