The CDC Changed the Milestones—But Did Anyone Notice?

And what does it really mean for the nervous system, posture, and early development?

In the past month I did 2 Instagram posts on this topic and they both BLEW up. You can view them here:

aleenakanner

A post shared by @aleenakanner

aleenakanner

A post shared by @aleenakanner

DMs poured in from parents, OTs, SLPs, PTs—everyone saying the same thing:
They’ve seen it happening too.
Kids showing up with delays that no one caught early on.
Milestones skipped. Motor skills lagging.
But now, instead of asking why, we’re just redefining the delay as normal.

Crawling was removed.
Walking was delayed.
Running now isn’t expected until 24 months.

In 2022, the CDC updated its developmental milestone guidelines—quietly, and without much public discussion.
What used to be considered a delay is now being reframed as “normal.”
And that shift should make every practitioner, parent, and therapist stop and think.

This isn’t just a change in language.
It’s a change in expectations.
And it’s coming at a cost.

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🧠 Milestones Aren’t Arbitrary

Developmental milestones—like rolling, sitting, crawling, standing, walking—aren’t just cute achievements to celebrate in a baby book. They are neurological checkpoints, tied deeply to brain development, postural control, reflex integration, and sensory-motor processing.

Every skipped or delayed milestone has downstream consequences.
Not always in dramatic ways, but in subtle ones:

• Difficulty regulating emotion

• Poor balance or coordination

• Vision and convergence issues

• Delayed speech or motor planning

• Postural asymmetries that persist into adulthood

When a baby skips crawling, they’re not “getting ahead.”
They’re bypassing a foundational movement that wires the brain for cross-patterning, proprioception, and upper-lower integration.

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🔍 A Side-by-Side Comparison

Take a look at how the CDC’s developmental milestones have shifted—from 1990 to 2022:

Motor Milestone
1990 Age → 2022 Age

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These aren’t small changes.

We’re talking about 6–9 months of delay now being labeled “within range.” And with crawling completely removed, we’re no longer just shifting timelines—we’re erasing essential motor patterns altogether.

But here’s the thing:
The nervous system hasn’t evolved that quickly.
Development doesn’t just change without reason.
It adapts to stress. And right now, that stress is everywhere.

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⚠️ The Bigger Picture

These changes aren’t happening in a vacuum.
They’re unfolding alongside massive shifts in modern childhood:

📱 Exploding screen time—even in infancy
🪑 Container culture—babies spending hours in swings, bouncers, and car seats
💉 Over 70+ interventions now on the childhood medical schedule before age 18
☣️ Environmental toxicity—microplastics, heavy metals, EMFs, mold, and more
🏃‍♀️ Less floor time and natural movement—more overstimulation, less integration

So instead of questioning why development is changing, we’re quietly shifting the bar to match the dysfunction.

That’s not progress. That’s adaptive symptom management.

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🔁 What Needs to Shift

We need to stop normalizing dysfunction.
We need to reclaim these milestones for what they are:
Essential steps in nervous system development.

If you’re a parent, therapist, or educator, here’s what you can do:

✔️ Encourage floor time—yes, even if they hate tummy time
✔️ Avoid devices that bypass natural motor development (like walkers or jumpers)
✔️ Watch your child’s pattern—not the timeline
✔️ Create an environment that supports slow, intentional exploration—not acceleration

And most importantly:
Start asking why.
Because behind every skipped milestone is a nervous system doing the best it can—often without the support it really needs.

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Keep Learning,

❤️ Aleena