Baby firsts checklist: 90 firsts worth recording

How to use this list

This is a memory list, not a developmental chart. Babies reach these moments in their own order and at very different ages, and some will not apply to your family. If you have questions about your child’s development, ask your pediatrician or health visitor.

You will miss some firsts. Write down the first time you saw it and move on.

The date is useful. The sentence beside it is the memory.

The first weeks

• First cry and first breath of outside air
• First time each parent held them
• First feed
• First car journey and first night at home
• First bath
• First walk outdoors
• First visitor
• First time they gripped your finger
• First night you slept more than three hours
• First photograph of the whole family

Months 2 to 6

• First real smile
• First laugh, and what caused it
• First coo or “conversation”
• First time they found their hands
• First time they rolled over
• First time they recognized a voice on a call
• First toy they reached for
• First time they slept through the night
• First illness and the first night you sat up
• First trip away from home
• First swim or splash
• First time they were looked after by someone else

Months 6 to 12

• First solid food and the face they made
• First tooth
• First time sitting unaided
• First crawl, shuffle or roll across a room
• First wave and first clap
• First word, and the first word that was not a name
• First time they pulled up to stand
• First steps holding on
• First game of peekaboo they started themselves
• First food they refused
• First haircut
• First birthday and what they did with the cake

The second year

• First independent steps
• First run
• First pair of proper shoes
• First two-word sentence
• First “no”
• First time they said their own name
• First song they sang
• First drawing they explained
• First joke or deliberate silliness
• First tantrum in public
• First friend they asked for by name
• First day at nursery or with a childminder
• First night in a bed
• First time they said “I love you” without being asked

Firsts with people

The firsts that involve other people are the ones relatives ask about for decades.

• First meeting with each grandparent
• First video call they noticed
• First time they reached for someone who was not a parent
• First meeting with a sibling or cousin
• First meeting with a pet
• First holiday with extended family
• First nickname someone gave them
• First thing a grandparent taught them
• First time they recognized themselves in a photograph
• First time they said a relative’s name

Firsts that are easy to miss

No baby book has a page for these, and they are the ones parents say they wish they had written down.

• First time they fell asleep on your chest
• First time they noticed rain, snow or the sea
• First favorite book, requested again and again
• First mispronounced word you started using yourselves
• First time they danced
• First time they comforted someone
• First time they hid something
• First imaginary game
• First question that began with “why”
• First thing they were afraid of
• First thing they were proud of
• First time they made a stranger laugh

Your firsts as a parent

Your child will be curious about you as well.

• First time you went out without them
• First time you felt you knew what you were doing
• First time you laughed until you cried
• First thing you did differently from your own parents
• First time you saw your partner as a parent
• First time your own parent felt like a grandparent
• First advice you ignored and were right to
• First day back at work
• First family tradition you started
• First time they looked for you in a room

Where to keep them

A notes app with dates works. So does a paper calendar with a pen tied to it. What matters is that the note is made within a day or two, while you still remember what was funny about it.

In Everlittle each first can be saved as a milestone on your child’s timeline with a photograph, a sentence and the date, and the grandparents you invite can see it or add their own.

A baby memory journal for real life

Alternatives to a traditional baby book

Find your baby’s 100-day and 1,000-day dates