Uses fingers to point at things

This one is huge! Your Child now points with the fingers to show you things or to indicate what they want. This essential milestone opens doors to many other types of communication.

Pointing is usually the first form of non-verbal communication children use to communicate: whether it’s pointing to things the little one wants, pointing to show parents something, or pointing to show other people things. This milestone can happen at around 9 months, and it goes to show that the child is now able to communicate about something more specific.

How to support this development
Parents can easily model this development by using pointing gestures during an everyday routine — when reading to Your Child, point at pictures to show the little one what’s happening specifically. You may also physically help the little one make the hand into a pointing position.

Note: All children develop differently and at their own pace. For children born preterm, the referred timeframe for achieving the various developmental milestones might be incorrect.

Sources: The information and graphs about when children reach specific milestones are taken from various sources, including the United States Center for Disease Control (CDC), the Denver Developmental Screening Test, and the State Institute of Early Childhood Research, Germany (IFP).