Your baby at 12 months: development milestones & what to expect

Your little one may well take their first steps this month, if they haven’t already started walking. Some babies seem on the brink for a long time before they have the confidence to take that first step, instead relying on their parents for stability. Give them the space and independence to try and fail – a few falls are to be expected while they’re still learning.

The other rapid development around this age is speech. You might still be waiting for that special first word, but once they get started a second word tends to follow relatively quickly and soon they will have a small collection! Even their babble is relatively understandable these days, with the cadence and intonation of real speech. It’s fun to chat away with them and pretend you’re having a good ol’ gossip.

Hand-eye coordination continues to improve as they get more practice through play and mealtimes. Your little one should be able to manage an open cup soon, but expect plenty of spillages while they get used to it. You might prefer a sippy cup with a lid. More on that later.

Play time is school time when you’re 12 months old. Everything you learn, you learn through play and observation – watching your big brother kick a ball, the shape of your mother’s mouth when she says your name, the particular problem-solving that occurs when finding something that’s been hidden from you. The whole world is an education.

But your baby is still very young and all this stimulation can be exhausting. So don’t be surprised if your little one seems emotional – there’s a lot going on! Those long afternoon naps are an important opportunity for a rest and reset to give them the stamina to keep going through dinner.

If you’re thinking about what type of toy to buy them for a birthday present, you can’t go wrong with shape sorters at this age. At 12 months, your baby is getting good at putting objects in and out of containers. Working out which shape goes where provides plenty of stimulating entertainment. Similarly, a home-made box of sensory toys would also go down a treat – pulling a long scarf from a small hole is plenty of fun, and you could also hide other kinds of textured materials for them to find. Just be careful that it’s all safe to put in their mouths, as that’s almost certainly where it will end up!

Your 12-month-old is still likely to be clingy right now, and may well cry when you leave the room. Try not to be frustrated – they just don’t yet understand this whole leaving and returning thing. That only comes with plenty of practice, so in fact you leaving and coming back is a helpful lesson.

Try to be positive at both ends of this interaction. Babies pick up on your stress, so even if you don’t feel happy leaving them – for example at nursery or with family – put on a smile. It’s fine to stay with them for a little while to help them settle in a new place, but don’t spend ages trying to make them understand why leaving is necessary. They’re not developmentally capable of that kind of understanding yet. Keep your goodbye short and sweet, if you can, and save up lots of hugs, kisses and praise for when you’re reunited.

Rhythms and routines at this stage

From 12 months old, you can start to introduce two daily snacks to the menu, which means your days might be starting to feel a bit hectic. Wake up – milk – breakfast – nap – lunch – milk – nap – dinner – milk – bed was hard enough. Where are these snacks meant to fit in?

Gradually that morning nap might get shorter, and you might find there’s a long wake window in there where a snack becomes necessary to get your little one through to lunch. And now that meals are bigger, you might take out that post-lunch milk feed and instead have a post-nap, pre-dinner snack. The schedule is up to you, and you might have to play with it a bit to see what works.

Sippy cups

As you start phasing out milk, you might also be phasing out the bottle. The NHS recommends that you phase out bottles once your little one turns one, for the sake of their teeth. But the NHS is not dealing with a hangry toddler who wants their milk. The best advice for this transition is to start making it at mealtimes.

Try to get your baby comfortable with drinking – water or cows’ milk – from either an open cup or a cup with a lid while they’re eating. They might be more likely to cooperate if they see that their cup is not that different to yours.

The key with the lidded cups is that you want something that’s free-flowing, not a straw or spout they have to suck through – otherwise they may as well still be using a bottle. Free flowing cups are any that require you to tip the cup up to work – which means, as previously mentioned, spillages are likely. But your baby will soon get the hang of it. An alternative to the lidded cup, if you’re feeling brave but want to give your baby a bit of a leg up, is the doidy cup, which is slanted to help your little one see the liquid as they tip the cup, making it easier to coordinate their hands and mouths.

What’s a good snack for a 12-month-old?

If you struggle to think of healthy snacks, you’re not alone. It’s too easy to reach for the biscuit tin! But we’re trying to teach our little ones to do better, so let’s consider some healthy snacking options for your 1-year-old.

It’s your next round of vaccinations this month – perhaps not the birthday present your little one was hoping for! Included are:

Your little one might be more aware of what’s going on this time, which can be very hard. The good news is they’re also more distractible, so try and go prepared with your partner or another helping hand to provide ‘entertainment’ and additional comfort and praise after the event. Your healthcare practitioner will advise what pain/fever relief might be necessary, so stock up on infant paracetamol ahead of time.

Also around this time, you’ll meet with your health visitor for your baby’s 9-12 month review, as covered in last month’s update. For both vaccinations and the health visitor, don’t hesitate to chase your GP surgery if you haven’t been offered an appointment. It’s best to get it in on time, if you can.

If you’re heading back to work this month, go especially easy on yourself. This is a huge transition and marks the beginning of the real juggle between work and family. Remember that you’re not starting from scratch – you are an asset to the team, and you’ve earned your role. Having a baby hasn’t affected your ability to do your job; if anything, you have spent the last year levelling-up your productivity.

That being said, the workplace can be a difficult place for mothers – especially when your little one is just starting nursery and picking up every bug under the sun. Here are a few reminders of your rights as a parent:

If you’re having a dispute with your employer over your caring responsibilities, it’s worth talking to Citizens Advice for free advice and support. And of course, you’re not the only one who can take care of your baby. If your partner is not newly returned to work, they might be best placed to handle emergencies until you’ve settled back in.

Developmental milestones are guides – not deadlines. If your baby isn’t ‘keeping up’ with your friends’ babies, it isn’t an immediate cause for concern. Every child develops at their own pace. That being said, your health visitor and GP are there to support you with any queries you might have and will always be happy to see you with your baby if you have any worries.