As a first time mom, everyday seems to be a milestone from pregnancy to childbirth to childcare and development. Everything your baby does deserves a photo and video for documentation.But now that I have a young toddler, I can’t help but become too emotional and just look at how I spent the past year and how our little one grew. Moms and dads get so engrossed and obsessed with their little ones. I can’t blame them. I am guilty of that too and imagine, I’ll have another newborn soon.. a little baby boy! 🙂 Double the fun, double the milestones.

As I look back, there are 10 major milestones that parents usually wait for and remember the most. So mommies and daddies, get your cameras rolling and watch out for these:

1. The First Smile

The first smile from your precious baby will be the most rewarding smile of all whether they are asleep (smiling in their dreams) or awake. Oh how precious are those smiley lips and twinkly eyes! You just want to squeeze them!

When will this happen? Usually, from the 1st to the 2nd month but always be on the lookout.

2. Rolling Over

 

You’ll start grabbing your camera and your heart jumps with excitement as your baby rolls and lies on her belly on her own for the first time. You feel like she’s starting to have control of herself/ himself on her own. After learning this skill, they will just keep doing it over and over again from one side to another. Your thought bubble: Such a string and brave little baby! 🙂

When will this happen? As early as 3 months to 5 months. Not all babies are the same and doesn’t make one a genius when they can roll over at 3 months. My baby did it at 3 months and just when I was thinking how to teach her to do that!

3. First Giggles/ Laughter

One of the best music to your ears is when you hear your baby giggle and laughs. You feel like melting with joy when you hear this for the first time. It’s the cutest and loveliest laugh you’ve ever heard and you don’t get tired watching them do it.

When will this happen? Real loud laughters happen between 3 months and 5 months.

4. Sitting Up

When your baby sits on his/ her own unassisted, you feel like you have a semi-grown little human already. They start to see things in the right angles at last! When they learn this, again, you will tell them to lean back and relax in time (haha!) because they will enjoy sitting all the time. You will get nervous because they are still wobbly and can fall forward, backwards, or to their sides.

You now put them on their bouncers, infant sitting chairs like Bumbo and Baby Snug. to keep them busy and surround them with toys.

When will this happen? After rolling over, this is the next physical skill babies learn. Occurs between 4-7 months. Again, babies are different in their skills development. Eventually they’ll get there so don’t get frustrated if your babies learn some skill later than the others.

5. Solid Food

Eating solids for the first time is a major milestone and preparation for moms, dads, and nannies. You will want everything extensively sanitized, prepared cleanly, the bib is all set and ready along with the baby’s high chair.

Everyone in the home will want to see how the first solid food feeding will go. Mommy will surely research all the foods allowed for baby and will aim to give her healthy foods of course. First solid food feeding may be messy so don’t fret, this is a sign that your child is interested in new things! It’s fun to be messy for exploration and education. Make sure first foods are not lumpy yet so as to avoid choking.

When will this happen? You’re pediatrician will tell you more or less when to introduce solid food to your baby or you may introduce as early as 5 months. Some chose to introduce solids at 6 months after they have consumed pure breast milk for the first 6 months of their lives. I introduced solids to my baby at 5 months while my mom and dad chose to do it when we were 4 months old. At the end of the day, parents can decide what’s best for their babies.

6. That 6-month mark and breastfeeding success!

It’s a major milestone when your baby reaches 6 months. It’s technically a half a year old birthday! 🙂 There are so many developments that happened already in the past 6 months.

For the breastfeeding moms

Breastfeeding is a major milestone for moms too! Breastfeeding is definitely a strong commitment and a wonderful challenging journey! Moms feel like receiving a gold medal and celebrating once you reach this mark. I’ve exclusively breastfed my first born up to 7 months and it really feels like a major accomplishment for me for my baby. I would’ve continued if not for the decrease in my milk supply because of the second pregnancy. Thank God for so many blessings coming our way!

It is recommended that moms breastfeed their babies for at least 6 months (exclusively, if they can) to be able to get all the nutrients from the milk. After 6 months, they must be given complementary solid food but may continue breastfeeding up to 2 years.

Not all moms breastfeed due to different reasons. But this doesn’t make them less of a mom. They equally deserve the applause and standing ovation for breastfeeding moms.

7. Standing on her own

You feel so proud as a parent when your baby stand on his/ her own (assisted or not). They usually start doing this in their playpens and cribs. They hold on to something to stand. Go, baby upper body strength! This is the first stage in walking. Babies are starting to get their balance when they stand, then make tiny steps in time.

When will this happen? This usually happens between 8-12 months depending how you also give your baby the opportunity and time to practice this skill. If you keep them on their strollers most of the time, of course, in a way, it will delay this skill. Be brave parents, little by little try to let them go too. 🙂

8. First Words

It will be a bit hard for you to decipher which are the first words your baby officially uttered. From the many coos and beautiful noise your baby makes, you feel like their saying something you want them to say. Of course, we’d like it to be mama, papa, dada, mom, pops, mum, or dad!

Most of the time, it’s difficult to capture this milestone. So be patient and enjoy the coos, grunts, and blabbers.

When will this happen? Some would like to believe it happens at 8 months to 1 year. But most clearly spoken words happen after the first birthday. But if you talk to your baby often, everything can happen earlier. Remember, they understand words earlier than 1 year old. They just couldn’t say them yet but they’re actually smarter than we think they are!

9. First Birthday

And of course the very memorable first birthday 🙂 Every parent prepares for this event and there are many ways parents celebrate this ocassion. Sometimes, you see big events for their baby’s first birthday. New trends now make it like planning a wedding all over again and even the price is not too far from a wedding package (imagine that!). As parents, we decide how to celebrate our baby’s birthday. However simple or extravagant it is, we celebrate the same thing- our babies turned a year old and we thank God for the memorable year we had with our baby!

Some parents choose big celebrations, some just right, and some just a simple one with the family. Others travel for the first time with their babies too. We chose to celebrate ours intimately with close friends and family just how we want all our celebrations to be. Our baby, the kids, and all the adults enjoyed the party and everyone went home with a smile! More about the fun party of our first born soon in another post. It was indeed a traditional full blast kiddie party.

10. Walking

The first walk unassisted makes parents jump for joy (literally)! while watching their baby stand and walk on their own is such a heartwarming milestone and experience. You feel like having a “mini heart attack” when you see them wobbly and trying to get their balance – falling and standing up. Just make sure you secure all edges and put cushions around for safety! An exciting and wonderful sight! Get you video cameras and start to record.

When will this happen? Some babies walk really early (before a year old) but most walk between 1 year 2 months and 1 year 8 months. My baby walked just right after her first birthday, yay! 🙂

Again, all babies are different and the environment for them to learn each skill varies too so timelines of the developments are not all the same. As parents, of course we are extra cautious and don’t want to see our babies fall. But with the right guidance, safety aids, and support from the parents, babies will gain confidence as they learn new skills everyday. Let’s do this moms and dads!

“A baby will make love stronger, days shorter, nights longer, bankroll smaller, home happier, clothes shabbier, the past forgotten, and the future worth living for”

~Tina~