Every child grows and develops in their own time. If you are worried about your child's development then speak to your Health Visitor, Family Nurse or GP.
If you are worried your child might be unwell look at the information from the Royal Hospital for Children Concerned your child is unwell? (3 months and older).
Your Health Visitor might visit you when your child is between 27 and 30 months old. You can find out more on Happy Healthy Tots.
NHS Scotland recommends all eligible children should get the flu vaccine between September and December to help protect them from influenza (flu). You can find out more about the child flu vaccine on NHS Inform.
Eating a combination of foods from all the different food groups will give your child all they need to grow and develop.
From 2 years of age, you can start looking at the Eatwell Guide for healthy eating advice. Before the age of 2 babies and toddlers need a full fat diet, which is relatively low in fibre. Between the ages of 2 and 5, children should gradually move to eating the same foods as the rest of the family, in the proportions shown in the Eatwell Guide. Anyone with special dietary requirements or medical needs might want to check with a registered dietitian on how to adapt the Eatwell Guide to meet their individual needs. From 2 you are looking to SLOWLY introduce more fibre and lower the fat content but only if your child is eating well (like swapping to semi–skimmed cow’s milk).
You can find more tips and ideas using the links below:
Your toddler can now roll, squeeze, and pull playdough into shapes. You can find more ideas for playing with playdough on CBeebies Parenting.
Please be aware that playdough (both shop bought and homemade) may contain wheat. Make sure you use a wheat free alternative if there is a known wheat allergy.
Your toddler will be using one hand as a doing hand most of the time. The other hand will be helping. They will enjoy taking lids on and off or helping with baking. Your toddler might also like crafty activities. If you show them what to do they can snip with safety scissors. Their drawing skills will be improving if they are practicing.
Your toddler's ball skills are improving. They enjoy being able to kick the ball. Most of the time it goes where they want it to. They can now stand on one leg for a couple of seconds. Their jumping skills are getting better and they can now jump forward. They are still perfecting their climbing skills. They still may need some help to get down off the big equipment.
Your child should be able to walk in all directions; forward, backwards, sideways and on tiptoes. They should be able to walk and run for longer and don't need carried as much. You can start to leave the buggy behind! They are becoming more confident on the stairs but still need to hold on.
Your toddler can undress themselves but will still need help with fastenings. Keep letting your toddler practice getting dressed and undressed. Make it fun - get them to put your clothes on while you try putting theirs on.
Teaching the last step first is a teaching technique, called backward chaining, that can help children learn how to do complicated tasks. Backward chaining is when you break a task down into it's different steps and then teach the last step first. Once the child can do the last step you teach the second last step and so on until they can do every task. It works great for teaching dressing skills.
If we think about a putting on a t-shirt, to start with you would follow these steps:
You repeat this until your child pulls the t-shirt down every time. They might learn this quickly or it might take some time. Keep practicing every time you are changing your child. Next you want them to put their arms into the sleeve and pull the t-shirt down. Once they can do that every time, you hand them the t-shirt ready to put on and get them to put it over their head, put their arms into the sleeves and then pull the t-shirt down. Choose one garment at a time to work on.
Learning to get the clothes the right way round is really hard so this will be the last step they learn and it will take a long time to master this so focus on just putting the clothes on.
You could also start to show them how to undo big buttons and zips.
Your toddler can use a spoon to feed themselves, they might still be a bit messy though. You could now teach your toddler to use a fork. Let them try using a fork at mealtimes but play with forks too. Give your toddler a fork while you are cooking. Involve them in simple food preparation, baking and cooking activities. Toddlers love to copy their care givers. There are ideas about Cooking at Home at different stages on the British Dietetic Associations website. CBeebies Parenting also have some information about cooking with toddlers. Shopping is a great time to explore food too. CBeebies Parenting have some activity ideas for at the supermarket.
Your toddler might be using the toilet or potty with your help. Lots of children find learning this skill challenging though so don't worry if your toddler hasn't got the hang of this yet. For children with additional support needs the journey might look different and may take longer. Take it at your child's pace. You can teach your child how to wash their hands even if they aren't using the toilet or a potty. You can also teach them to take their clothes down and their nappy/pull up off. Look at our toileting page for more information.
Brushing your teeth is an essential part of looking after your body. You should be brushing your child's teeth at least twice a day. You can find out more from:
Your child can listen to and remember simple stories with pictures. They can understand longer instructions, such as 'wash your hands and have your snack'. They understand simple 'who', 'what' and 'where' questions.
Your child might use 200 or more words. They are starting to make short sentences with 3-4 words like 'want more milk' or 'he took my ball'. They ask lots of questions like 'what...?', and 'who...?'. They can stumble over their words when they have lots to say or are trying to put sentences together. It's hard work! They can say a few nursery rhymes. Their speech isn't always clear but people who know them can understand them. They might shorten words like 'banana' to 'nana'. They can have difficulty where a few sounds come together in a word and might say 'poon' instead of 'spoon'.
Your child will use words like 'I', 'me' and 'you' to talk about people. They are beginning to share and take turns, and can follow some rules in games. They like getting their own way and can throw tantrums when they don't get it. They like watching other children play and sometimes join in with them. They look for your comfort when they are upset or scared.
Find out more from Parent Club Top tips for chatting together with your baby.
Your toddler knows what up and down means. They also know their full name. By this age your child is asking lots of questions. This can be exhausting but try to be patient. Their brain is like a sponge and they are keen to learn!
Your toddler can tell you what they like and don't like. For example they can tell you which toy they want to play with, what colours they like and who they like to play with.
Your toddler is also starting to name their emotions like "I'm happy" or "I'm sad". You can help by making faces. You can find out more on CBeebies Parenting Making faces.
We are one of the leading paediatric care centres in the UK, and the largest in Scotland. We provide family centred care to newborns, infants, children and young people both in hospital and in the community.
https://www.glasgowchildrenshospitalcharity.org/
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