Baby Milestones: When Do Babies Start Crawling, Talking and Walking

by Loving Parents Loving Parents

As your child grows, she would reach various milestones of growth and development throughout her age. Starting from being able to hold her bottle to starting to crawl or talk, these milestones help you stay abreast with your baby’s development. Even though there are set times for your baby to start doing these things, be assured that not all babies are the same and some might reach these milestones a little sooner or later. So, if you are wondering about when do babies start talking and walking, here are your answers.

When do babies start Crawling?

So, the age babies start crawling varies considerably, also their styles to crawl. Some like to roll and scoot over on their well-padded, cute little bums while some like to put their knees on the floor but crawl on their hands and feet. Some might even like doing an army-crawl across the floor, while others might crawl properly on their hands and knees.

My firstborn, who is now 5-years old, started crawling when she was 8-months old. While my baby boy, who is now just 6.5 months old, has already started rolling and scooting over to wherever we are. Even though both of the kids share the same family and have been given a similar amount of time, attention and efforts, the results are different. I just feel that he has my daughter to keep up with, which is why he has started his crawling journey a little earlier than his sister. Therefore, it is perfectly okay for different kids to start crawling at different ages.

Most of the babies start crawling between 6 to 10 months. If your baby has not shown any sign of mobility within one year of age, it’s time to talk to your pediatrician.

Also Read : Why you should never force-feed babies and kids?

When do babies start Walking?

As per doctors, 50 per cent of kids start walking by the time they turn one year old. Most start walking between 9 to 16 months of age. So, if your child is still 14 months old, there is no need to worry. Most of the babies start taking their first steps towards walking by using furniture for support. This stage is generally followed by their willingness to walk using their hands. They, then, use only one finger of yours to walk and balance themselves.

Babies who are early walkers generally have a driven personality, whereas the late-walkers generally take a cautious outlook of their lives. They might be a little late to the walking party but when they walk, they walk more competently than their early-walking counterparts and have lesser slips and spills.

When do babies start Talking?

Most of the babies say their first meaningful word by the time they turn 12 months old. Their first words as they turn one year old might only be understandable by their parents, but a 12-month-old baby can start talking using one or two words.

By the time they turn 18 months old, they can use up to 20 words.
By the age of 2 to 3 years old, they have learnt to put together at least two sentences.
By the age of 4, they can easily use more than 1000 words while speaking.

If you want to look for signs that should raise any concern and evaluation regarding the talking abilities, some of those could be:

If your child has not been using any signs to communicate, like waving a ‘bye-bye’ by the time they are 12 months old.
If they are not imitating any of the sounds by, they are 18 months old.
If they are not saying any of the words or phrases spontaneously by the time, they turn 2 years old.
If you find that there is raspiness in the voice or if the speech is difficult to understand, consult your doctor.

By the age they turn 2, you should be able to understand 50% of what they are saying and by the time they turn 3, 75% of their speech should be comprehensible.

So, my daughter started babbling while she was just 9 months old. She could say mama and dada by the time she turned 10 months old, whereas my little boy has not shown any signs yet.

Also Read: What causes Low Birth Weight in babies and what are its effects?

The Take-Away

To summarize when do babies start crawling, talking and walking:

Age babies start crawling is between 6 to 10 months.
They can start walking between 9 to 16 months of age.
For talking, they can say their first words when they are around a year old and learn up to 20 words by the time, they turn 18 months old.

Like adults, no two babies are the same and they will take their own time to crawl, walk and talk. Many parents follow two extremes when their child does not fall under the set bracket for reaching a milestone. They either panic or become way complacent. While it is perfectly okay to have a normal child fall out of the milestone bracket, it would be a good step to get the child evaluated by your doctor to intervene in any possible child developmental issues at an early stage.