Clapping, pointing, waving

[gluttom]

9month old dd is not doing any - just constantly crawling and pulling up.
What age do they do these thing and do I need to worry?

Best advice I could give is not to worry and stop reading milestone development charts :) I know I used to worry about these things but now I can't even remember what age DS 23 mo did them for the first time. You'll probably find once she's mastered pulling up/ coasting she moves on to another skillset. You can encourage her by clapping your hands, pointing when your showing her something and waving bye bye but she'll get there regardless.

There is such a broad age range for what's normal, I really wouldn't worry.
As Gracie said above, I can't remember when DD1 did all those things and she's only 20 months.
Don't read any of the guidelines, you'll drive yourself crazy.
My sisters DS didn't walk until 19 months! But he did, and he's totally fine and normal.
I found with DD she had developmental spurts. She'd have a few weeks of nothing and then a week of learning tons of new stuff.
Don't fret... Just enjoy them bring tiny

My ds is 13 m and just doing them now.. so no rush!

Mine is 10 months. I spent a long time teaching her to clap and wave, she now does it but not quite at the right times! No signs of pointing yet.

I am finding that some babies enjoy sitting on your knee and clapping their hands. My ten month ds is not one of them! He will clap for my mum so he can do it. He only waves when he feels like it too. He would much rather be on the move and exploring than entertaining everyone. Try not to worry.

My DD waved around 7mo, but only started pointing around 11mo and has just started to clap aged just over a year.

Do you do those things in front of her? I think I probably don't clap/point very often so they took her longer to learn. Whereas DH and I often wave around her (to each other, to animals, to friends, family etc) and she learnt early on that people would wave back!

Oh if you start worrying about what your baby isn't doing when she is only 9 months old, you will drive yourself demented by the time she's 5. Sorry I don't mean to sound unsympathetic. I am a grandmother and there weren't many books on child development (not that I'd have bought them if there were)....we sort of did things intuitively, although I was lucky and had older sisters with young children to guide me with my firstborn.

Mind now I worry far more about my grandchildren's development and was really worried about youngest g/dgtr still not walking at 17 ths (even though her dad hadn't walked till 16 mths) but she started at 18 months and is fine.

Why do you want her to clap and wave and point anyway - she's pulling herself up on furniture and is going to be an early walker I should say - she'll soon start pointing when when she wants something and later on still you might be saying "Stop it - it's rude to point!" - she'll clap when she's ready and she may not want to clap or wave bye bye - don't fret - enjoy your little girl and all will be well.

I thought something like 12 months for pointing was average? My 16mo DS now does all three - I thought he was quite early to point at 9 months, but late to wave (11months?) and he's only just started to clap, but he claps well so I reckon if I'd encouraged him he might have done it earlier.

Once you know they can do it, you'll suddenly realise it doesn't really matter. I met a 7mo who waved furiously...but only because she had had intense training from 3yo sibling! I've also met two 7mo who walk! It's boring to repeat, but they really will do things at their own rate. You may speed things up a bit, but perhaps at the cost of getting fustrated.

My DD is 9mo and has been clapping for the last few weeks/month. She's just started in the last few days sticking her hand up with one finger in the air but not sure if she's pointing or swearing at me with the wrong finger !!! She doesn't wave really but just puts her hand in the air. Again, not sure it's an attempt at a wave or she's wanting to touch me?!

But...she's not crawling. She stands up holding on to things but can't quite pull herself up yet. She will 'crawl' backwards and spin in a circle on the floor when sitting but no crawling.

They're all different. My friends baby crawls and pulls herself up but will not sit up and they're the same age. My DD does a lot of da-da and ba-ba and only just cut her teeth (bottom two AND top four coming within the same week - HELL!) whereas my friends baby got her teeth at 6mo but doesn't say a word.

Hard not to compare but they'll all get there in the end.

DS1 (age 45) and DS2 (aged 39) can clap, wave and point their fingers, sometimes two at a time! Sorry young mums - I'm sure I was like you when mine were young. Looking back though it all seems silly - no offence meant.

Helpful nananina

My ds is 12 months but was prem . He has waved in context for a while now . I.e when you say hi or bye he will wave and if you wave at him he waves back . He however won't clap or point . He claps two toys together though . They all get there in their own time .

Nananina - although my children are older, but not as old as yours, I would never deem to ridicule another mother, the way you seem to. If you are not aware you are, then maybe have a little think.

I do hope when I become a grandmother I do not become judgmental about 'you young mothers.'

Daytoday was Nananina not being a little tongue in cheek?! I thought she was being sarky in a friendly way. Or am I just being a complete dimwit??!!!

DS pointed long before he clapped or waved, but he didn't clap or wave until he was over a year - probably more like 14/ 15 months. My theory is he never saw the point in clapping or waving and concentrated on the things that got himself understood or able to be more independent. As a consequence he's never had problems making himself understood, even before he could talk. He's always been quick to want to get to 'the next stage' in terms of physicality and appears to have concentrated his effort on the 'must dos' rather than the 'nice to be able to do'. No child will learn how to do everything at the same time - it depends on their character and natural skill as to what they learn to do first. My maths is dreadful, but i've always been 'above average' for English. Are you equally good at everything OP?

Seriously, i agree with nananina that milestones have a lot to answer for and i don't think she was being nasty saying so.

I think the average developmental window for pointing, clapping and waving is 10-12 months, so your dd sounds fine, and it is great that she is crawling and pulling up.

By the way, to everyone gently mocking for being concerned about milestones, most of the time there is no need to worry, but the developmental milestones are there because if your child is not meeting them, then it might be worth raising concerns with your gp/hv - delays in speech or fine or gross motor skills can sometimes signify other problems, and can often be helped with early intervention. And Nananina, you are probably right, delays in child development might not have been picked up when you had your dcs, but thankfully time has moved on.

Agree largely hazeyjane, but my main problem with milestone timetables is there is never a range for what's normal. Except perhaps walking because this is a pretty major milestone. I would like to see half of kids do this between x and y months, 95% will do this by z month.

For example, I thought my DS was well behind in terms of crawling at 9.5 months, until I met a lady with 5 very active children who had all crawled at 10 months. People come on here to be rassured wrt milestones but sometimes I see the opposite happen with posters saying 'if you're worried get a referral' when, even to my very inexperienced eye, I can see there really is NO reason to worry.

Unfortunately not 'every child gets there in the end' and developmental milestones are useful indicators that it is good to pick up on early in terms of effective intervention. Also early walking is not a sign that development in other areas will be normal. The spectrum may be huge but

Having said that OP, I think you've got a few months grace yet. I think Hazey's right that 10-12 months is the usual window for this. In addition the CHAT screening uses pointing at 18 months as a way to screen for children with a higher risk of autism. Not that a child necessarily has autism if not pointing at 18 months but someone shuold probably ahve a closer look. (have a google if you are interested).

In terms of precursors you could keep an eye on things like turn taking, copying and esp shared attention. Not that she should be doing this but more that she may be building up to them. Is she trying to interact with you, exchange info and interest? If something happens she likes does she look at you to share her enjoyment with you? Does she look at something, look at you, look at it again. If you do something does sshe try to do iit too? etc.

Hopefully she will be doing all thses things by 12 months and you wont have to worry

At 10m my DD doesn't clap, point, crawl or pull herself up. In fact she only started waving last week! I wouldn't worry.