The phase map
Daisy’s 35 phases are an original organizing framework from birth through the sixth birthday. They are not “leaps,” a validated screening instrument, a developmental diagnosis, or a promise that a skill appears inside a narrow window.
Version-one founder sign-off
I reviewed Daisy phases 1–35, version 1, for source alignment, internal consistency, general educational scope, and Daisy’s safety-language requirements. I approve these versions for release as general educational content. This is founder clinical sign-off.
Alexis Sotomayor
Founding medical editor
Review date: August 9, 2026
This is founder editorial review. It is not represented as an institutional endorsement, independent review, or professional medical certification.
How a phase is reviewed
- Draft original language around development, connection, communication, thinking, movement, sleep, feeding, play, normal variation, caregiver support, and clinician-contact guidance.
- Map claims to the source registry and use probabilistic language such as “may,” “often,” and “you might notice.”
- Check red flags, safe-sleep language, feeding limits, prematurity context, disability and neurodiversity framing, and emergency routing.
- Complete a separate clinical-content review pass and record the version, signatory, date, sources, limitations, and decision.
- Publish only an approved immutable version. Any substantive change becomes a new draft version and requires another sign-off.
Core source anchors
- CDC developmental milestones
- CDC developmental monitoring and screening
- AAP developmental surveillance and screening
- AAP infant safe-sleep recommendations
- AASM child sleep-duration advisory
The complete registry also includes age-specific CDC milestone pages, CDC infant-feeding resources, current AAP policy statements, and family-facing AAP guidance. Source presence does not mean a publisher endorses Daisy.
AI boundaries
Ask Daisy receives only approved phase context. It returns a structured educational response with urgency, next steps, red flags, and an escalation destination. It is instructed not to diagnose, prescribe, calculate medication doses, or replace care. Known crisis phrases route to emergency guidance before ordinary moderation, quotas, or model inference. Parents can flag a response for priority safety review.
Corrections and specialist escalation
Uncertain or unusually safety-sensitive claims should be escalated to an appropriately qualified pediatric, feeding, sleep, speech-language, behavioral-health, or child-development professional. A consultation is never claimed publicly unless documented for that version. Material corrections retire—not overwrite—the prior approved record.