Discovering movement

In the first few months, babies will start to:

• gently move their head from side to side while on their tummy
• lift their head and chest when placed on their tummy, with great effort
• use their arms to support their upper body on their back or tummy
• kick and stretch their legs out with excitement
• become very interested in their hands, bringing them to their face and grasping at objects.

Try activities such as:

• laying your baby on their tummy and shaking a rattle in front of them
• singing songs and playing music
• slowly moving bright-coloured objects from side to side in front of their face.

Check-in with your doctor or nurse if your baby:

• can’t lift their head even slightly during tummy time.

Early grasping

In the first few months, babies will start to:

• clench their fists with their fingers wrapped around their thumb
• show an involuntary reflex called the palmar grasp, where stroking their palm causes their fingers to close tightly
• relax and open their hands, holding objects and bringing them to their mouth.

Try activities such as:

• dangling colourful toys above to reach and swat at
• offering items such as balls and rattles with a variety of colours and textures
• placing objects in your baby's palm to trigger the palmar grasp.

Check-in with your doctor or nurse if your baby:

• doesn’t follow things with their eyes
• keeps their hands clenched.

Communication foundations

During pregnancy, your baby could hear the familiar sounds of your voice. 

In the first few months outside, babies will start to:

• recognise voices more clearly, even if you're not in the same room
• smile and gurgle to engage with you
• make very early sounds like coo-ing, ooh-ooh-ooh and ah-ah-ah.

Try activities such as:

• narrating your everyday activities with baby, describing what you see and what you're doing
• singing and reading out loud to your baby
• having "conversations" with your baby by giving eye contact and enthusiastically answering their sounds.

Check-in with your doctor or nurse if your baby does not seem to hear you or respond to sound.

Building trust and connection

Babies will bond with their parents and carers as they grow and have their needs met.

In the first few months, babies will start to:

• calm down when spoken to or picked up by a parent or carer
• recognise your face and respond with intentional smiles
• cry as a form of communication for hunger, discomfort, or wanting to be held
• prefer contact naps as a way of connecting with you.

Try activities such as:

• responding quickly and calmly to your baby's cries to build trust and security.
• maintaining eye contact, smiling, and talking or singing gently to grow emotional connections
• using a mirror to help your baby explore facial expressions which will build the foundations for self-awareness.

Check-in with your doctor or nurse if your baby doesn't smile or start to interact with others.

Rolling and sitting

Babies will make some big leaps with movement during this period.

They will start to:

• hold their head up with confidence
• roll from front to back and back to front, getting faster and faster
• start to sit up with support from their hands
• explore their immediate surroundings by grabbing and grasping
• learn how to sit without support.

Try activities such as:

• moving toys slightly out of reach
• handing your baby toys or items to hold
• placing toys in their diagonal line of vision when on the floor to encourage rolling.

Check-in with your doctor or nurse if your baby:

• can’t hold up their head and shoulders when on the ground
• can’t hold up their head when sitting with support.

Exploring with hands

During this period, babies will start to take a liking to objects and realise they have hands. 

They will start to:

• grip, grasp, and manipulate toys and other objects by putting them in their mouth and transferring them between hands
• use clawing and raking motions with their hands to bring items closer, pick them up and examine them closely.

Try activities such as:

• threading ribbons through a baking rack for your baby to grasp and pull
• giving your baby large slices of safe foods like avocado or teething rusks to hold and explore
• balling up or wrapping paper around the holiday season for your baby to crinkle and crush with their hands.

Check-in with your doctor or nurse if your baby:

• isn’t reaching things or holding objects
• keeps their hands clenched
• doesn’t track things with their eyes and head
• doesn’t bring things to their mouth
• can’t bring their hands together in the middle of their body.

Babbling babies

Between 4 to 7 months, your baby will know who you are and what you sound like. 

They will also start to:

• babble or baby talk, making sounds like muh-muh or bah-bah
• test just how loud their voice is by screeching
• become more aware of voice cues, like recognising sing-song words you might say before a bath or going out for the day.

Continue activities like:

• having baby conversations and experimenting with volume, emphasis, and emotions like surprise
• narrating your day-to-day activities, trying new environments, like the zoo or aquarium
• continuing to read and sing, trying board books that involve interaction, like lifting flaps.

Check-in with your doctor or nurse if your baby doesn’t start to babble or vocalise.

Exploring emotions and social play

Babies will start to engage and connect with you more during this period. 

They will also start to:

• smile on their own or in response to you for positive attention
• start to laugh in response to play or noise
• look at you more intentionally and try to keep you engaged with vocalisation and movement.

Try activities such as:

• encouraging smiles and laughter through music and play
• playing peek-a-boo games to explore reactions like surprise and different emotions
• using a mirror to make funny faces.

Check-in with your doctor or nurse if your baby:

• doesn’t smile or interact with others
• doesn’t seem to make eye contact
• doesn’t make facial expressions.

Crawling, standing, and potential first steps

Babies approaching their first birthday may be on the move.

They will start to:

• get into a seated position by themselves and stay there without help
• crawl on their tummy, sometimes pulling and pushing with arms and legs
• get up on their hands and knees, rocking back and forth to practice their balance and coordination
• crawl slowly at first, then fast
• pull themselves up into a standing position and hold their body weight through their legs
• cruise along couches and furniture, practising side steps and balancing with more stability
• take a small number of steps on their own.

Try activities such as:

• making music with shakers, pots, and pans
• placing toys a short distance away to encourage crawling and, eventually, walking
• providing surfaces like furniture or a small handrail for your baby to practice pulling to stand and cruising.

Check-in with your doctor or nurse if your baby:

• isn’t moving at all, including commando crawl and shuffling
• is not pulling to stand independently and holding on to things for support.

Precision and coordination

Babies will use their developing fine motor skills to grab your attention and your keys. 

They will start to:

• develop a pincer grasp with their thumb and forefinger, pulling wipes out of a packet or stealing bits of your food
• learn about cause and effect, for example, tossing a spoon to the ground and watching you pick it back up
• get more coordinated in their exploration, figuring out latches, door hinges and opening drawers.

Try activities such as:

• games that require hand-eye coordination, like rolling a ball back and forth
• hiding things inside containers with lids to open and close
• letting them freely explore indoors and outside, with close supervision.

Check-in with your doctor or nurse if your baby:

• doesn’t hold objects independently
• doesn’t hand objects to other people on request
• cannot move an object from one hand to the other
• seems to prefer using one side of their body over the other.

Getting closer to first words

Babies will slowly become more confident in telling you what they want, even if they can't be understood yet.

They start to:

• change babbles into more defined syllables, like ba, da, and ma.
• link syllables to meaning based on your reaction, like recognising your excitement with ma-ma or da-da and associating the sound with you
• understand some commonly used words and phrases, like milk, sleep or nappy.

Try activities such as:

• encouraging your baby to copy the sound you make, and copying the sounds your baby makes in return
• getting more adventurous with items and environments you describe, like using kitchen equipment or reading out food items at the shops
• speaking in 'parentese' - using a sing-song voice, higher pitch and stretched-out vowels when speaking to your baby to help them focus on words.

Check-in with your doctor or nurse if your baby doesn't:

• babble using syllables, like dadadada or lalalala
• respond or "chat" when spoken to
• gesture using waves or pointing
• have any familiar words that get a response, like "bottle" or "bath".

Expressing independence and identity

Babies will develop their own personalities, likes, dislikes and individual traits that make them unique. 

They will start to:

• show shyness and fear around strangers or even people they have met before
• show different facial expressions for happiness, sadness, anger, and surprise
• respond to their name and react when you leave their line of sight.

Try activities such as:

• labelling emotions when they happen and providing reassurance - "I can see you are scared; it's ok to be scared. We will go home now, where you can calm down and play with your toys."
• using puppets to interact and demonstrate different situations
• using sensory play, like sand or water, to process physical emotions safely.

Check-in with your doctor or nurse if your baby doesn't:

• show signs of enjoyment like laughter or smiles
• notice or respond to new people
• start to take turns in play, like peekaboo.

Equipment

It's tempting to buy baby equipment to encourage movement in your baby. 

These might include things like:

• positioners
• supported seats
• seated walkers
• jumpers
• neck floaties. 

This equipment is not necessary for babies to develop properly and can be dangerous and even life-threatening. Equipment that forces or holds your baby in a position they cannot get into on their own can cause issues with muscle and bone development and can cause suffocation. 

If families choose to use these products, they should do so sparingly and under strict supervision for very short periods.

If you're unsure about baby items and play equipment, speak to your local doctor, child and family health nurse or paediatric physiotherapist for information and advice.

Babyproofing

Safety becomes more and more important as babies develop their gross and fine motor skills. 

Families can often feel like their baby has picked up new skills overnight, climbing, crawling and putting small objects in their mouth without warning.

See 'Home safety' for information on baby-proofing, managing pets, and first aid for choking and poisons.

Learning just one language is difficult and takes time. Babies who grow up in a household with multiple languages may take a bit more time to develop their skills, but it does not mean they are delayed.

Learning multiple languages has great advantages for babies, including: 

• a bigger vocabulary and better reading skills
• more advanced problem-solving skills
• better memory.

Babies learning multiple languages will follow similar milestones, with some key differences. 

These can include:

• language mixing: using two or more languages in the same sentence
• code-switching: switching back and forth between languages from one sentence to another
• language choice: using one language, dependent on the situation or who they are speaking to.

Multilingual families can support their baby's development by: 

• regularly speaking in other languages at home
• playing radio, music, or television in other languages in the background
• using books written in other languages
• using toys that speak in other languages.

If you are concerned about language delay or are looking for opportunities for your child to be immersed in another language, speak to your doctor or child and family health nurse about bilingual speech pathologists.

Baby sign language is when a baby uses their hands to express their needs and reduce their frustration. This tool is used before babies develop language through speaking. 

Baby sign language differs from Auslan, as It is more universal and based on body language and actions.

There is no specific age to start with baby sign language, but babies may have an easier time learning when their fine motor skills improve around 9 months old.

Four common and useful baby signs include:

1. milk: opening and closing the hand from a fist to splayed fingers
2. more: bunching your hands so that your fingers touch your thumb and then meeting them together in front of you
3. all done: holding up hands with palms opened outwards and flicking the wrist so they rotate inwards
4. up: raising one index finger to the sky or raising both hands above the head.

Babies will eventually stop signing once they can express themselves through speech. It is not an essential skill but can be a fun family bonding activity.

Around 4 weeks after birth, the local health district will reach out to book some appointments and set you up with a parents group.

Parent groups usually meet at the local community health centre but can also be held online in some situations. The group will be made up of other first-time parents in your area who have had a baby around the same time. 

Parent groups are optional but can be an excellent opportunity to:

• socialise and connect with other families going through the exact development at the same time
• learn valuable tips and strategies about feeding, settling, and soothing your baby
• access support services offered by community health
• set your child up with a group of babies to socialise with as they grow.

After the sessions finish, the group is encouraged to meet up regularly for as long as they want to. 

Local community health centres can also help with other types of support groups, including:

• dads, carers and non-birthing parents
• second or third-time parents
• playgroups for older children
• birth trauma
• breastfeeding
• LGBTIQ families.