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Infant Developmental
Guides & Resources

Trusted resources developed by expert pediatric physical therapists

We empower families with development resources

Running out of ideas for how to help your baby roll, sit, crawl, stand or walk? Tired of googling “is this normal?” 

PDFs, video guides, & more to help with infant development.

Fit Family Physical Therapy
Pediatric Milestones

Baby Developmental Guides

Developmental milestones guides and e-books created by our pediatric physical therapy experts. Find our detailed resources below for tummy time and all things infant development. Join our waitlist for the latest releases!

Guided milestone play

Floor to Explore: Guided Milestone Play (0-4 mos)

A weekly guide to achieving early milestones through play, positioning, and tummy time! Pictures, videos, troubleshooting, warning signs, & more!

Tummy time how to

Tummy Time: Tips, Tricks & Troubleshooting

A handy dandy 1-page cheat sheet for understanding tummy time and making it more enjoyable for you and your baby.

Help Baby Sit Up

Ready, Set, Sit: A Hands-On Guide to the Sitting Milestone (3+ mos)

The guide is jam-packed with pictures, videos, and detailed explanations, giving you actionable steps to help your baby sit!

Best baby equipment

Pediatric PT Guide to Baby Equipment

Our guide to pediatric PT-approved baby equipment! We help you make the best choice to support development (and what equipment to avoid!).

10 Mighty Toys Download

10 Mighty Toys: The Only Toys You Need (0-12mos)

Ten toys to get you through the first 12 months & instructions on how use each toy to meet various milestones. Access our Amazon list with easy links here

Torticollis guide

Troubleshooting Torticollis: A Guide to Treating Your Baby's Torticollis (0-3 mos)

A hands-on guide with pictures, videos, and detailed explanations to help identify and treat your infant's preference for one side.

Toy recommendations for babies

9 Unforgettable Toys: New & Easy Toys to Engage your Little One (0-24mos)

Our pediatric PT bag of tricks! Engage your little one with 9 novel, simple items that fit in your diaper bag or can be used in the bath!

Best toys for sitting

6 Fine Motor Toys for Sitters: Under $20 (6+ mos)

Our top 6 recommended toys for sitters -- and all under $20! These toys keep your baby engaged while in sitting position and also help develop fine motor skills!

Help baby walk guide

Step by Step: Activity Guide to Support Independent Standing & Steps (10+ mos)

Unique activities to promote independent standing and walking with descriptions, photos, and videos to help your soon-to-be stander and walker!

Baby motor milestones

More milestone help?

Running out of ideas for how to help your baby roll, sit, crawl, stand or walk? We can help! We offer 1:1 developmental milestones check-ins to help with hands on activities and education for parents & caregivers of babies aged newborn – 18 months.  Virtual and local (Phoenix) appointments available!

Best Toys for Development

What toys do you need for infant development? Just a few, mighty toys will do! Find a list of our favorite PT-approved toys for infant development by skill or suggested age.

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Visual tracking is one the first “motor” milestones to emerge with your infant! Visual motor development will drive head and neck movement next.  Use high-contrast, noisy toys to stimulate baby’s visual system, working on side-to-side eye movement and sustained gaze in these early weeks.  If you need more ideas on how to practice visual tracking, how to use these toys, or why visual tracking is important – check out our 0-4 month milestone guide!

Tummy time is essential to many aspects of your baby’s development: visual system, head & neck strength, shoulder stability, and early trunk strength.  This all-important practice is a big precursor to future baby gross motor milestones and mobility.  Toys used in tummy time should keep baby happy and motivate head and chest lift as your baby ages! If you need more ideas on how to practice tummy time, how to use these toys and why tummy time is important – check out our 0-4 month milestone guide or our free tummy time troubleshooting guide!

Rolling skills emerge at different times for every baby, but generally occur once baby has achieved good core strength and ability to weight shift.  For rolling, we suggest toys that encourage reaching and tracking with head and neck.  If you need more ideas on how to start laying the foundation for rolling – check out our 0-4 month milestone guide!

Finally your baby is upright! Toys used for sitting should be taller and heavier, at first, to keep baby focused on the ground and able to use hands on the ground for balance rather than bringing them to mouth! As your baby’s core strength improves the goal of toys in sitting is to promote fine motor development and social cognitive play.  

Crawling toys should be anything that gets your baby motivated to move! We like musical toys or items that are parts of sets (blocks, puzzles, etc.), but also don’t underestimate the power of a kitchen utensil here! 

Kneeling is one of those in-between skills that starts to prepare your baby for standing up! Toys at this phase should include items that encourage sustained play at a surface. Fine motor or container play is great here! Place smaller toys on a kneeling-level surface for baby to enjoy!
 
 

Getting close to taking steps! Here are a few toys to encourage standing to play at a surface, or initiating those first wobbly steps. We prefer toys that get baby pulling to stand or walking on their own, rather than containers that “do” the skill for baby.

Developmental milestone help from physical therapists

Trusted, expert resource

Our pediatric physical therapists are experts in gross motor developmental milestones! They have treated babies of all ages and can answer all those "is this normal" questions all parents have!

Purposeful play

All of our resources help your baby achieve their developmental milestones through play! All with the tools you already have in the comfort of your own home.

Act early

Our resources help track your child's progress toward developmental milestones, bringing peace of mind for parents worried about pediatric concerns like torticollis, plagiocephaly, and other neurological disorders.

Empowerment

We believe in empowering our families with the tools to be active participants in their child's development. We love being a resource for helping your child reach developmental milestones!

What can we do to help?

Let’s chat! One of our board-certified physical therapists will email you to discuss any of your questions or concerns in any of our treatment areas.