Reassure me about your late developing babies...

[Doitnicelyplease]

I seem to spend a lot of time worrying about DD2, most of this is because I had a stressful/worrying pregnancy for various reasons (after 4 mcs) but also because she is so different to DD1 in terms of development.

DD1 was a fast developer physically and seemed in a hurry to grow up and do the next thing, totally textbook.

In contrast DD2 has just turned 8 months, and can only manage sitting for a few mins at a time (we have to put her in the sitting position), she has only rolled once or twice ever and does not seem that curious or bothered about exploring.

She is a fairly happy and content baby, a bit touchy/sentitive, but smilies alot, laughs plenty, good eye contact. Likes jumping in her jumparoo, good at grabbing toys, can just about feed herself a baby rice cracker and use a sippy cup. She doesn't babble much, more 'mmm' 'ahhh' or 'ehhhh ehhhh ehhh' sounds nothing like dadada/bababa - but is quiet a lot of the time. She likes baring weight on her legs and they seem to be strong.

She is a good height and weight, eats well (baby purees) and sleeps pretty good.

Obviously I am not looking to bury my head in the sand if there are problems or development delays that need addressing, but I would love to hear some reassuring storeis to help me chill out and just enjoy her!

Thanks in advance!!!

My DD sat a month after everyone else, crawled about 3 months after everyone else and didn't walk until she was 20 months! People would tell me that she would catch up and no child starts school unable to walk (obviously some do, but with problems that would have been picked up much earlier). She is now 6 and you wouldn't know she was ever slow at any of those things. Incidentally, I thought other mums would judge me on having a 'slow' baby, but in actual fact, it was only me making those judgements.

Dd sat at about 6 months but I worried because she wasn't crawling by 8 months like ds had been - forgetting that he couldn't sit until 8 months even though he was crawling.

I panicked when she started bum shuffling rather than crawling at 10 months too - convinced there was something wrong. Then when she was 10m 2weeks she just literally pushed herself up and walked over to me because I had a biscuit she was just lazy previously IMO.

She also didn't talk much until she was 2 - she's now 2y 4 m and a real chatterbox.

Try not to worry she sounds fine to me but I know it's hard not to get fixated on things and compare.

She's ahead of my 9mo and a friend's 11mo on the sippy cup front ;)

I started a very similar thread the other day and got lots of reassurance so I hope plenty of people come along to reassure you too. She sounds totally normal and lovely to me!

She sounds fine to me!
My twins sat at about 8/9 months. But DD didn't roll until 9 months, didn't bear weight until 10 months, crawled at 21 months and walked at 14 months. Her brother rolled at 6 months, crawled at 9 months but still isn't walking at 15 months.
Also she didn't eat any solid food until 8 months and now she can put away a full chicken dinner with a fork and spoon. Her brother loved solids from the start and stuffs finger food in but will not hold a spoon for love nor money. He has no words either whereas she has about 5

So they all develop at different rates and from what you say and from what I know about other babies through groups etc, she sounds well within normal range

DD crawled at 11 months not 21!

My son couldn't sit until he was 9 months, crawled at 12 months and walked at 18 months but only a few steps - he couldn't get across the room for a month after that. He was babbling by around a year but that all stopped until he was walking - I think because he found it so difficult to walk that he was concentrating his efforts on that. So he didn't really babble again until he was around 20 months.

He's eight now and streaking ahead in everything at school - reports are peppered liberally with A*s and he's on the gifted and talented register.

DS sat up at 6 months, but didn't roll over or crawl til 11 months and walked at 19 months. He is now 23 months and until this week had barely said more than a handful of words. He's now suddenly repeating everything.

I'd say the only area where he developed ahead was in the eating stakes! Apart from that it's been slow and steady right from the start, but that's just the kid he is. They all develop at different rates and the vast majority catch up.

Thanks for everyones replies - so reassuring to hear the different speeds of development can all be 'normal'.

It has amazed me how different siblings can be. I try not to compare them, but is hard when your first is a textbook baby and that is your only previous experience - there is a constant nagging thought 'shouldn't she be doing more by now?'

I really want to loose the underlying anxiety regarding this and reading these stories really helps. Would love to hear more if anyone else has had a late bloomer.

I think it's a personality thing. My dd was late in most stages of development, particularly motor development, but she has a very reserved personality. She will refuse to join in anything until she has sat and watched it for a while. When she did finally try out a new skill she would be good at it straight away (walking very well within a month of starting at 19m). She has caught up, is now 3 and actually ahead of some of the children she used to be behind. Developmental progress is more obviously defined by personality at this age now and you can see she excels at the things she is confident approaching and not with things she is nervous of.
For example, she can't do jigsaws, and never could do shapesorters when other babies could. But she can sit and do a turn taking board game with me. Whereas her friend the same age can do a 20 piece jigsaw but can't sit and do a game.

I think they're all just on their own wee curve. My son's delays were flagged up by the health visitor as something to keep an eye on, and I wish I hadn't spent as much time worrying about that as I did; I pretty much convinced myself that he would always need extra support and always struggle and while there's nothing wrong with that it made me sad for him - completely unnecessarily so, as it turned out.

Just wanted to update this thread.

DD2 has just turned 9 months, and I am feeling much more relaxed about her development. She has mastered sitting up really well and is now trying to grab anything in her radius. I think crawling will be a while off as she doesn't like being on her front (just flips over) and does not like to push up on her arms a lot, she might bum shuffle - I shall wait and see.

She has gone from slumping in her highchair to sitting up waving arms and bouncing. She can finally sit up well enough to play in the bath!

She is babbling a lot, and has got very noisy lots of bababa, dadada, mmmm, rahrahrah - I think she really wants to talk!

Also I have been learning to let go of the worry, my new mantra is she is mine and I love her so any issues that she may or may not have are just part of her and we will deal with those IF they arise.

Basically learning to chill!

Thanks again for your stories and advice.