# What age range is a "toddler"?



## audenough

I used to think toddlers referred to any baby that had begun to walk but I'm finding that isn't how the word is used in forums. What age makes a baby a toddler? My DS is 13 months. Do I belong here or in the "Life with babe" forum?


----------



## ann_of_loxley

Perhaps there is an official world wide dictionary based defenition to the terms! lol

For me though:

Birth to 3 months = 'Newborn'
3 months to 18 months = 'baby'
18 months to 4 years = 'toddler'
4 years to 12 = 'Child'
13 to 15 = 'teenager'
16 to 18 = 'young adult'

lmao! - Well there you have it. 'Anns' deffenitions! lol


----------



## lexbeach

I generally think of toddlers as ranging in age from 12 to 36 months. But just check out the threads in each forum, and then decide which place seems like a better fit.


----------



## leximom

I have always considered toddler at 12 months too. I have always wondered about the ending point of the toddler age though...as far as where to post I don't think it really matters


----------



## Eliseatthebeach

Quote:


Originally Posted by *lexbeach* 
I generally think of toddlers as ranging in age from 12 to 36 months. But just check out the threads in each forum, and then decide which place seems like a better fit.









:

ITA Personally, I think beyond 36 months is more child and less toddler. And 12 months is really where most babies make a pretty big shift in their abilities. Every child is different though.


----------



## Benji'sMom

I think a toddler starts at the average age that children learn to walk, so how old is that? 12 months?


----------



## blue butterfly

i think of toddler going from around 1 to 3. about 4 they seem more like a "kid"


----------



## GooeyRN

toddlers are ages 12 months-36 months. Then they are pre-school aged until age 6. 6-12 years is school age/child hood years


----------



## Golden

I think of a toddler as walking til 36 months. Then a preschooler til 5 or so.


----------



## ananas

12 months-3 is my own personal definition.


----------



## askew

I think 12-36 months as well, but some will seem to fit later and for longer. KWIM?


----------



## onyxravnos

My ds is also 13months. I bounce around between the toddler board and the life with a babe one... mostly I moved over here because the issues we are dealing with.... walking, talking, gentle discipline, potty training are not things that are needed to be dealt with when I had a 'babe'.


----------



## wombatclay

I feel like "baby" applies until somewhere around the first birthday, then toddler until somewhere between 3 and 4 years of age. Some individual kiddos sooner or later than others, but by 4 I think most kids are, well, "kids".

In terms of mdc, I think a lot of birth groups move from _Life with a Babe_ to _Toddlers_ when their little ones turn one. And then again from Toddlers to the Childhood section sometime between 3 and 4. But individual posts make more sense in different places and individual kiddos may fit in more than one section at a time.


----------



## treqi

I think toddler is from walking (so it could be as early as 8 or 9mos) until 3-4ish depends on the kid?


----------



## Eloise1980

I would probably say from 1-3 too. However my DS was 3 in November and I don't feel he quite fits into the 'Childhood' forum yet.


----------



## elizaveta

Personally I've always considered it ages 1 to 3.


----------



## SHAIL

There is an official world wide dictionary based defenition to the terms!

For me though:

Birth to 3 months = 'Newborn'
3 months to 24 months = 'baby'
2 years:smile: to 4 years = 'toddler'
4 years to 12 = 'Child'
13 to 15 = 'teenager'
16 to 18 = 'young adult':smile:


----------



## Asiago

Age 1-4.
Occasionally I see (read) age 1-5, but more often 1-4.


----------



## cynthiamoon

I know this is an old thread, but I was curious about this too! I still think of my 16 mo old as both baby and toddler, but definitely think that since about 12 mos of age, she's more toddler than baby. I think they are "our" babies forever though! 

For me, a toddler means a baby who is, or is beginning to:

walk confidently
eat meals with the family
trying to communicate in a learned way rather than just instinctive ways (like signs or first syllable of words vs. crying, babbling, body language) 

letting go of that perpetual-mommy-cling mentality in favor of exploring
paying more attention to social interactions with people outside of the immediate family

Those last two especially might come much later than walking and talking!! But to me that's really the sign your baby is more of a toddler.


----------



## Metasequoia

I've always said toddler goes from 12 months to 5 years. Once they turn 5, they're children. 

Am I the only one who goes by children's clothing sizes? :lol

Gap and Old Navy run all the way up to 5T, so apparently it's not uncommon for people to consider 5 a toddler, even. 

My guy is 4 yrs, 2 months and I definitely consider him a toddler. When he's 5, I'll think of him more like a "kid."


----------



## [email protected]

The Oxford English Dictionary defines a toddler as "a child who is beginning to walk" and one of the meanings of the word "toddle" as "walk with short unsteady steps like those of a small child". So, while there can't be a hard and fast rule age-wise, most of the children from one to two years would fall in this category. After two years or a little more, their gait acquires steadiness and they begin to run. Individual cases, however, do differ. We, being mothers, feel that our children are still very tender and continue to need care and caution even in respect of walking at thirty months, so we might extend it to 36 months (three years). After three years, I think, that they should be referred as 'small child / boy / girl' or 'kid'.


----------



## MPsSweetie

1-3 definitely, after that they're just a kid!


----------



## Emanresu

I think of toddler for ages 1-2. Then preschooler for ages 3-4. Kid is 5 and up.


----------



## Serafina33

I agree with everyone, 12-36 months are the two toddler years and then they are little kiddos!


----------

