11 Developmental Milestones of a 23 Month Old Baby

The growth and development rate is phenomenal when a child approaches 23 months of age. At this age, children are perfecting other skills, including motor skills and language development. By knowing the major milestones at this stage, parents and guardians can help their children advance while identifying areas that need extra work.

This article will focus on the twenty-third month developmental milestones and other important details, such as ways to support them and general safety tips.

⁤By the time they are 23 months old, many children can express rudiments of speech and follow straightforward instructions. ⁤⁤They begin to crawl, walk, and engage more in different motions. ⁤⁤Psychologically, they appear to have more free will, yet they commonly alternate between happiness and sadness. ⁤

Behaviorally, they are drawn to copying other individuals, playing in groups, and performing hand-eye activities but don't completely give in to the urge to share. ⁤⁤As far as mental activity is concerned, at this age, children begin to be interested in searching for solutions to easy tasks and recognising known objects or people. ⁤The developmental milestones of 23 month old have a lot of improvement in physical and mental skills.

Movement Development Milestone for a 23 month old:

• Walking and Running: Most toddlers can walk confidently and are likely to start running, although they may still have difficulty stopping or turning around.
• Climbing: Climbing of furniture or specific playground apparatus is typical, especially as they have better stability and power.
• Jumping: Certain toddlers may also jump on the spot with both feet, even though it may not be entirely controlled.
• Kicking and Throwing: Kicking or throwing a ball typically occurs in this stage, but not with consistent accuracy and efficiency.
• Fine Motor Skills: Hand movements and coordination develop, and they can pick up objects, scribble with crayons, and try out simple puzzles.

Visual Milestones:

23 month old infants have developed visual aspects like:

• Object Recognition: Children can picture and point out known people, things, and animals in pictorial representations and books.
• Tracking Movement: The child can visually track other objects, such as a rolling ball across the floor.
• Depth Perception: Enhanced depth perception also means they can easily walk up and down stairs and manoeuvre through the bumpy ground.

Hearing Milestones:

With the visual development of a 23 month old child, their hearing abilities are also improved.

• Following Instructions: The child can listen and assist in executing specific oral instructions, such as 'bring the toy' and 'sit down'.
• Recognising Sounds: They differentiate other sounds and even detect other voices or tones, recognising people's voices while in another room.
• Responding to Music and Rhythms: The child is likely to react to enjoying music by moving or beating hands in time to the tune or even attempting to sing the words.

Smell Milestones:

The children’s noses become more sensitive and understand different smells. Some common smell development are:

• Familiar Scents Response: Children can smell various foods and caregivers' pet reactions with either approval or displeasure.
• Smell Associations: The child understands that certain smells are associated with a person, the development of smells, or a place.

Touch Milestones:

The 23 month old infants develop highly in understanding things by touch:

• Texture Exploration: At this age, children are curious about different surfaces that are either rough, soft, or even textured, so they use their hands to feel the items.
• Enhanced Fine Motor Activities: Their tactile sense helps develop fine motor skills that help turn lit book pages, arrange blocks, and play with tiny toys.
• Sensory Preferences: The children tend to like or dislike the textures and sensations that some textures provide.

Sleep Milestones for a 23 month old:

• Night Sleep: 23 month old children tend to sleep for 10 to 12 hours with fewer disturbances as they learn to sleep without interruptions.
• Daytime Sleep: There is usually one nap in the afternoon, lasting about 1 to 2 hours. However, the event usually takes place in the early afternoon hours.
• Separation Distress: Most kids will begin to undergo some separation distress around this age, which will lead them to fight going to bed or waking up in the night.
• Self-Soothing Ability: Toddlers will notice that they have begun the self-soothing process since they wake up at night and quickly go back to sleep.

Feeding Milestones for a 23 month old:

• Self-Feeding Skills: Toddlers can proficiently manipulate a spoon and fork and may begin to drink from an ordinary open-top cup.
• Dietary Preference: Favourite foods make mealtimes fun, although some prefer certain textures more than others. Food hates are uncommon.
• Mealtime Behavior: Self-feeding and being willing to be involved in food preparation may also improve social skills.

Here are key cognitive milestones for a 23 month old:

• Language Comprehension: Commands such as "come here" or "go" are implemented. They understand questions asked about particular objects or people.
• Problem Solving: This skill tries to resolve minor issues, such as placing specific shapes in the appropriate spaces or arranging blocks on top of each other.
• Memory and Recognition: The child can identify and call out specific items or people from pictures or books.
• Imitation and Exploration: Repeats what adults do or try to do during pretend play with some understanding of how things work.

Social and Emotional Milestones for a 23 month old:

• Parallel Play: Kids are usually seen to be in the company of other kids only, playing around them but not with them.
• Imitation: Kids are imitative and, in this case, quite quickly act like adults, doing actions like cooking and looking after their dolls.
• Emerging Empathy: At this point, they are observed to start displaying some level of empathy, such as taking a crying friend into their hands or being considerate.

Language and Communication Milestones Development for a 23 month old:

• Vocabulary Expansion: Overall, toddlers can have a call of around 50 to 100 words. At first, they may learn to name recognisable items, people, and body parts.
• Sentence Formation: They begin to utter short two- to three-word sentences, such as 'want cookie' or 'big truck.'
• Improved Pronunciation: They begin to comprehend their speech and, therefore, better obtain sounds and words.
• Understanding and Following Directions: They can execute basic commands like 'do this,' 'come here', or 'give me the ball,' and are much brighter than before.

Physical Milestones for a 23 month old:

• Gross Motor Development: Toddlers can run, and they do so more coordinated. They can climb, walk up and down the stairs, and kick a ball.
• Fine Motor Development: They enhance their coordination and thus can stack various blocks, flip book pages, and use cutlery utensils.
• Balance and Coordination: At this point, balance is more developed because the child tries to do more actions, such as jumping and standing on one leg.

1. Ball Games

2. Animal Sounds Imitation

3. Shape Sorters

4. Colour Matching Games

5. Climbing Obstacle

6. Outdoor Activities

7. Storytime

8. Music and Movement

9. Water Activities

10. Nature Exploration

1. Encourage Language Development

2. Support Cognitive Development

3. Practice Mindfulness

4. Encourage Independence

Language Delays:

Behavioural Issues:

Motor Skills Concerns:

Developmental Milestones:

Health Issues: