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Predictors of motor developmental milestones during the first year of life

Trine Flensborg-Madsen1,2, Erik Lykke Mortensen3,4

  • 1Unit of Medical Psychology, Department of Public Health, University of Copenhagen, Øster Farimagsgade 5A, 1353, Copenhagen K, Denmark. tfma@sund.ku.dk.

European Journal of Pediatrics
|November 30, 2016
PubMed

Insights

Pregnancy and delivery factors, like gestational age and birth weight, are key predictors of infant developmental milestones. These prenatal influences explain the most variance in achieving milestones during the first year of life.

Area of Science:

  • Developmental Psychology
  • Pediatrics
  • Perinatal Medicine

Background:

  • Both prenatal and postnatal factors influence infant developmental milestone attainment.
  • Previous studies have not comparatively evaluated the predictive strength of these factors.
  • Understanding these predictors is crucial for identifying developmental trajectories.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To systematically evaluate a wide range of prenatal and postnatal predictors of infant milestone attainment.
  • To determine which factors explain the most significant inter-individual variance in development.
  • To compare the explanatory power of different predictor domains.

Main Methods:

  • Prospective data collection from 5765 children in the Copenhagen Perinatal Cohort (1959-61).
  • Recording of 12 developmental milestones during the first year of life.
  • Categorization of predictors into Family background, Pregnancy and delivery, Postnatal influences, and Postnatal growth domains.

Main Results:

  • The Pregnancy and delivery domain explained the largest proportion of variance (14.4%) in overall milestone attainment.
  • Gestational age (β = -0.15) and birth weight (β = -0.16) were particularly significant predictors.
  • The predictive power of factors decreased over time for later milestones.

Conclusions:

  • Gestational age and birth weight are critical prenatal predictors of infant milestone attainment.
  • Breastfeeding, institutional living, and infant growth (weight and head circumference) in the first year also showed significant associations.
  • Prenatal factors, especially those related to pregnancy and delivery, are the strongest contributors to explaining variance in early infant development.

Keywords:
Birth cohortInfant developmentLongitudinal studyMotor developmental milestonesPostnatal factorsPregnancy

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