Your baby at 16 months: development milestones & what to expect

Your toddler is growing more confident in their movements now. Those who have been walking for a while will pick up speed, gradually working towards a stumbling run before building the coordination to really go for it. Newer walkers will begin to trust themselves to walk independently, without reaching for a parent’s hand – though they’ll still want to know you’re nearby. For less confident movers, you might see them return to crawling to move around more quickly. That’s perfectly normal and shouldn’t be taken as a regression. This phase is all about building and sustaining confidence while they find their ever-changing centre of gravity. It’s not always easy to maintain your balance when you’re constantly growing!

Playtime is becoming more adventurous too. Increasingly, your little one is happy to explore the playground, taking themselves up steps and down slides. Give them as much freedom as you can while keeping them safe – learning how to assess and manage risk is an important skill for children of all ages. Ball play is also more fun as your toddler develops more coordination to roll, kick, bounce and grab a ball. Footballs are a bit hard for this age group, though, so start with a foam ball or a beach ball.

Your child’s brain is amazing. They’re soaking up everything, learning new words, gestures, behaviours and skills at an incredible rate. Your little one may still be building a small collection of words at this stage, but if you add a few signs to the mix, you soon have the makings of short sentences. If you teach your baby signs for words like where, milk, please and thank you, you’ll find they start using them in conjunction with the few words they have so that before you know it, you’re having real conversations. ‘Where dada?’, ‘Milk now’, ‘Ball please’ – all feasible sentences once you add speech and sign together. You can learn signs by attending a baby group, or just find videos on YouTube or CBeebies to learn together at home.

Separation anxiety is something we’ve covered in previous articles, but it’s worth mentioning again as your 16-month-old is likely to show signs of distress when you leave. This is a normal developmental stage and not a sign that you’ve done anything wrong, or that your baby is abnormally clingy or anxious. In fact, it’s a positive sign that the attachment between you is strong – a promising foundation for your child’s future relationships.

Being normal does not, of course, make it any easier to cope with a child that loses their mind every time you leave the room. It’s difficult not to feel guilty and frustrated. Why don’t they know you’ll be back soon? Haven’t you always come back in the past? The hard truth is that little children live very much in the moment. They’re not thinking about the past, or really about the future. They’re just thinking that right now you’re leaving and it feels bad. Nursery workers and childminders will often reassure you that five minutes after you’ve gone your little one is absolutely fine – because again, they’re living in the moment. Which means actually the separation is hardest on you, because you’re holding onto that heartbreaking goodbye for hours.

Hard as it is, you have to steel yourself against avoiding these goodbyes and keep doing what you’re doing. In time, your child will develop the ability to recognise the pattern – you leave and you come back and everything is fine. For now, it’s a tough few minutes that’s helping to build those connections in their brain.

Rhythms and routines at this stage

How are you managing the sleeping/feeding schedule these days? With so much going on, it’s tempting to try and plan everything out to the minute, but toddlers are notoriously poor at going along with parental plans. In fact, some days it seems like whatever you’ve planned, they’re going to do the opposite! Like picking their morning nap back up just after you sign up for a new baby class, or requiring a full-body change and bath at the point you were about to leave the house.

Toddler-led or parent-guided?

It’s hard to know how much to be led by your little one when it comes to sleep and food. For some toddlers, the temptation is to let them sleep longer in the day because they seem tired – but long naps can disrupt their nighttime sleep. It might be that waking them up earlier is a kindness to help them get the sleep they need at night. Likewise, toddlers used to getting most of their calories from milk could be tempted to fill up on the ‘easy’ stuff rather than do the ‘work’ of eating a proper meal. But at 16 months, your little one needs to be getting most of their nutrition requirements from solid food, meaning limiting milk intake might become necessary to ensure they keep their appetite at mealtimes.

Bad weeks

If your little one is feeling under the weather, or they’re experiencing a developmental leap , it might feel like they’re trying to throw your schedule entirely out the window. Sore gums, colds and temper tantrums can all put your toddler off their game, and nap times are typically the first thing to go. It’s important to take things day by day during these periods – rather than assuming this is the beginning of a broader trend. Instead of resigning yourself to a life without naps, or trying to force a nap that is causing distress, give yourself permission to skip that day’s nap and have an earlier bedtime instead. You can try the usual nap again the next day. If the pattern persists over days, try napping at a different time, or building up to the nap with more of a bedtime-like routine to help your little one wind down more easily. Sixteen months is early to give up naps; most likely they will go back to napping once they are feeling better.

How do you rid yourself of the built-up frustration that comes with parenting a toddler? A lot of parents find themselves taking it out on their partner or themselves – neither of which is particularly helpful. So here are a few ‘fun’ tips to de-stress after a long and difficult day (or hour).

Developmental milestones are guides – not deadlines. If your toddler isn’t ‘keeping up’ with your friends’ toddlers, 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 child if you have any worries.