Worried about 10mo development

[acattocatchat]

I'm worried about my 10mo and not sure if I'm being a neurotic FTM.

Until about 7mo, she had been quite late in her gross motor development (holding head up, rolling) but ahead in fine motor and communication. That was all fine. But her development seems to have really slowed now.

She isn't clapping, waving, imitating anything we do or responding to her name. She doesn't initiate games like peekaboo, though she enjoys playing them most of the time. She babbles a lot and has done for quite a while now, with no progression to saying distinct words (but perhaps that's quite normal).

She's commando crawling and has pulled up to standing a couple of times, so I'm less concerned about that, maybe because I know quite a few babies who have crawled late/not at all.

She's not a deep sleeper and we struggle to get her to nap, so her sleep is very interrupted. She often wakes up in the morning and from naps yawning, and lately she's started to zone out a bit now and then. I'm worried that she's sleep deprived and that's linked somehow to her development slowing (although she's never been a great sleeper, she didn't use to seem tired). I know I'm not as good at learning if I'm exhausted.

Not sure what I'm after really...advice or thoughts?

She sounds entirely normal to me. My DD (DC2) is 13 months so I'm familiar with this age.

I think you often find that everything stops while big developments happen, so movement or an explosion of language. She's probably just working really hard to crawl and pull up and pausing on the other stuff.

We had a development check with the HV at 9-10 months. Are you due anything? I think you can find the questionnaires online - it's called "Ages and Stages".

I think it is worth making an appointment with your health visitor or GP, even if just to put your mind at rest. I'm probably not the best person to answer since mine are now 12 & 8 so the baby stage is a blur. I do know each child is different. Hope all is ok & happy to hand hold if it helps.

Thanks both.

We're not due anything so I think I will make an appointment with the HV. I hadn't seen that Ages & Stages questionnaire before, that was really useful. She scored well on the fine motor, problem solving and personal-social, was borderline for gross motor and in the black for communication. :(

I feel slightly reassured by the fact that the questionnaire is up to 10 months 30 days and she is only just 10 months, and of course a lot can change in that time, but I think it would be good to chat to the HV anyway.

Very few pass with flying colours across the board!

Sounds completely normal to me. If you're worried, see you realty visitor but I really wouldn't worry just yet.

Sounds normal to me too (I have a 16 month old). I agree with the PP who said if she's concentrating on crawling sometimes other areas can take a backseat. I really wouldn't worry, see how she seems in a few months but I think a lot of your concerns will have sorted themselves out by then.

Sounds pretty normal to me too, they all do things at such different times, but follow your instinct to see the HV if it is really worrying you.

I think she sounds completely within the realms of normal. It's very common for a baby to have no boxes ticked in one or two of the sections in the ages and stages questionnaires. DD is 13 months and has only just started properly imitating sounds, now we can't shut her up . Commando crawling and just pulling herself up is also perfectly normal at that age. My DD always slept badly and I worried that sleep deprivation was affecting her but she's sleeping much better now and I'm sure it hasn't had any long term effects. Have a chat to your HV to put your mind at rest but I really wouldn't worry if I were you. From my NCT group there is such a huge variation in speed of development (one walking at 8 months, one only just crawling at 13 months!), but they all get there in the end.

Sounds normal - my DS is completely normal but didn't clap or wave until he was 2, despite talking in 3-4 word sentences by then (first word at around 16mo). They don't all do everything, and he is just very very stubborn. He's nearly 3 now and still won't jump and has only just started doing the stairs. He could do all of it if he wanted but he just can't be arsed/doesn't want to perform!

Thank you all for the reassurance!

Gottobeinit thanks for sharing that about your DD and sleep. It's been a real worry of mine.

My ds said no words until 18 months

OP sleep has only just really 'clicked' for us at 13 months (ignoring our current bout of hand, foot and mouth which has thrown it all out of the window again!) and we now have regular, consistent naps and fairly decent night time sleeps. Up until about 11 months I couldn't see how she could possibly function on so little sleep and I got so annoyed when people said to me 'she'll be tired when she starts crawling/walking/starts nursery and then she'll sleep' etc etc. She was tired, that wasn't the issue! She just wouldn't bloody sleep! Honestly she's fine now

Oh yes GotToBeInIt..I know that old "she'll be tired when..." chestnut very well!

Anyway, DD must have known I was posting this because today she imitated my 'yeeha!' noises and said her first word - 'Daddy'

So now I can enjoy cosleeping again and stop worrying about her constant waking!

I could have, and actually pretty much did, write your post six months ago for my then ten month old. Ten months is a funny age because you read in books that they should do all this stuff, but because they are so young, they don't demonstrate their skills to us. I was convinced my son wasn't developing - wouldn't do anything on demand like respond to name, clap, copy words. The more anxious I got the more I focused on what he doesn't do. After a few weeks I'd diagnosed a severe case of autism! Now, six months later I can't understand what all my fuss was about. He really was just learning so much inside that he wasn't about to show it all off until he wanted to. I honestly don't think ten months is a good time to try and work out if your child has problems because at that age they are not aware of what's expected of them... Stop testing her, if you are, cause she'll pick up on it decide not to be a performing monkey. In six months you'll have a completely different little girl who you connect with lots more, and gives you constant reassurance that she's developing normally. Good luck.

Thanks daisychain... It's not so much me that expects her to perform as everyone around us. Very well meaning people who all want her to wave at them and clap for them and so on... You know what people are like with babies.

I actually agree that ten months is very young and, really, most of my concern stemmed from the sleep thing, which GotToBeInIt has helped dispel. I connect with her wonderfully - again, it's the outside world that tends to bother me - and all the expectations that I feel are placed on her ("is she really not crawling yet?" type of thing) which then makes me worry that I'm failing her somehow. Yes, irrational madness

Hi

Not sure if this will be read, how is your LO now? Im having the same worries...

Hi OP, not sure you will read this. But it will be great if you could update. Having same issues and worries about my 10month old.