Picking up small things with finger and thumb
Most babies can pick up small things between just their thumb and first finger at around 9 months. A rougher version, using the other fingers too, comes earlier, at about 6½ months.
How sure are we?
Not sure yet. Only one study has measured this so far, though it was large and in four countries. How we know this
What it’s a sign of
Your baby's fingers are becoming precise enough for tiny things, like a crumb or a pea.
Grasping with the fingertips takes over gradually rather than all at once, and by the second year it is the main way babies pick things up.
We don't yet know the age by which nearly all babies use this grip.
A main source for the ages
Similarities and differences in child development from birth to age 3 years by sex and across four countries: a cross-sectional, observational study
Ilgi Ozturk Ertem, Vibha Krishnamurthy, Mphelekedzeni C. Mulaudzi, Yanina Sguassero, Hakan Balta, Ozlem Gulumser · 2018 · Lancet Global Health
- Children
- About 4,900 healthy children
- Where
- Argentina, India, South Africa and Turkey
- Ages
- Birth to 3½ years
- How
- Trained staff asked parents open questions about what their child could do, at health clinics
- What it found
- Found the age by which half of children reached more than 100 milestones. Most came at similar ages in all four countries, and for boys and girls. For example, half of children waved bye-bye by about 11 months and said a first word by about 9 months.
- Limits
- Only four countries and no rural areas, children from city clinics, and only healthy children (about half of those who came were left out for health reasons). It gives the age for half of children, not the full spread.
A main source for the ages
The development of prehension in infants: Halverson revisited
George E. Butterworth, E. Verweij, Brian Hopkins · 1997 · British Journal of Developmental Psychology
- Children
- Not given in the summary we read
- Where
- Not given in the summary we read
- Ages
- 6 to 20 months
- How
- Researchers watched babies pick up objects
- What it found
- Grasping with the fingertips gradually takes over from whole-hand grasping, and by the second year it is the main way babies pick things up.
- Limits
- We have only read the summary, which gives no ages for the finger-and-thumb grip.
If you’re worried about your child, talk to your child and family health nurse or GP.
Last checked 2 November 2026