A physical developmental milestone of infancy is around the age of 7 months that infant begins

to crawl. This is an important milestone because the infant can become mobile and get to places where
they want when being able to crawl around. Another milestone of physical development is walking
around the age of 11 to 12 months. This is important milestone because the child has now mastered
crawling and standing alone and now has progressed to taking steps without assistance from an adult.
“As movements are repeated thousands of times, they promote new connections in the brain that
govern motor patterns,” (Berk, 2013, Chp. 4.2). Once they have practiced taking steps many times, they
will master walking and move on to other ranges of motions.

One language development milestone during infancy is the development of the baby being to
make noises such as babbling. “Around 7 months, babbling includes consonant–vowel syllables common
in spoken languages,” (Berk, 2013, Chp 9.2). The baby is beginning to try and make sounds that will
eventually form words. A milestone in language during toddlerhood is the use of verbal gestures that
will lead to increasing their vocabulary. “Toddlers’ use of preverbal gestures predicts faster early
vocabulary growth in the second and third years (Brooks & Meltzoff, 2008; Rowe, Özçalişkan, & Goldin-
Meadow, 2008),” (Berk, 2013, Chp 9.3). This milestone will help lead to the toddler to be able to form
two- or three-word sentences due to the preverbal gestures.

A cognitive developmental milestone during infancy is babies are learning to copy behaviors
from the familiar adults around them. “Also, babies can imitate behaviors slightly different from those
they usually perform,” (Berk, 2013, Chp. 6.2). For example, babies can attempt to answer a play phone
they have when their caregivers answer their cellphone. A cognitive development milestone in the
toddlerhood stage is invisible placement. When you place an object in front of a toddler then take it out
of their sight, they can go find the object that you removed from their sight.

One social emotional milestone in an infant is the crying that they will do. “This powerful
response is probably innately programmed to help ensure that babies receive the care and protection
they need to survive,” (Berk, 2013, Chp. 4.1). There are many reasons that a baby will cry for and that is
a milestone because it is letting the guardian that they need something, and they are in distress.
Another milestone that an infant has is being able to recognize an image they see in a short time frame.
“By 4 or 5 months, however, they need as little as 5 to 10 seconds to take in a complex visual stimulus
and recognize it as different from a previous one…” (Berk, 2013, Chp 4.1). As the infant begins to
develop, they time it takes from them to recognize an image becomes shorter.

One milestone with a toddler with self -regulation is that they are beginning to use their
language to express their needs. “Begins to appreciate that others’ emotional reactions may differ from
one’s own, acquires a vocabulary of emotional terms, Displays empathy,” (Berk, 2013, chp 10.4).
Toddlers are beginning to increase their vocabulary to express to the parent or guarding on what is
wrong with them or a need that they need to have met. Another milestone in the Infancy and
Toddlerhood that is with self-regulation is the factors that help a baby regulate their emotions as an
infant. “In contrast, when parents are positive and sensitive, which helps babies regulate emotion,”
(Berk, 2012, Chp 10.4). If the parent of guardian can be calm and relaxed the infant can sense that and
learn to self-regulate their own emotions.
 A sign of atypical developmental during infancy is not being able to sit up without assistance.
“Examples are a delayed development of postural milestones (e.g. sitting independently),30 and
hyperextension of neck and trunk or transient dystonia,” (Hadders, 2013, p.7). When the baby is having
trouble siting up by themselves can show signs of having trouble with their posture and may need to be
seen by their pediatrician for some advice or help to increase their posture. Another atypical
development is if the infant is not rolling over from back to side around the age of 4 and half months.
Infants at this age should he able to complete this by a certain age and if they are not, they might have
some physical development preventing it.

A social factor that influences Infancy and Toddlerhood is the behavior of the parents or
guardians of the children. The more positive they parent the more the child will be more positive in their
life. A cultural factor that can influence this age group is what the family cultures and beliefs are in the
family. Each child will grow up in the culture that parent or guardian is which will determine the culture
the child will grow up and live by.

One play-based strategy that families can do to influence their children’s learning and
development is talk to them through the day daily from infant to toddler. This will increase their
vocabulary they are hearing daily and can help increase the vocabulary they are able to speak as time
goes on. Another play-based strategy is when the begin to learn to sit up is to make it a game. You can
set a stuffed animal next to them to try and courage them to sit up next to the them.

Reference

Berk, L. E. (2013). Child development. (9th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson. Retrieved from
https://content.ashford.edu/

Hadders, A. M. (2013). Typical and atypical development of reaching and postural control in infancy.
Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology, 55(Suppl 4), 5–8. https://doi-org.proxy-
library.ashford.edu/10.1111/dmcn.12298

Image One retrieved from https://thumb1.shutterstock.com/thumb_large/830908/237693388/stock-

photo-crawling-funny-baby-boy-indoors-at-home-237693388.jpg

Image Two Retrieved from https://bmj2k.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/babytigger.jpg