9 month old behind on milestones (teenage, infant, toys, parents)

[houstmom]

My younger son is 9 1/2 months old and is not crawling nor pulling up on furniture. He has a very mild interest in these activities but not enough to make him do it He also doesn't use his pincher grasp to pick up small foods like cheerios. He is basically behind on his physical milestones. He is doing fine with babbling and cognitive milestones.

He rarely rolls over (when on stomach or back). I think he has rolled over maybe a total of 5 times since was born. He has been sitting w/o assistance since he was 6 months old. He gets plenty of playtime on the floor.

He has a very laid back and easy going personality. My older son (now 5) was a little slow on milestones at this time but nothing like my youngest. The pediatrician is not concerned but I worry about this all the time. I'm embarrassed to go to playgroups because he is so far behind.

Has anyone else had children who were behind on physical milestones around this age? Did your child catch up? Did there end up being some medical problem that caused this?

[Kamsack]

Originally Posted by houstmom

My younger son is 9 1/2 months old and is not crawling nor pulling up on furniture. He has a very mild interest in these activities but not enough to make him do it He also doesn't use his pincher grasp to pick up small foods like cheerios. He is basically behind on his physical milestones. He is doing fine with babbling and cognitive milestones.

He rarely rolls over (when on stomach or back). I think he has rolled over maybe a total of 5 times since was born. He has been sitting w/o assistance since he was 6 months old. He gets plenty of playtime on the floor.

He has a very laid back and easy going personality. My older son (now 5) was a little slow on milestones at this time but nothing like my youngest. The pediatrician is not concerned but I worry about this all the time. I'm embarrassed to go to playgroups because he is so far behind.

Has anyone else had children who were behind on physical milestones around this age? Did your child catch up? Did there end up being some medical problem that caused this?

I wouldnt worry. We have twin boys (14 mo. old). We were also concerned...one can pull himself up and take a few steps with assistance and only have done so since 12 mo of age. The other still doesnt show any great interest in pulling himself up. But can do so with assistance. We too were concerned as other babies who were 3 or 4 mo. younger were walking and our weren't.


In Minnesota....there is a nurse(s) that work for each county and they provide each family with info on immunizations, etc and free consultations if needed on many things. They did a one year check just for movement, etc after we expressed some concern. They had them attend a 2 hour Physical Therapy session where physcial therapists from the local hospital saw their movements and expressed their opinons. Basically they told us that our babies are very much into studying everything instead of doing things. Just like our first son who is now almost 5. He studied everything before doing anything and he was 15 mo before he walked and he is fine now.

Our twins large motor skills are on the level of a 9 mo old right now (and they are 14 mo) but they told us not to worry as our babies are well advanced mentally. They told us some very smart babies take longer to walk because they analyze everything before they do it.

I hope this made sense.... but as long as they walk before 2 yrs of age then I wouldnt be concerned (at least from what we have been told).

Dan

[golfgal]

I also think it is not uncommon for second and subsequent children or multiples to be somewhat "behind" because they don't get as much one on one attention as first children. Our oldest we spent a lot of time "playing" with him as a baby-as a result he was sitting at 4 months, crawling at 5 months and walking by 8 months, talking in complete sentences by 18 months. Our twins (b/g) were more "normal" and didn't really sit until 10 months, walked at 13 and 15 months, and really didn't say words anyone but they could understand until they were 2. Our oldest is now a senior in high school and is a normal kid. Our twin DD is pretty athletic and is a straight A student (she has played varsity golf on one of the top teams in the state since 7th grade-now a freshman). Our twin DS would LIKE to be as athletic as his sister but he isn't as coordinated-lanky teenage boy thing mosly but he is a wiz in the classroom-the kind of kid that never has to study and aces everything. Short story long, all kids develop at different paces and some kids develop physically (gross motor) first, intellectually second and other kids are flip flopped.

I know of kids that you could put in the middle of the room and they would be content for hours just to watch things going on around them and then other kids, like our oldest, that we found climbing on the kitchen counters by 14 months-he was into EVERYTHING--and still needs to know how everything 'works'. Neither is right or wrong, just different.

[121804]

Originally Posted by houstmom

The pediatrician is not concerned but I worry about this all the time. I'm embarrassed to go to playgroups because he is so far behind.

Sounds more like you struggling rather then your child.

Best thing may be to go to playgroups so your child can be surrounded by all different level learners & will pick up on things according to his schedule, not what us as parents deem as appropriate timing.

9 months is still infant. If he was 24 months, 3yrs old and so on, there is cause for concern. Many babies just start crawling or rolling over at 9 months.

My #1 started walking at 9 months but wouldn't use a fork/spoon properly until 3 yrs old. He is doing just fine in now at 4 1/2. I didn't like it, but I didn't overtly stress over it b/c I understood that a checklist is the worst thing I can do to my kids.

[Rottnboys]

Originally Posted by houstmom

My older son (now 5) was a little slow on milestones at this time but nothing like my youngest. The pediatrician is not concerned but I worry about this all the time.

houstmom - if your pediatrician isn't concerned - I would 'try' not to worry. AND - you have a 5 year old at home too - do you think it is possible the youngest gets a lot of his 'needs' met by his big brother?.....I ask because that is why our youngest son missed some of his milestones too Our youngest didn't walk as early, and didn't start talking until the was THREE I was headed to a specialist because I was convinced there was something terribly wrong. Turns out - the BIG brother could communicate with the littler guy without talking and he just took care of whatever he needed Seriously - from getting a favorite toy, to picking up a dropped sippy cup, retrieving the favorite blanket, etc.

Try not to worry - I bet your youngest catches up soon enough! And have fun with your boys - ours were a blast - and the one who didn't talk until he was three?...he's our most talkative of the two as adults!

[malamute]

Maybe he hasn't felt the need to get around. Put him out of reach of toys but where he can see them, away from everyone, like the edge of the room with nothing to do. Most likely you put him right in the middle of the room, and bring him toys so he doesn't have a real good reason to get motile.

Milestones are just a general guide, individual milestones don't mean much. You cannot watch a group of ten year olds and figure out which ones walked at 12 months and which didn't walk until 18 months.

[ADVentive]

My daughter will be having her first birthday this week, and I have been slightly worried about her milestones too. I am not *really* worried, just thinking about it a little bit I guess. She can crawl up on all fours, but she really doesn't - she prefers to pull herself along in a commando crawl. She gets around well this way, so I guess she doesn't see any need to crawl the regular way. She also can pull herself up to a stand next to a table or the couch, but she doesn't do it very often, and she doesn't cruise along. She is not at all close to walking. She also hasn't said any words yet, or any signs (we do ASL with our kids). She can only say the sounds LaLa, BaBa, MaMa, DaDa, and she can click her tongue, but she doesn't do them with meaning, just to make noise. Which wouldn't concern me so much yet, except that she also doesn't do any gestures at all - she doesn't point, or wave, or reach up when she wants to be picked up, etc. I will be asking the doctor about it at her appointment next week, but I expect that she will say that it's nothing to worry about at this point and we'll see if she's doing it yet in 6 months.

[hml1976]

My son walked at 9mths and was running by 10mths. My daughter took her first steps at 15mths and didn't run until almost 2yrs old, she first pulled up at 11mths but didn't crawl on all fours until 12mths.

My running son is super hyper and has trouble in school, my "slow" daughter is dancing two years above her age level and is an excellent student.

Worry about this stuff but don't freak out about it. At a year old if he isn't crawling I would seek advice from your pediatrician, until then enjoy your little guy for the laid back kid he apparently is

[joanchris2000]

I would love to say don't worry, but it does sound a bit troublesome. My daughter's pediatrician wasn't concerned when I brought up similar concerns when she was 9 mos, and 12 mos....finally at 15 mos I insisted that we get an evaluation done by Early intervention (each state has an EI program, search for it in your state), she was evaluated and found to be quite delayed, and began therapy right away.
With some early problems the sooner you get help (if there is a "problem") the better, and my daughter would have possibly done better had she gotten help sooner.
I'm not saying there's a problem, but why not ease your mind and get an (almost always free--sometimes a sliding fee is used) evaluation done by experts? A pediatrician spends a few minutes with a child, you're there all the time. Hopefully it's nothing, but check it out.

[121804]

Originally Posted by ADVentive

My daughter will be having her first birthday this week, and I have been slightly worried about her milestones too. I am not *really* worried, just thinking about it a little bit I guess. She can crawl up on all fours, but she really doesn't - she prefers to pull herself along in a commando crawl. She gets around well this way, so I guess she doesn't see any need to crawl the regular way. She also can pull herself up to a stand next to a table or the couch, but she doesn't do it very often, and she doesn't cruise along. She is not at all close to walking. She also hasn't said any words yet, or any signs (we do ASL with our kids). She can only say the sounds LaLa, BaBa, MaMa, DaDa, and she can click her tongue, but she doesn't do them with meaning, just to make noise. Which wouldn't concern me so much yet, except that she also doesn't do any gestures at all - she doesn't point, or wave, or reach up when she wants to be picked up, etc. I will be asking the doctor about it at her appointment next week, but I expect that she will say that it's nothing to worry about at this point and we'll see if she's doing it yet in 6 months.

My SILs #2 is 16 months & just started crawling & picking up some foods. Last month she stood on her own for the first time. Her FIL is her ped & has never been concerned.

I think the real concerns start to arise starting at 24mn +; especially the 3yr old time period.


Raising children is an adventure,that is for sure.