What’s Typical, What Varies, and When It’s Worth Asking

Watching your baby grow can be rewarding and fun. And the things we remember are often the obvious ones. The first time rolling or sitting. Pulling themselves up on the coffee table. The first wobbly trip across the living room with their arms held out like a tight rope walker.

These memorable acts use what are called “gross motor skills.” These are the milestones that get photographed and texted to family and friends. They are also the ones that often cause concern. Your friend’s baby may be cruising the furniture at nine months, while yours is perfectly content to sit and watch. What’s that all about?

Differences in timing are common, and comparing your baby with another child does not tell the whole story. A baby who walks at 10 months and a baby who walks at 16 months can both be developing typically. What matters is your child’s overall progress, how they move, and whether they are reaching age-based milestones.

For some children, delays in developing gross motor skills may need therapeutic intervention.  In this article, we’ll take a look at why, what’s normal, and when to ask for help.

Why Gross Motor Skills Matter More Than You’d Think

Movement is how babies gather information.

The American Physical Therapy Association points out that in infants and young children, every area of development is connected. That means a delay in one can affects progress in another. A baby who cannot yet sit steadily or shift position to reach a toy has fewer chances to explore. Fewer chances to explore means less things to point at and wonder about, and fewer reasons to engage with parents and siblings.

So a physical therapist watching a nine-month-old is not only thinking about legs. Learning to move stimulates the brain and the muscles together, and experimenting with new positions supports speech and social skills right along with strength and balance. The APTA’s guide to developmental delay shows you how a physical therapist thinks about early development.

What Are the Gross Motor Milestones from Birth to Age 3?

Development moves from the top down. Head movement and control comes first, then the upper body and trunk, and then everything below. Each stage builds the strength the next one needs.

The First Year: From Head Control to First Steps

Head control is the foundation. Around two months, most babies can hold the head up during tummy time. By four months, they hold it steady when you are holding them, and they push up onto elbows and forearms on the floor.

Rolling comes after. Watch for your baby to roll from their tummy to their back first at around six months. It is the first time your baby has that much control over their position. Sitting follows: leaning on both hands for support around six months, and by nine months, getting into a sitting position without help and staying there.

Then the world opens up. Somewhere between seven and ten months, most babies find a way to crawl and often book it at surprising speeds for parents. Hands and knees, belly crawl, bottom scoot, or an invention entirely their own. Pulling up to stand and cruising along the furniture usually arrive around the first birthday.

Many babies take their first independent steps around their first birthday too, although timing varies. The CDC lists pulling up to stand and walking while holding furniture at 12 months, taking a few independent steps by 15 months, and walking without support by 18 months. These are checkpoints, not average starting ages.

If your child is not taking a few steps independently by 15 months, discuss it with your pediatrician; you don’t need to wait until 18 months to ask.

The Second and Third Years: Running, Climbing, and Stairs

Once walking is steady, the pace picks up fast.

By 18 months, most toddlers walk without holding on to anything and can climb on and off a couch or chair by themselves. By age two, they run, kick a ball, and walk up a few stairs with or without help. By 30 months, most are jumping off the ground with both feet, which takes more coordination than it looks like, since both feet have to leave and land together.

Gross motor development continues through the third year and beyond as children build balance, coordination, and more complex movement skills. The CDC’s three-year checklist focuses its movement/physical-development items on dressing and hand skills rather than running, jumping, or climbing.

Gross Motor Milestones at a Glance

One thing worth knowing before you read the chart below. The CDC updated its milestone checklists in 2022, working with the American Academy of Pediatrics.  The change matters. The older lists showed what about half of children could do by a given age. The current ones show what at least 75% of children can do. That makes a missed milestone more meaningful, and more worth mentioning to your pediatrician.

These milestones are guides, not a diagnosis. Missing one does not necessarily mean your child has a developmental delay, but it is a reason to talk with your pediatrician and ask whether developmental screening is needed. You do not need to wait for a large gap or several missed milestones before raising a concern.

Does Crawling Still Matter If It’s Not a Milestone?

Yes. At TEIS, we believe crawling still matters, but that doesn’t mean we disagree with the CDC’s update. The update does a very specific thing: it focuses on skills that researchers could tie to an age by which at least 75% of children could achieve them.

Babies vary so much in how they choose to get around that crawling didn’t meet that bar. That makes crawling too broad to use as a screening flag. It does not make crawling unimportant.

Ask a pediatric physical therapist and you get the other half. Crawling is a demanding skill. It asks a baby to bear weight through the arms and shoulders, coordinate opposite arms and legs in a steady rhythm, hold the trunk stable while everything else is moving, and shift their gaze between the floor and a target across the room. Those same ingredients turn up later in balance, hand strength, and coordination. The AAP makes the general point plainly: early exploration and experience shape learning, which is why encouraging your child’s motor skills is worth the effort.

That’s why our therapists actively encourage and facilitate crawling. It shows up regularly as a goal on a treatment plan, and it’s a reasonable thing to ask about even when a child is meeting other milestones.

Two things can be true at once. If your baby skipped crawling and is otherwise moving well, using both sides of the body evenly and steadily gaining new skills, there’s no cause for alarm. And if your baby isn’t crawling and you’d like help getting them there, that’s a fair thing to raise to your pediatrician. You don’t have to wait for a missed milestone to ask a question.

The AAP describes several normal crawling styles: the classic hands-and-knees cross crawl, the bear crawl with elbows and knees straight, the belly or commando crawl, the bottom scoot, the crab crawl that moves sideways or backward, and the babies who simply roll wherever they want to go. Any of these will get a baby across the room. If your child favors a style that keeps the belly on the floor or the bottom down, a therapist can often help them build toward hands and knees, which is the version that asks the most of them.

Talk with your pediatrician if your child consistently favors one side, misses other milestones, loses skills, or isn’t making progress.

How Can I Help My Baby Build Gross Motor Skills?

Mostly by getting out of the way. Babies build these skills by practicing them, and practice needs space.

Tummy time, starting early. The AAP recommends starting the first day home from the hospital. Two or three short sessions a day, three to five minutes each, working up to a total of 15 to 30 minutes a day by around seven weeks. Some babies hate it at first. Get down on the floor at eye level, put a toy just within reach, or lie on your back and rest your baby on your chest so he has your face to work toward. (Safety notes: tummy time is not an opportunity for parents to nap with a baby onboard, and always place your baby on their back when it is time for them to sleep.)

Floor time, all through the first year. Once tummy time is going well, the same principle carries forward. A safe patch of floor and a toy slightly out of reach is the whole program. Floor play gives babies opportunities to practice reaching, rolling, pivoting, and other ways of moving. These skills develop at different rates and do not always follow the same sequence.

Watch the container time. Swings, bouncers, infant seats, and exersaucers all have their place. Sometimes you need both hands. But keep in mind: these devices limit opportunities to move freely and practice changing positions. Keep their use brief and offer frequent opportunities for supervised floor play.

Skip the baby walker entirely. This one is not a matter of preference. The AAP has called for a ban on the manufacture and sale of wheeled infant walkers. They do not help babies learn to walk, they can actually delay it, and a child in a walker can travel more than three feet in a single second, which is faster than an adult standing right there can react. Stationary activity centers, play yards, and sturdy push toys are all good alternatives.

What you can do: Pick one predictable slot in the day, right after the morning diaper change works well, and make it floor time. Same spot, same routine. Ten ordinary minutes a day of practice beats any gadget on the shelf.

Things to Watch For

Both the timing of milestones and the way your child moves matter. The following patterns are reasons to contact your pediatrician. They do not establish a diagnosis, but they deserve attention rather than a wait-and-see approach.

• Consistently favoring one side. Using one arm or leg noticeably more than the other. Always turning the head the same direction. Because the AAP is clear that a baby using both sides equally is fine even without conventional crawling, the reverse carries real weight. Persistent head-turning to one side can point to torticollis, which responds very well to early physical therapy.
• Muscle tone that seems off. Persistently stiff, or persistently floppy. Low tone often sits underneath a motor delay rather than beside it.
• Specific timing flags. Not holding the head up steadily by around four months. Not sitting while leaning on the hands for support by six months. The AAP is direct about the nine-month mark: if your baby is not sitting alone by nine months, tell your pediatrician. Not walking while holding on to furniture by roughly twelve months. Not taking a few independent steps by 15 months, or not walking without support by 18 months.
• Losing a skill. A child who could sit, or roll, or walk, and now cannot, should be seen. This one is not a wait-and-see.

One more thing that helps: the AAP recommends general developmental screening at 9, 18, and 30 months, so those well-child visits are natural moments to raise anything you have noticed. If you want to organize your thoughts first, the AAP’s motor delay tool walks you through skills by age and builds a checklist you can bring to the appointment.

Frequently Asked Questions

When should my baby start walking?

Many babies take their first independent steps around their first birthday, although timing varies. The CDC lists pulling up to stand and walking while holding furniture at 12 months, taking a few independent steps by 15 months, and walking without support by 18 months. These are checkpoints, not average starting ages.

Is it bad if my baby never crawls?

Not necessarily. Crawling isn’t in the current CDC milestone checklists, and some babies get around other ways before walking. Look at overall progress, including sitting, pulling to stand, and walking, along with whether your child uses both sides of their body evenly. That said, crawling is a genuinely useful skill, and therapists encourage it. If your child isn’t crawling and you have a concern, check with your pediatrician.

Are baby walkers safe?

No. The AAP has called for a ban on the manufacture and sale of wheeled infant walkers. They do not help babies walk sooner and may delay walking, and most walker injuries happen with an adult in the room, because a child in a walker moves faster than a caregiver can react. Stationary activity centers and sturdy push toys are safer choices.

How much tummy time does my baby need?

Start the first day home from the hospital with two or three sessions a day of three to five minutes each, and work up to a total of 15 to 30 minutes a day by around seven weeks. Increase from there as your baby gets stronger. Always keep tummy time supervised, on a firm flat surface, and only when your baby is awake and alert.

My baby only rolls to one side. Should I worry?

It is worth mentioning. Consistently favoring one side, or always turning the head in the same direction, is one of the clearer signals that an evaluation could help. It is often related to tightness in the neck muscles, which responds well to early physical therapy, and the earlier it is addressed the simpler it usually is.

When should I ask for an early intervention evaluation?

Any time something feels off. You do not need a doctor’s referral and you do not have to wait for the next well-child visit. An evaluation is free, and if your child does not qualify, you have still gotten a professional look and some peace of mind.

Early Intervention Therapies

Trust your instincts. You know your child best. If something about your child’s development ever feels off, there is no harm in asking questions.

If you have questions about your child’s development, TEIS Early Intervention can help. Our specialists listen to your concerns, assess your child’s individual needs, develop a customized treatment plan, and coach you through simple, routine-based solutions to help your child thrive. Learn more about our physical therapy services for children ages 0 to 3.

“My son started PT when he was around 7-8 months old. I had concerns with him rolling and sitting. Today at 15 months he was discharged and is running all over the place!” — Mia B., TEIS parent

Call us at 412-271-8347 or ask your pediatrician about getting an Early Intervention evaluation.

Early intervention evaluations and therapy services are available under the Federal Early Intervention Program for Infants and Toddlers with Disabilities. Before services can begin, an independent evaluation of your child must be completed. To ensure impartiality, one agency provides evaluation services while another offers therapeutic services.

To schedule an evaluation, call 1-800-692-7288 or email help@connectpa.net.