Thoughtful parenting: Watching for certain milestones can help track your child’s development
Thoughtful Parenting
Do you have a child 5 years old or younger? In February, the CDC updated milestones and tips for parents.
Prior to the updates, the milestones represented what 50% of children were able to accomplish by a certain age. Now they represent what 75% of children are able to do by a certain age.
This helps parents more accurately identify delays in development and seek help sooner. Some common delays to watch for include learning to crawl, walk, listen, speak, play, feed themselves, or if you find they are struggling with self-soothing or expressing their feelings.
The CDC also added milestones for 15 months and 30 months. The full updated list can be found at cdc.gov/milestones.
These milestones are great ways to be able to track your child’s development. If you do see them struggling to learn certain skills by the age of a majority of their peers, not to worry.
The recommended activities or seeking more hands-on learning from Early Intervention can help your child catch up and excel before they get to kindergarten. The earlier they start, the more likely they are to not fall behind in school.
It can be overwhelming to try and keep track of your child’s milestones, but the free CDC Milestone Tracker app is an easy tool to help parents. It’s personalized to your child’s age and lists milestones that you can check off and activities to help develop those skills.
If your kiddo is falling behind, it’ll let you know if it’s time to see a pediatrician. Add as many children as you want and help your kids grow. Just go to your app store and search “CDC’s Milestone Tracker” under Health and Fitness. Available for Andriod and iOS in English and Spanish.
If you’re concerned about your child’s development or that of another child, any community member can contact Michelle Hoza at 970-871-8558 to request Early Intervention services. You can also follow our new Instagram page @horizons_early_intervention for more milestone tips and activities.
First Impressions of Routt County serves as a hub for all early childhood resources. For more, go to FirstImpressionsOfRouttCounty.org/.
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