Baby Vaccine Schedule: The First Year
Which vaccines U.S. babies receive in the first 12 months, why the visits cluster at 2, 4, 6 and 12 months, and what to write down each time.
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Parents looking for a baby vaccine schedule first year chart usually want one thing: the names, in order, by visit. In the United States those names come from the CDC child and adolescent schedule and, since January 2026, from the American Academy of Pediatrics as well. The first twelve months hold five clusters of doses — birth, roughly 1 to 2 months, 4 months, 6 months, and the stretch between 12 and 15 months.
It is a rhythm, not a spreadsheet. The visits repeat, the paperwork looks alike, and the point of learning the shape is that a month with two clinic dates stops feeling like an emergency.
What vaccines does a baby get in the first year?
The parent-facing CDC page Recommended Vaccines for Young Children, dated July 2, 2025, lays the first year out as a grid. The same doses appear, with footnotes, on the CDC child and adolescent immunization schedule by age, whose title carries the line "Addendum updated July 2, 2025."
| Visit | Vaccines the CDC pages place at this age |
|---|---|
| Birth | Hepatitis B, dose 1; an RSV antibody for some infants |
| 1-2 months | Hepatitis B dose 2, rotavirus dose 1, DTaP dose 1, Hib dose 1, pneumococcal conjugate dose 1, polio dose 1 |
| 4 months | Rotavirus dose 2, DTaP dose 2, Hib dose 2, pneumococcal dose 2, polio dose 2, COVID-19 |
| 6 months | Hepatitis B dose 3, rotavirus dose 3 for the three-dose product, DTaP dose 3, Hib dose 3, pneumococcal dose 3, polio dose 3, influenza |
| 12-15 months | Hib dose 4, pneumococcal dose 4, MMR dose 1, varicella dose 1, and the start of the hepatitis A series |
Influenza is the one row that is seasonal rather than age-based. The CDC states on Seasonal Flu Vaccine Basics that "everyone 6 months and older should get a flu vaccine every season with rare exceptions," which is why the flu line appears at the 6-month visit and then returns every autumn regardless of how tidy the well-child spacing was.
Two of those lines are not injections at all. Rotavirus is given by mouth, and the number of doses depends on which product the clinic stocks.
Why are the first-year visits bunched into so few months?
Because giving several vaccines at one appointment is deliberate, and the CDC says why. Its Multiple Vaccines at Once page states that "giving several shots at the same time means fewer office visits," that this "saves parents time and money, and can be less traumatic for the child," and that "getting multiple vaccines at the same time has been shown to be safe." The same page notes that certain combinations can cause fever and, occasionally, febrile seizures, which it describes as temporary.
The AAP makes the timing argument in its own words. On the AAP 2026 immunization schedules, which cover birth through 6 years and 7 through 18 years, it writes that "on-time immunization is important to maximize your child's protection against infections" and that "the pace has a purpose."
So the clustering is not an accident of scheduling software. Spacing every dose months apart would mean more trips, more chances to miss one, and a longer stretch before a series is finished.
Which visits will you actually circle on the calendar?
Four of them, in practice. The birth stay, the 2-month visit, the 4-month visit, and the 6-month visit, with the 12-to-15-month window as a fifth that feels different because new names appear.
Many babies already have a line on the card before they leave the hospital: hepatitis B. Write that date down before discharge, because hospital folders vanish into car doors. Why the hepatitis B dose comes so early is a short, separate story.
The middle three appointments are the same kind of visit three times — weigh, measure, questions, doses, paper in the diaper bag — and they get their own walk-through in what happens at the 2, 4 and 6 month visits.
Rotavirus is the one parents are most often surprised by, because it is oral and because its window is genuinely narrow. The CDC's rotavirus page puts the first dose before 15 weeks of age and all doses before 8 months. If a dose was missed, that is a clinic conversation rather than a makeup date you pick, and how the rotavirus window works explains why.
What does "a series" mean, and what happens if a dose is late?
A series is more than one dose of the same vaccine, spaced by a minimum interval. Dose two is not a repeat of dose one; it is the next step. Being late is not the same as being back at zero, and the CDC publishes a separate catch-up schedule so that clinicians can resume an interrupted series without restarting it.
What you should not do is assign your own dose numbers from a chart. Combination products collapse several rows into one injection, so the name on the summary may not look like the name on the schedule.
When you look at the card, read it as three questions rather than as a pile:
- Which names already have at least one date beside them?
- Which of those still say "next dose" on the after-visit summary?
- Which names have not appeared at all yet?
That is enough to walk into the next appointment without feeling ambushed. If a name is unfamiliar, ask which disease it covers and whether today's visit finishes a series or continues it.
What should you write down before you leave the parking lot?
Three things, on the day: the vaccine names exactly as the clinic wrote them, the date, and which child. The third one is obvious until there are two children and two folders.
The first year is when records start to leak. A hospital sticker, an office printout, a photo of a card already folding in a drawer. Six months later a form will ask for dates, and "sometime in the spring" does not fill a line. If the front desk can print an updated list, take it. If the practice uses a portal, log in the same evening and confirm the new lines appeared; portals lag.
A baby vaccine schedule first year record only has to live in one findable place. Vaxnext is one option for iPhone and Android — a folder per family member, reminders that work offline and without an account, and the dates staying on the phone. It is free and ad-supported, which Google Play declares as containing ads, and it shows banner and interstitial ads through AdMob. A folder that stays in the same drawer works just as well.
This page covers the first twelve months only. It does not cover the 4-to-6-year school doses, the adolescent years, or travel vaccines, and it cannot tell you whether a particular dose is due for your baby.
FAQ
Is it safe to give several vaccines at one visit?
The CDC states on its Multiple Vaccines at Once page that "getting multiple vaccines at the same time has been shown to be safe" and that scientific data show it does not cause chronic health problems. The same page notes that certain combinations can cause fever and, occasionally, brief febrile seizures. Questions about your own baby belong with your pediatrician, who knows the history.
What happens if we miss the 4-month visit?
A missed visit is common and does not normally restart a series. The CDC publishes a catch-up immunization schedule for children and adolescents, organised as 4 months through 6 years and 7 through 18 years, that gives clinicians the minimum intervals for resuming. Rotavirus is the notable exception: the CDC puts all doses before 8 months of age.
Do the CDC and AAP first-year schedules agree in 2026?
Not entirely. The AAP said on healthychildren.org, in an answer updated January 30, 2026, that the federal schedule removed several vaccines from routine recommendation and that the AAP would keep publishing its own evidence-based guidance. Both organisations post 2026 documents. Which one your practice follows is a question worth asking the practice directly.
Not medical advice. This article is general information based on public U.S. CDC and AAP pages. It does not replace a clinician. Schedules and country entry rules change — confirm the current official page and your own situation before you act.