Why do people refer to their child’s age in months before they’re two years old? What’s the history behind that? Wouldn’t it be easier to refer to a child who is 16 months old as one year old?
Thanks! :dubious:
Haven’t got kids yet, eh? 
There is a vast differance between a child who has just turned one and a child who is nearly two. Within that year the child will go from crawling or barely walking to running. A newly minted one year old can make a fair bit of noise, but an almost - two may be able to speak in sentances.
Cutting the year into months makes it much easier for people to have a good idea of what stage the child is at. At that age even a couple of months can make a huge differance.
Because at these ages even 4 months make a significant difference.
Heck, at that age, a couple of weeks can make a difference. Toddlers grow and develop at an amazing rate.
[hijack]My beloved aunt got pregnant last year through IVF (she was on The Pill for many years to control her womanly business) and gave birth to twins, a boy Joshua and a girl Olivia. Olivia’s older by two minutes and they’re almost six months old. I went and saw them when they were two days old and they were so little and fragile. The other day, Josh rolled over onto his tummy and even managed to sort his arms out comfortably. Yesterday, Olivia managed to displace her nappy enough so that she could poo AND vomit on the floor quilt my mother made for them. They’re so talented!!
I love those two, I have a photo of them next to me. But you’re right, I thought kids grew slower than other things especially since I heard those dog food ads that stated that a dog grows as much in its first year as a human in its first seventeen. I’m now questioning that statement but putting it to rest as I recall the first year of my Rottweiler’s life. He went from the size of a chiuahaha that could hide UNDER the couch and sleep there all day to the beasty bear thing that keeps our house safe at night and our couch so lovingly coated in thick black dog hair. Kids grow up so fast and I only just realized it recently. Pardon my blathering. [/hijack]
And how would you propose we refer to children who are less than one year old? “How old is your baby?” “Zero.” Seems a bit odd.
So, I don’t suppose you want to hear about my 128-month old, my 103-month old or my 92-month old… 
Zev Steinhardt
From birth to one year, a baby’s age is stated in months; but I took the OPs question “Why do people refer to their child’s age in months before they’re two years old?” to be about the use of months to state age between 1 year and 2 years old.
From the explanations here, I can understand why one might need to clarify in months instead of just saying a little over 1 year old, or almost 2, but for those of us without kids…well, some of us…we find it odd because we aren’t really looking for the details of why it makes a difference to clarify the number of months.
I can’t stand the commercial (and it’s for “Swiffer” not a baby product!) where the woman says “I just recently had a baby, well, she’s 14 months…”. I always think, why didn’t she just say I have a one year old or a 14 month old, instead of saying I “recently” had a baby and then have to clarify that by saying “14 months”. She also says her husband was worried about the baby’s contact with “the germs”. :rolleyes:
I guess you have to have kids to really appreciate the use of months in stating age.
I am, by the way, 399 months old. 