Welcome to The Milestone
As Pediatric OT’s, Here Are The Products We Love To See Babies Using
Birth to 3 months old
A nursing Pillow (but not for the reason you may be thinking of)
a u-shaped nursing pillow is an excellent pillow to have because of how versatile it is. Yes, it can be used for comfortable nursing as well as for tummy-time, but the reason we love this pillow as therapists is because of how it can be used to teach a baby how to bring their feet to their hands. By putting your baby on the ground, and sliding this pillow under their bum, it brings their feet up higher than their waste which allows the baby to see their feet and even makes is easier to reach for them. This product is a classic and for good reason!
3 to 6 months old
The O-ball
There’s certainly no shortage of rattles and grasping toys available for babies. Many can create wonderful opportunities for play and interaction.
One reason therapists often enjoy toys like the O-ball is because the open design naturally encourages babies to explore grasping, holding, transferring, and interacting with objects in different ways as their coordination develops over time.
At younger ages, babies may simply enjoy visually exploring or loosely grasping the toy. As they grow, they often begin experimenting with more controlled reaching, grasping, transferring, and shaking movements during play.
Simple toys that encourage interaction and exploration can often go a long way.
6-9 months old
Wooden blocks
Simple toys like wooden blocks can create a surprisingly wide variety of play opportunities during infancy and early toddlerhood.
For younger babies, blocks may simply become opportunities to practice holding objects in both hands, transferring toys from one hand to another, reaching across the body, banging objects together, or exploring textures and sounds during supervised play.
As babies continue growing and developing new movement and coordination skills, those same blocks can later support stacking, sorting, pretend play, and more complex interaction.
One of the best things about simple toys is that they often grow with your child over time.
9-12 months old
Container play
Container play is one of the simplest — and often most engaging — activities for babies during the later part of the first year.
All you really need is a few blocks or toys and a bowl, basket, or container.
Babies often love practicing dropping objects into containers, taking them back out, repeating the process, and observing the sounds and reactions that occur along the way. Repetition and consistency can help babies become more familiar with new play experiences over time.
As always, the interaction between parent and baby is often the most meaningful part. Demonstrating, encouraging, smiling, talking, and playing together can help create positive opportunities for engagement and exploration throughout everyday routines.
Simple play really can go a long way.
And remember — no toy replaces interaction, connection, and engaged play with caregivers. Often, the most valuable developmental experiences come from simple everyday moments shared together during supervised play and interaction.