A community health nurse is assessing a 6-month-old infant during a home visit. Which assessment finding most strongly suggests the infant is meeting expected developmental milestones?

Appeared in: RRB Nsg. Superintendent-2026 (Shift -3rd)

Explanation

At 6 months, an infant is expected to achieve specific gross and fine motor skills.
Sitting with support is a key gross motor milestone for this age, indicating developing trunk control.
Transferring objects from one hand to the other is a classic fine motor skill that emerges around 5-6 months, showing improved coordination and cognitive development.

Option B: Skipping meals and anhedonia (inability to feel pleasure) are significant red flags for illness, feeding disorders, or developmental delays, not expected milestones.
Option C: Two-word sentences are a language milestone for toddlers, typically achieved around 24 months of age.
Option D: Walking and running are gross motor skills achieved later, usually between 12-18 months.

Visual 1: Chart - A chart illustrating the typical developmental milestones (gross motor, fine motor, language, social) for infants from birth to 12 months. This provides a quick reference for the nurse and student.
Visual 2: Illustration - A simple drawing showing an infant sitting with pillows for support while holding a toy, visually representing the correct answer.

Clinical Relevance

Nursing practice connection: Use the key finding related to Developmental milestones for a 6-month-old infant to guide bedside assessment, documentation, and the next nursing action.
Assessing developmental milestones is a core function of pediatric and community health nursing. Early identification of delays allows for timely intervention and improved outcomes.
Nurses use standardized screening tools like the Denver Developmental Screening Test (DDST) to formally assess milestones and communicate findings with parents and healthcare providers.
What if? If the 6-month-old infant was showing a persistent head lag when pulled to sit and was not reaching for objects, the nurse's priority would shift from routine assessment to identifying a potential developmental delay and initiating a referral for further evaluation.

How to Approach the Question

First, identify the key information in the question stem: the patient's age (6 months) and the core task (identifying expected developmental milestones).
Recall the typical developmental timeline for infants. Mentally review the expected gross motor, fine motor, and language skills for a 6-month-old.
Evaluate each option against the 6-month milestone framework.
Option A: 'Sits with support' and 'transfers objects' are classic 6-month skills. This is a strong candidate.
Option B: 'Skips meals' and 'anhedonia' are negative signs/red flags, not milestones. Eliminate this.
Options C and D: 'Two-word sentences' and 'walking/running' are milestones for much older children (toddlers). Eliminate these.

Concept Tested & Keywords

Concept Tested: Developmental milestones for a 6-month-old infant.
Stem keywords: community health nurse, 6-month-old infant, home visit, developmental milestones
Lead-in keywords: most strongly suggests
Clinical cues: Age: 6-month-old infant - This is the critical detail for determining the correct developmental stage.
Negative lead-in flag: false

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Practise the full RRB Nsg. Superintendent-2026 (Shift -3rd)

Attempt every question from this paper in a timed mock, then review the full solution for each one.