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Home › Articles › Milestones › Milestone Myths

Milestone Myths

Babies Growing at Their Own Pace

By Jenn Director Knudsen

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If your baby isn't rolling over by 4 months of age, should you panic? What about not yet walking by his first birthday? Or spouting her first words by 18 months? Experts and veteran parents have a two-fold answer: Don't panic yet and trust your gut.

Plenty of babies and toddlers reach developmental milestones on their own schedules – not those indicated by myriad books and charts. But it's not always easy as the parent to know when your child is OK and when he may need more attention from a medical professional.

Here, learn more about roughly when your child should be performing key tricks, when to alert your child's pediatrician to a possible developmental delay and when to relax and just watch your baby and toddler grow up at his own hard-wired pace.

What Most Charts Say
First, here are some developmental guidelines and the average age at which children meet them. For more, consult books such as Heidi Murkoff's What to Expect the First Year (Workman Publishing Co., 2003) and Arlene Eisenberg's What to Expect the Toddler Years (Workman Publishing Co., 1994), resources recommended by doctors and therapists.
Now, for the Reality Check
"In general, the milestones are usually over a range [of time], and there's a huge range," says Dr. Jennifer Shu, instructor of pediatrics at Dartmouth Medical School in New Hampshire and co-author with Dr. Laura A. Jana of Heading Home With Your Newborn: From Birth to Reality
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