15m Development. Have a 'nagging feeling.' Please help.

[HaveYouSeenMySerotonin]

Hi there,

I've NC for this because I'm slightly ashamed of how many times I've posted worrying about DD(15m)'s development. I'm a first time mum and the lack of access to HV has been difficult as I never really know what's normal/what's not and have no real experience of babies to compare!

I'm just going to bullet point things I'm concerned/not concerned about as my brain is a little foggy at the moment (I will preface by saying I was diagnosed with PND when DD was 4m and have been having CBT for a few months for chronic anxiety/depression, so I'm well aware these things may be clouding my judgement).

Points of concern:

Gross motor skills: She belly crawled at 7m, crawled properly at 9m, pulled to stand at 9m, cruised at 10m but has been very slow to get walking (tentative steps in the last month but she can't go far without falling and her ankle rolls inwards).

We have noticed her right foot sticks out sideways and this seems to give her a limp. We've seen the GP twice (an original appointment then a follow up a month later) and been referred to paediatrics to check it out. He says there is no issue with her hips but I am worried as she was a forceps delivery. GP says it could well be nothing but should be checked.

Speech:
She says 'yeah,' 'wow,' 'mama' and a funny, closed mouth 'mbaw' for 'ball.' Oh and 'wowah' for 'flower'. What concerns me is she has never said 'dada'. Never even made a 'duh' sound at all. Her babble is varied and has lots of conversational tone, but I'm worried that she seems to have missed any 'front of mouth' sounds like 'duh' and tuh', especially when all the babies I know of have said 'dada' first. She now calls Dad 'gaga' sometimes. Combined with the foot issue, this makes me worry. Also I've heard she should have far more words at this stage..

Food: She's obsessed. Never seems full. Can eat an insane amount and sometimes cries when her bowl is empty.

Sleep: She sleeps a LOT at home - 7.30-7.30, 30m nap in the morning and 2h nap in the afternoon. She does sometimes wake for bf once in the night, but this seems quite excessive? At nursery (5d week) she doesn't sleep much at all, maybe a 45m nap at midday so she could just be catching up?


Not concerned:
Understanding - she can follow quite complicated instructions ('brush teddy's hair, feed your teddy in your kitchen, put the bowl back in the sink' etc. She understands the concept of something being 'behind' her and will fetch things if asked for, gets excited if we tell her we're going out etc.

'Imagination': She seems to play little mimicking games without prompting, like feeding her teddies or making her dolls walk or dance around.

Mood: Aside from the start of tantrums she's happy and sociable, engages well with adults and smiles and waves. She claps lots to congratulate herself!

Fine motor: she can do a basic 'fit the shapes in the wooden board' puzzle, build block towers etc. Cannot do a shape sort except for circles.

I just have this nagging feeling there's something 'up,' that she's somehow. I'm so bloody worried about her foot and about the speech thing, but feel like we have no chance of getting help because of covid. She was referred over a month ago to the paediatrician but we've heard nothing yet about an appointment. HV appointments for 16-18m have been cancelled because they're short staffed in our area. I sometimes look at the list of things that she's doing 'well' with and think I'm paranoid but I just feel like something is up...

Am I paranoid?

[EgSk]

If it helps , my 24 month old only JUST started saying daddy . He can say 100+ words and his pronunciation is pretty decent ( can say lots of difficult words perfectly ) yet he took him a loooong time to pick up on daddy .

He only started talking at 21 months . Before that he could say about 10 words . He’s doing great now though and averaging 20-30 words a week now .

[EgSk]

P.s I think your 15 month old sounds right on track

[HaveYouSeenMySerotonin]

That does help a bit, thank you. Could he make a 'd' sound before this age? I think it's the fact she seems to back all her sounds to the back of the mouth that makes me a bit

[Felinewoman]

Sounds like a perfectly normal 15 month old.
The foot thing will be sorted out when she will be seen by paeds.

[Seekingadviceplz]

My baby is same age and doesnt say any words! Doesnt even call me mama. He "talks" a lot but no real words. Doesnt have a huge understanding of instructions (or else just ignores me a lot!! He is pretty stubborn and independent). But it only worries me a bit. Other than the foot which I cant really comment on, your baby sounds completely normal to me.

[EgSk]

@HaveYouSeenMySerotonin yes, he was saying dadada as babbling from 6 months but around a year old stopped saying any D sounds or words until recently.

[HaveYouSeenMySerotonin]

Thanks guys. I think because I worry about the foot I get overly conscious of everything else. I had a long chat with the HV which put my mind at ease. I think her foot is most likely hypermobility so I'll just have to wait and see what the paediatrician says

[kass12]

Hi OP. I can't offer that much help, but have similar situation with my just turning 13 months old DD.
She also was forceps, army crawled at 6mo, properly at 9mo and stood at 10mo. She can walk a little bit, can walk from one room to another, but falls all the time when navigating around and her balance is bad. She just walks into things and can bash herself on pretty much anything around. I can't imagine leaving her to roam even for a second. It just feels like she has the physical ability to walk but the signals in her brain are delayed? Like she can't feel her body in space properly if that makes any sense?

She can say dada and a few more words, but her mouth is quite often open and she dribbles a lot. She can't copy sounds properly, although she tries. She also curls her right foot a lot, to the point she has a crease there. She used to do it all the time, now a little less. We have an appointment with GP so I bring my concerns.

I was worried about autism earlier, but see that her understanding and communication for her age is pretty good. My mum is a speech therapist (living in different country unfortunately) and she says that the only thing she may have is some sort of neurological issue, like a light form of dysarthria although at such young age impossible to diagnose. Also, at this stage babies compensate a lot, so if one part of brain doesn't function fully the others try to compensate. It is hard not to worry, I am close to start AD that I've been prescribed, but I fear they can make me sleepy and I simply can't be sleepy around such an active and unbalanced child...

Sorry again that I haven't been much help, but can totally see how you feel and I feel the same. Hope all goes well

[Amanduh]

Speech sounds very normal, I’d say even advanced! Sleep also normal! Not excessive at all.
The foot thing is obv something else to be sorted by paeds but I’d have absolutely no concerns over her development, she sounds like a bright little girl indeed!

[HaveYouSeenMySerotonin]

@kass12 Thank you so much for posting. I totally know what you mean about that slightly spaced out walking they do - almost like a drunk person. I've been really veering between thinking 'well of course she walks like that, it's totally new to her' and 'oh god what if it's neurological?!'

I don't have any words of advice either I'm afraid, but I think it's interesting we're both anxious mums as it is, and difficult deliveries + presence of google really doesn't help. I also had the ASD fears though like you, have found they've alleviated slightly as she's got older.

What I would say is 13m is still early to walk, I think the average is 14m for first steps - it just feels late because people tend to go on (understandably) about their 10m old walking but are less keen to brag about a sedentary 16m old! They do say later walkers tend to be steadier sooner as they've had more time to get to grips with cruising and are naturally steadier, so she could well sort herself out as she gets older and more naturally confident!

@Amanduh Thank you so much. I really hope paediatrics get back to us soon so I can at least get some advice on the foot. If it is hypermobility I think some firm ankle supporting boots are meant to do the job, I just want to know it's nothing in the brain etc.

Oh the woes of parenting in the age of google!

[MargaretThursday]

I've got 3 dc and they're all different, but nothing you've written here is worrying except possibly the ankle.

DD1 didn't walk until 16 months, but she went from not even a step to walking everywhere and not crawling again within a week. She almost never fell once she was walking.
DD2 walked at 8 months, but she would crawl if tired, ill, or it just was quicker, until she was nearly 2yo. She also had a long time where she was wobbly and was covered in bruises. I ended up at the GP with potential head injury 3 or 4 times because she didn't catch herself if she fell.
Ds could walk at 9 months. But chose not to. If you gave him a reason to walk then he could. However he far preferred to crawl with a car in each hand, or watching the buggy wheels as he went along. He was about 18 months before he would default to walking rather than crawling.

They do look drunk when they're first walking. It's quite funny looking back-a bit like they look like a wind up toy when they're first crawling.

From what you've said, I would be surprised if it was neurological at all. Worth keeping an eye on the ankle, and when you are getting shoes for her, making sure you get ones with good support round the ankle.

Speech also sounds age appropriate. You can encourage by doing "dadadada" noises in front of her. Just as though you're doing it for fun. You may find she imitates you-but don't worry if she doesn't, some children do, some don't.