9 months old not rolling, or crawling...

[xXjunebugXx]

My daughter has just turned 9 months old. She can sit well but she was late with that too. She started sitting at 7.5 months. She doesn't roll, won't even try with lots of encouragement given, she can't crawl, can't pull herself up. All the other babies her age are crawling and some are walking round the furniture.
Should I be concerned? She seems to be behind all the babies at group. I'm starting to worry little bit. she has been a slow gainer weight wise but recently is gaining a lot and the health visitor has said it's because she isn't mobile. They have said if she isn't rolling in the next month go back to them and they might need to refer her, although I'm not sure what for?

Anyone else have babies that were developing their skills more slowly?

[Jo4040]

My baby who is six months old looks like a four n half month old when he is next to my friends baby (both babies were born Xmas eve). He's not sitting up, holding things, or going on his tummy half as much. Every baby is different I suppose x

[Artandco]

I wouldn't be at that age. Neither of mine crawled for more than a few days before walking and running at 12 ish months. At 9 months they mainly laid on floor or were in sling still

[Orangeisthenewbanana]

They don't use crawling as a milestone any more as a significant number of children never actually do it. DD was 10.5 months when she started crawling. The rolling is probably more significant but it's really hard to know how much of a problem it is as babies are all so different.

They'll probably refer to physio or a paediatrician if they still have concerns next month. Slight delay in some areas is not that unusual. In the meantime, make sure she has lots of tummy time and try to put toys to one side of her/just out of reach to encourage her to roll/move.

[00100001]

9 months is really young to be walking!

Can she sit up unaided?

[Bejeena]

My boy was closer to 10 months when he started crawling and it all came together quite quickly he was rolling and then not long after he crawled, then sitting, then pulling himself up.

I am not quite sure how she can sit if she can't roll, do you mean you put her to sit? We didn't do this so I can't compare.

She sounds normal enough to me and I wouldn't be a bit concerned at this point she is probably just taking things in at the moment.

[IShallCallYouSquishy]

My DD rolled for the first time and crawled for the first time on the same day at 9.5 months. At just tuned 9 months she wasn't even looking like trying to crawl

[tidalwaveover]

Bejeena "do you mean you put her to sit? We didn't do this so I can't compare. " eh? You mean you've never plonked a baby down on the floor in a sitting position? Surely people do this all the time? I certainly did? How do you put your babies down then? Face down in a crawl position? Flat on their backs?

OP - my first was like this. She had physio around 10.5 months - they basically just encouraged loads and loads of tummy time. She hated tummy time so I had to bribe her with snacks to do it.

Within a couple of weeks there was a massive difference, she started rolling, pushing up to a sit and crawled at about 11.5 months. Walked at 14.

She's 7 now and probably won't win any races at sports day but there's certainly nothing wrong with her mobility.

[tidalwaveover]

Oh, and she's also extremely bright in case you get any weirdos around you who start conflating early mobility with intelligence.

[AbbeyRoadCrossing]

My DS is 9 months and only sat unsupported recently, and can roll back to front but not the other way. I was at the doctor about something else recently and mentioned it and he wasn't bothered as the normal age range is quite wide.
I didn't walk until I was nearly 2, and I'm 34 and haven't crawled yet so I guess everyone is different.
You are doing the right thing to see health professionals if it worries you though

[bakingtins]

I'd encourage you to keep chasing it up, not because I think at this point there is anything wrong, but because they are so slow to do anything, you want to be in the system as early as possible. My DD has a type of epilepsy that causes cognitive impairment and development delay and, even knowing that, it took 3 months to get a paediatrician appointment from the point of HV referral. HV should do an 'ages and stages' questionnaire, which flags up if there are concerns in each area and has trigger points for referral, so not crawling would not trigger referral but failure to meet any of the gross motor milestones would. For 9-11 months they are support their own weight when standing holding your hands, sit for several minutes without using hands for support, stand holding e.g. Crib rail without leaning on chest for support, bend from standing to pick something up and return to standing, lower self from standing with control, walk beside furniture holding on with one hand. They need to be able to do 3 of the above to 'pass' but I guess they would be less worried about a 9m old who couldn't do these than an 11m old. We paid privately for a physio assessment to make sure there were no problems with muscle tone, flexibility, core strength etc and it was £40 well spent for the reassurance it was a development issue not a physical one. We were given some exercises to improve core strength and told to do lots of tummy time and be a bit mean with putting toys out of reach and letting her figure it out. She is making progress and is now at 13m mobile with a combination of rolling, pivoting on her tummy, surfing on the back of her head and commando crawling. She still can't transition to sitting, though she can sit for ages, and I do absolutely 'plonk her sitting' sometimes so she has her hands free to practice fine motor stuff. She can't pull to standing but can stand well holding something. The paediatrician would normally have done some tests to look for the cause of the delays but we already know why.
In your shoes I'd ask the HV to do the ages and stages questionnaire on her next visit. It looks at other areas of development too - it may be your daughter has been working on fine motor, communication, personal-social or problem solving at the expense of gross motor skills, and that motivation to get moving will come next.

[Bejeena]

Tidelwaveover no we didn't plonk him in a sitting position, always on tummy, or if he really couldn't stand it on his back. Google it and you will see the theory behind it, don't leave a baby in a position they can't move into themselves. We did it and it worked for us, he never say until he could sit by himself, makes a lot more sense when you think about it and lots of counties, including where I love recommend not putting them to sit.

We had the same issue when we decided not to hold both his hands for him to walk, hence he didn't walk until almost 16 months but once he cracked it he was off. I find it hard to understand why people don't get the logic behind it personally and particularly the not walking with holding hands thing saved us weeks and months of back and forth doing it!

[tidalwaveover]

I cab to google it my DC are 5 and 7 and walking around just dandy

[tidalwaveover]

Cba!

[tidalwaveover]

I can't picture how he got fed solids bejena? Presumably you didn't sit him in a highchair? How did that work?

[Quietlifenotonyournelly]

Was she born prematurely? Sometimes that can affect milestones. My sisters son never crawled, or pulled up onto furniture etc he just did a bit of bum shuffling then at 15 months started to walk.

[Gwynfluff]

My dd was exactly the same. She's just about to turn 12 and on a national sports team. She started crawling at 9.5 months and rolled at well over 10. TBH I had no concerns and neither did my HV - but a good idea to chat it through, rather than worry.

[WorldsBiggestGrotbag]

Im confused about not putting babies in a sitting position too... Like tidal says how did you feed solid food?

[WorldsBiggestGrotbag]

Also mine could sit unaided and put herself in a sitting position before she could roll. If you lay her on her front she would crawl her hands up until she was in a sitting position, if you put her on her back she would use her stomach muscles to sit up. She did both of these things at 6 months but didn't roll until she crawled at 8 months.

[xXjunebugXx]

Weirdly she can roll tummy to back! She will immediately roll onto her back then not budge and will cry and cry until she is picked up. My eldest rolls around the floor tying to encourage her and I have placed toys and mobiles and tv remotes for her to roll too but she won't even try, she just gets very upset.
She sits unaided but can't put herself in that position but she can sit for long periods of time.
I won't worry about it and not compare her. Very helpful ladies, many thanks x

[Bejeena]

www.janetlansbury.com/2012/04/sitting-babies-up-the-downside/

This is basically what the logic behind it was. We did start using a high chair from about 8 months so he did sit in that for his meals, I was just talking about general awake time.

[BentleyBelly]

My daughter crawled at 13 months, walked just after 18 months. Try not to worry and enjoy not having to run around after her!

[Artandco]

Oh I was very glad ds1 didn't crawl much and just walked at 13 months. Ds2 was born when he eldest was 15 months so at least I didn't have whole pregnancy chasing a crawling baby around!