How to remember PEDS key milestones and toys?

[carti, BSN, RN]

I certainly don't want to kill a kid patient because a give him a hand puppet instead of a thick crayon.

I just feel like it's impossible to know milestones for a baby when he's 1 month, 2 months, 3 months, 4 months, etc. Not to mention those milestones for 2 year olds, 3 year olds, etc.

Also, not to mention learning how to know if a baby putting objects in a box by 7 months is ok or a 5 year old being able to throw a ball overhand vs. underhand. Also learning if a 2 year old can hop on 2 feet instead of 1?

Any tips? Is learning why a 2 year old should build 6 blocks insted of 4 going to be a key indicator of a diagnosis if he fails to do it ? My god

[adventure_rn, MSN, NP]

Are you asking for the sake of the NCLEX, or in actual practice?

On the NCLEX, I doubt you'll be asked such specific questions on developmental milestones. In practice, it just comes with time and experience. Once you work with enough kids, you'll get to know whether they're developmentally appropriate or not (and no, it has literally nothing to do with knowing how many blocks they have the capacity to stack). If a kid isn't developmentally appropriate, you should get that in report and be able to read about it in the notes.

Unless you are planning to become a developmental psychologist, or perhaps a physical or occupational therapist, very few of the things you're stressing about come up in actual practice.

As an aside, in the healthcare setting, we use a ton of stuff that would be considered a choking hazard around little kids. For better or worse, there are always disposible things like IV caps, vial caps, plastic needle covers, etc. laying around, often within reach of the toddlers. Long story short, I don't think there's any chance that you'll "kill a kid patient by giving him a hand puppet instead of a thick crayon." If every peds patient died after being in the vicinity of a choking hazard, there would be no peds patients.

[Miss.LeoRN]

I have three kids so this was easy for me. One of my classmates equated it to buying presents for her nephew. Another made flashcards.

[KelRN215, BSN, RN]

For babies, key developmental milestones are: lift their head by 3 months, sit by 6 months, crawl by 9 months and walk around 1 year. Remember it as neck by 3 months, waist by 6 months, knees by 9 months and feet by 1 year. That's how I was told to remember it in nursing school at least.

Regarding your other specific questions, I've been a pediatric nurse for 11 years and I have no idea how many blocks a 2 year old is supposed to stack. I can't imagine a situation where this would be something a nurse would be assessing.

Most of the patients I work with are developmentally delayed anyway. I literally do not have a single patient on my caseload under the age of 3 who is not in early intervention nor do I have any 3 or 4 year olds who are not in public preschool with services.

[KelRN215, BSN, RN]

Unless you are planning to become a developmental psychologist, or perhaps a physical or occupational therapist, very few of the things you're stressing about come up in actual practice.

Yes, this. Nurses no not assess a child's ability to stack blocks. PT or OT might.

[carti, BSN, RN]

For babies, key developmental milestones are: lift their head by 3 months, sit by 6 months, crawl by 9 months and walk around 1 year. Remember it as neck by 3 months, waist by 6 months, knees by 9 months and feet by 1 year. That's how I was told to remember it in nursing school at least.

Regarding your other specific questions, I've been a pediatric nurse for 11 years and I have no idea how many blocks a 2 year old is supposed to stack. I can't imagine a situation where this would be something a nurse would be assessing.

Most of the patients I work with are developmentally delayed anyway. I literally do not have a single patient on my caseload under the age of 3 who is not in early intervention nor do I have any 3 or 4 year olds who are not in public preschool with services.

Sorry but I saw this on my ATI chapters, plus it was a question/rationale at the end of the chapter.

asking for nclex/peds tests purposes