It's exiting for parents to watch their baby grow and learn. During the first year, new parents will see a lot of changes in their baby from learning to smile to crawling.
Holly Menino sits down with Jackie Swan, the early Intervention Program Director at Summit County Health Department, on this episode of the Baby Your Baby Podcast.. Together, they discuss the developmental milestones a baby will experience during the first year.
Question: What does a baby do at 2 months?
Answer: Begins to smile, learns to self-calm, coos, turns toward sounds, pays attention to faces, begins to follow things with his eyes, can hold head up and begins pushing up on tummy, makes coordinated movements with arms and legs.
Question: As the baby starts to grow, what can you expect at 4 months?
Answer: Smiling spontaneously, likes to play with people, copies some movements and facial expressions like smiling/frowning, begins to babble, babbles with expression and copies sounds he hears, cries in different ways to show hunger, pain or being tired, lets you know if happy or sad, responds to affection, reaches for a toy with one hand, uses eyes and hands together, follows moving things from side to side, watches faces closely, recognizes familiar people, holds head steady, pushes down on legs when feet are on a surface, may be able to roll over from tummy to back, can hold a toy and shake it, bring hands to mouth, on tummy pushes up onto elbows.
Question: Of course, the major milestone for 6 months is sitting independently. What other skills happen at 6 months?
Answer: Knows familiar faces, likes to play with others especially parents, responds to other people’s emotions, likes to look at self in mirror, responds to sounds by making sounds, babbling with vowel sounds and takes turns with parent while making sounds, responds to own name, makes sounds to show joy and displeasure, begins to say consonant sounds, looks around at things nearby, brings things to mouth, shows curiosity about things, transfer toys hand to hand, rolls over in both directions, sits with no support, in standing supports weight on legs.
 Question: What are the milestones at 9 months?
Answer: May be afraid of strangers, clingy to familiar adults, has favorite toys, understands the meaning of “no”, makes a lot of different sounds mamamamama and babababa, copies sounds and gestures of others, uses index finger for pointing, understands when you hide an object, plays peek a boo, puts things in mouth, moves things smoothly from hand to hand, pincer grasp, gives toys to you on request, stands holding onto surface, gets into sitting position, crawls, sits and reaches for toys, pulls to stand.
To see the toys Jackie and Holly are talking about during the podcast, click here.
To learn more about toys that help babies learn and develop, click here. 
 The Baby Your Baby program provides many resources for all pregnant women and new moms in Utah. There is also expert advice from the Utah Department of Health and Intermountain Healthcare that air each week on KUTV 2News.