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Behaviour/development

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Concerned about 9 month olds development

9 replies

choceyes · 13/05/2011 15:34

I am a bit concerned about my DD's development. She is 9 months (today!), and I can't help comparing her to my now 2.5yr old DS who could do more than my DD at this age.

She doesn't crawl yet - well she does move backwards but she doesn't like being on her tummy for that long, so she gives up trying. DS was crawling by 8 months and also pulling up to standing up and standing against something without any support. DD nowhere near this.

She gets tired pretty quickly and naps sporadically throughout the day and you can never predict how long she is going to nap for. Sometimes she gets woken up before she has had enough sleep and then she is tired and grumpy till she next naps. My DS had 2 predictable naps in the day and was always a happy baby.

She is not interested in her solids really. Some days she is but most days not and it's only the evening meal time that she is interested. I did BLW with both DC and DS was far more advanced in his self feeding than DD is, and more interested in food (although now he is fussy with food and terrible table manners). I have tried spoonfeeding DD too to see if she prefers that but, she hates that too.

She won't amuse herself for more than about 5 minutes when we are at home. When we are somewhere new, she is sufficiently distracted and will play for awhile. At home she just wants me to carry her around. Again DS happily played anywhere with anything for a long long time.

She can clap though. Something DS didn't do will way into toddlerhood.

Should I be worrying? I know every baby is different, but I worry it's something I'm doing wrong, or are second babies slower developmentally, because they get less time spent on them? Things like meal times - with DS i used to have the whole day if required for him to practise his eating. Whereas now he can't wait to get off the table and so I have to take DD off the table as well as I can't really sit with just her if we are out and about. Anyhow, DD doesn't have the patience to sit at the table like DS used to.

I bf, co-sleep and sling DD, and I thought she's be a more contented baby than DS who wasn't bf (was fed expressed milk through bottle for nearly a year as he didn't latch on), only started co-sleeping at 6 months and was never slinged.

WOuld love to knwo what your babies did at 9 months, as I only had DS to compare to.

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ChippingIn · 13/05/2011 15:37

tbh she is well within the 'normal' range for a 9 month old.

They are all different and I'm sure she will do lots of things that DS didn't do as well in time to come.

Try not to worry :)

Rubyabcd · 13/05/2011 22:44

I'm no expert but have an eleven month old baby who doesn't crawl or pull her self up yet and the health visitor assures me she is fine. However she is great at feeding herself as has been for months!! I think the moral of the story is they are all different as everyone keeps telling me!!

Tgger · 13/05/2011 22:54

She sounds very normal. Both mine didn't crawl/move until 11 months. They were different as babies too. DS did things a bit earlier generally, but DD was a lot more independent.

At 2.5 she is now a lot more competent than he was at this age, probably because she has been left to get on with things a lot more!

Tgger · 13/05/2011 22:55

By the way DD didn't pull herself up till 17 months, so she's got a while to go yet...

izpie · 14/05/2011 02:44

My dd didn't crawl until she was one and didn't walk until 15 months. Your dd sounds fine, just different in temperament and development from her brother.

fartingfran · 14/05/2011 02:53

Your DD sounds like my DS. Now I have a second child she seems to be doing everything much quicker than he did, but he's a lovely normal child now, honest!

theillustratedmum · 14/05/2011 11:07

My DD is also a sporadic napper, although only 9 weeks so i've still got all that to come! As you've heard a million times before, every baby is different! Don't fret, when she's up on her feet and running around you will have forgotten all about this, don't beat yourself up because she's not as fast as your DS was, I expect she's just taking her time, i've heard that the longer it takes a baby to reach a milestone, the better they are at it. Not sure how true that is but i'd say put your patient hat on for now and see how she goes.

choceyes · 15/05/2011 11:06

Thanks everyone! It's all reassuring! It's difficult not to compare DD to DS, and as I've always been told that girls reach milestones earlier than boys I was starting to get worried.

She actually pulled herself up to standing yesterday holding on to the cot bars!

OP posts:
ll31 · 15/05/2011 14:49

Re the naps also prob with only ds you were able to leave him sleep for as long as he wanted wherease she cant cos obv you have to be in and out wiht ds etc - sounds perfectly fine to me!

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