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I'm going to echo the advice of others here, what does your pediatrician say? If you're not satisfied with his/her answers, seek a second opinion. Sometimes, children are just late. Sometimes, it's an early sign something is wrong but only a doctor who has seen your daughter is qualified to decide which it is.
Milestones are general developmental markers, however, if your gut tells you something isn't right, speak to your peditiatrician, who should be tracking this or look for a developmental pediatrician.
Don't try to self-diagnose, especially from the internet - It WILL drive you crazy..
Good luck
Well said. Trust your gut and talk to your pediatrician. And try very hard (which I know is nearly impossible) to wear "mommy earplugs" when it comes to your child.
So-called helpful people are always happy to share how their child is walking at 6 months, how their child was potty trained by age 1, how their child is reading Pride & Prejudice at age 5. Most of those parents are emphasizing the good parts because if they are reading P&P, then they haven't been potty trained yet or they still wet the bed.
Just keep telling yourself that your child will grow at their own pace and as long as you have a good pediatrician who can diagnose any problems, you will just have to come up with some good lines for "well meaning" friends..."Oh, your child is riding their bike without training wheels on his 2nd birthday? How great for you." And leave it at that.
Eventually you will develop the "mommy callus" which allows people to say things that won't get under your skin! I didn't get mine until my oldest was 5 (she's 7 now).
I brought my son to his 6-month well visit in tears. He was not rolling over yet, and I was convinced that there was something wrong with him. My pediatrician said "don't worry," over and over again. He tested his muscle control, how he held up his head, etc, and said that he was perfectly fine, just a late bloomer.
He rolled over around 7 months, crawled at about 10, started cruising at 11 months, and did not walk until 14 months. He also wasn't babbling much. I was so worried.
Right around his second birthday, he started speaking in complete sentences, very clearly. Once he started walking, he rarely fell down. It seemed as though he bloomed late, but he bloomed fully once he was ready.
He also had not the slightest interest in reading and did not learn until he turned 7. Now he's nine and reads several grade levels ahead. He's active and athletic, never stops talking, and is a whiz at math.
Every kid is different. I know it seems nerve-wracking, but if the pediatrician is not concerned, then give her more time. If your gut is telling you that something is amiss, take her for a second and third opinion, but it's definitely not unheard of to have a six-month-old refusing to roll over.
Ok, I will be the lone dissenter--everyone is focusing on the rolling over but she also mentioned other things a baby at 6 months SHOULD be doing and isn't. It isn't that the baby missed ONE milestone, she has missed them ALL.
OP, does your baby babble or coo? Does she recognize you-does she get excited to see you if you have been gone? If you make faces/stick out your tongue, does she try to copy what you are doing? Does she look you in the eye?
It's no problem. My youngest missed a couple milestones. She's fine. If you pedi says she's fine, trust your doc.
My oldest missed a milestone completely. She never crawled on her knees. She went from scooting, to walking with furniture to walking. The entire time she should have been crawling, she just scooted on her butt.
Also, you need to win the battle with tummy time. Meaning, she hates it, and it sounds like she is not fixing the problem by turning over, but by convincing Mama to turn her over. Don't let her win this fight. She will learn to turn over once she learns Mama won't do it for her.
hi,
my baby DD is 6 mths old and she hasn't reached any of her milestone. looks like she's still in her 3 mths stage. She'll be 7 mths next friday & still cannot roll over, army crawl, sit unsupported, grab things, clap hands & feed herself some bits of crackers..
she cannot do any of those at all!!!!!!!!!
she's born normal @ 39 weeks and i was normal during pregnancy.
i'm getting very frustrated now.
does anyone else have the same situation or have been through this but turns out the baby is fine & healthy???
Two things -- is the baby understimulated? For example how is the day care or babysitting situation, is the baby left in one spot, or second is the baby held too much and not allowed to try to explore?
Sometimes babies are perfectly happy because someone is holding them, carrying them around all the time and so they make no effort to try to do much.
I agree with the PP that there's a difference between missing one milestone and missing ALL milestones. That said, some of the desired milestones are inaccurate--a 7-month-old certainly shouldn't be eating any sort of finger food. Finger food isn't supposed to be offered until babies can sit completely unsupported on their own. At 7 months, a baby has only been eating solids for a month--OP, you should still be working through the very first soft foods at this point, not trying to feed crackers!
But yeah, you have to force tummy time. It doesn't have to be on the floor, though--it can be against a boppy, or on your stomach as you lie on the floor, or on your knees. But you have to do it, and it's far from the last time you'll have to make your kid do something they'd rather not do.
I worried about the same sort of things when my kids were babies. Finally my mom told me that by 4 years of age they will be walking, talking and quit peeing in their pants and I needed to quit comparing them to everything I was reading.
She was right. Each one developed at their own pace excelling in some and being slower in others.
As long as your pediatrician is not concerned at this point.....you probably shouldn't be either.
Is grandma going with you to the ped? I ask this because grandma is the primary caregiver 24/7 and mom visits the baby on the weekends.
If grandma has a certain opinion on how the baby should be cared for (and we learned from the "how much should I pay my mom for daycare?" thread that cultural differences do exist in this situation) it could be affecting the baby's development in regards to what is normal for our culture and its stress on independence.
OP what is your mom doing during the week as far as tummy time, self-feeding, etc...
I don't want to scare the OP, but I think a second opinion is in order. My son was also not doing any of the things the OP mentioned, and his pedi said he was fine. I pushed for a second opinion, and turned out he has cerebral palsy. Doctors aren't always right,that is for sure!
Last edited by KsStorm; 02-21-2010 at 08:11 PM..
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