Child Development Guide: Ages and

Stages

Child Development
Understanding your child’s changing growth and development milestones is
an important part of parenting. As infants and children progress through a
series of growth stages, they may encounter common physical or emotional
challenges. The paediatric experts at CHOC created a series of guides by
age and stage, so you can better understand what your child is going
through and spot any issues along the way.

Understanding your child’s growth and

development
Growth and development includes not only the physical changes that occur
from infancy to adolescence, but also some of the changes in emotions,
personality, behaviour, thinking and speech that children develop as they
begin to understand and interact with the world around them. Skills such as
taking a first step or smiling for the first time are called developmental
milestones.

Development Skills and Milestones

Children reach milestones in how they play, learn, speak, act and move. All
children develop at their own pace, but these milestones give you a general
idea of the changes to expect as your child grows.

Developmental milestones can be categorized by the following:

Speech and Language

Dressing Skills
Fine Motor and Visual Motor Skills
 Grooming Skills

Measuring Physical Child Development: Growth

Charts
Kids grow at their own pace. There are a wide range of healthy shapes and
sizes among children. Genetics, gender, nutrition, physical activity, health
problems, environment and hormones all play a role in a child’s height and
weight, and many of these can vary widely from family to family.

 Is the child meeting other developmental milestones?

 Are there any other signs that a child is not healthy?
 What height and weight are the child’s parents and siblings?
 Was the child born prematurely?

Has the child started puberty earlier or later than average Doctors consider
growth charts along with a child’s overall well-being, environment and
genetic background. Your child’s doctor may also consider:

What Could Signal a Problem?

Keeping an eye on growth charts may help you or your child’s doctor spot
any potential growth issues. Some patterns to look out for include:

When a child’s weight or height percentile changes from a pattern it’s been
following. For example: If height and weight have both been on

Are All Kids Measured on One

Growth Chart?
No. Girls and boys are measured on different growth charts because they
grow in different patterns and at different rates. One set of charts is used
for babies, from birth to 36 months. Another set is used for kids and teens
ages 2–20 years old. Also, special growth charts can be used for children
with certain conditions, such as Down syndrome, or who were born early.
  the 60th percentile line until a child is 5 years old, and then the height
drops to the 30th percentile at age 6, that might suggest a growth
problem because the child is not following his or her usual growth
pattern. But changing percentiles doesn’t always mean there’s a
problem. Many kids may show changes in growth percentiles at some
points in development, when it’s normal for growth rates to vary more
from child to child. This is particularly common during infancy and
puberty.
 If a child’s height progression is very different from what is expected by
his or her midparental height calculation.
 If there is an abnormally low or high body mass index (BMI <5% or
>85%).

Growth charts are a helpful tool, but it is important to know that they do not
paint a full picture of your child’s development or overall health. If you have
any questions or concerns about your child’s growth — or growth charts —
talk with your paediatrician.