Preemie Milestones are important to know and understand. Keeping an eye on your preemies development and checking when they reach certain milestones can help you determine when a little help might be necessary.

Preemie milestones can keep you both on track

When understanding preemie milestones is important to learn a little bit of information on the typical development of various skills, as well as some information about signs that may indicate problems with development. If your preemie is not meeting the milestones mentioned you may want to talk to your paediatrician about your preemie's development.

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Speech development

Keeping an eye on your preemies development can help you determine when a little help might be necessary

It’s amazing how quickly babies grow and develop! The tables below highlight some important milestones. Although these tables give an average age at which milestones are achieved it is important to realise that even babies born at term achieve these milestones at varying ages. For preemies, you should always correct for their prematurity.

Speech Development

Have a look at the following information for typical development of these skills. You should talk to your paediatrician if you have any concerns about your preemie's development.

Developmental Milestone

Age	Development
By 3 months	Sucks and swallows well during feeding Quiets or smiles in response to sound or voice Coos, laughs, squeals, or vocalises in ways other than crying Turns head toward direction of sound
By 6 months	Begins to use consonant sounds in babbling, e.g. “dada” Uses babbling to get attention Begins to eat cereals and pureed foods
By 9 months	Increases variety of sounds and syllable combinations in babbling Looks at familiar objects and people when named Begins to eat junior and mashed table foods
By 12 months	Meaningfully uses “mama” or “dada” Follows simple instructions, e.g. “give mummy the cup” Produces long strings of gibberish in social communication Drinks from an open cup
By 15 months	Can say around 5-10 words Likes imitating new, less familiar words Understands around 50 words

These milestones represent overall age trends. There are individual differences in the exact age at which each milestone is attained.(Berk, 2008; Zaichkin, 2009) http://pathwaysawareness.org/milestones

One of the greatest minds in history, Albert Einstein was born preterm.

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Preemie, Premmie, or Prem?

Most babies spend between 38 and 42 weeks in their mother’s uterus. So, technically a preterm birth, preemie, premmie, or prem, is an infant who is born less than 37 completed gestational weeks.

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