Mention to doctor/health visitor or not???

[suzie38]

Yesterday there was a thread on another forum about dummies and older children...Anyway someone mentioned in the thread about Googling because of her son's cafe au lait spot and possible learning delays because someone said using dummies late could indicate GDD (Global development delay)...Now Robyn has a largish one of these on her forehead and i'm aware it can be an indictor for some genetic conditions...Cue me having a Google last night to come across a condition where Robyn has a number of the symptoms, albeit the milder ones...One symptom is possible speech dealys and at whatever age my ticker says Robyn is, she only has said a maximum of 10 words...She can get her point across to me fine with body language and grunts...Now i got a letter yesterday from the Sure Start center where her 2 year check was carried out in June, asking if i still had concerns about her speech to contact them...This i'm doing tomorrow but do i bring up the condition i read about yesterday as a possible cause for her lack of speech...I don't want to come across as a worry wart mum but if she genuinely has that condition, then it's best out in the open, not that anything can specifically be done if she did have it.

[suzie38]

She's 2 years and 5 months.

[AlmaMartyr]

I'd always be careful about Googling and self-diagnosing but I don't see the harm in mentioning it to someone if you're seeing them anyway. Hopefully they can put your mind at rest.

[DeWe]

I've not heard the dummies and older children thing. It may be that if a child has a GDD then the parents are more inclined to let them have a dummy? I wouldn't call 2.5yo particularly "old" for the dummy.

I think the speech delay is probably the most significant, 10 words at 2.5 is low. I'd ask to get on the SALT list, round here it can easily be a 9 month wait so it's worth getting on in case you need it. There are many reasons for speech delay so don't get fixed on one reason. Sometimes there are no known reasons and they catch up no problems. I remember my dd1 who was speaking sentences at 20 months, and her friend's who had about 6 words at 2yo, by 5yo you couldn't have picked out which had spoken earlier.

[maddiemostmerry]

Are you thinking of NF type 1. I think you have to have at least six large cafe au lait spots of a certain size. They tend to mostly be on the torso.

My son has a large no of cafe au lait spots but does not have NF.

I would also get the speech checked out, you can mention the cafe au lait as well if it helps put your mind at rest.

[Pancakeflipper]

I think you are going to worry about this unless you speak to someone like a Dr about it.

Just be honest and say you read about this and then did the dreaded Google and you need to talk to them about it. They will appreciate your honesty and all mothers worry... To be honest slow word development could be so many things. My son hardly spoke a word and we had concerns then when he did decide to engage in conversation he didn't stop.

It is best to find out if there is anything because then you can get on the referral track sooner rather than later.

[suzie38]

No i'm not worried about NF1 but that is where i first realised cafe au lait spots can be sinister...I'm thinking more along the lines of Russell-Silver Syndrome.

[suzie38]

I'll mention it to the nursery nurse on the phone tomorrow...And make an appointment at the doctors as i need to do repeat prescriptions for us both.