Fifteen to seventeen months: a confident walker with opinions

Typical range; your paediatrician tracks your child on a growth chart. Weight gain slows to about 200 g a month, and an active toddler looks leaner than a six-month-old baby. Head circumference is still checked.

• Many children walk well without support, stop and turn, squat to pick something up and may try to climb onto the sofa.
• Stacking two blocks, putting objects into a container and taking them out, turning thick cardboard pages.
• Many children say 3–10 words, use the same sound consistently for a particular thing, and follow a simple instruction without a gesture.
• Pointing to one or two body parts ("Where is your nose?") and to familiar pictures when you name them.
• Scribbling with a crayon held in a fist, and pointing to show you interesting things, then looking back at your face.
• Tantrums begin when wishes and words do not match. Wariness of strangers and crying when you leave (separation anxiety) peak around this age and are a sign of healthy attachment.

• At 16 months the national calendar gives DTP-4 (diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus) and OPV-4 (polio). Soreness at the injection site and a mild fever for a day or two are common; paracetamol in a dose for the child's weight may be given, and you should call the doctor if the fever is above 39 °C or lasts longer than 48 hours.
• A routine check-up: weight, length and head circumference, a look at the teeth and the gait, and questions about words and play. Tell the paediatrician if your child still walks on tiptoe, limps or clearly favours one side.
• Ask about iron and vitamin D if this has not been settled; pale skin, tiredness and poor appetite can be signs of anaemia, and a blood count is a simple test.

• Balls to throw and chase, push toys, pull-along toys on a string, and safe stairs to practise under your eye.
• Blocks, stacking rings, simple shape-sorters and pots with lids to open and close.
• Thick crayons on big sheets of paper, water play in a basin on the floor, sand or flour in a tray to pour and dig; supervise closely.
• Keep reading every day and naming everything you see on a walk. Speak the language that comes naturally to you; in bilingual homes mixing is normal.
• Tantrums: stay calm and close, name the feeling ("you are angry, you wanted the cup"), keep the limit, and offer a hug once the storm passes. Distraction works better than long explanations.
• Home safety: a walker who climbs reaches tabletops. Turn pot handles inwards, keep hot tea off low tables, fence the tandir, guard windows and balconies, lock up medicines and hold hands near roads. Car seat on every trip, no screens before 2.