18 months old but still a baby

[shadowwebs]

Hi, I struggled with what to write as the subject line as me and my partner both feel the whole thing is quite complex. I will make things easy to start with though as I am sure that to write an essay as my first post may quantify very few responses.

Our daughter (first child) turned 18 months yesterday, she occasionally babbles, but she has never crawled or walked, she has strong legs but not so much with her arms, in that if we lean her up against the sofa, she will stand for a short while resting against the sofa, or if we hold her hands she will stand up as she's being supported.

Is this quite normal or does anyone else spot development delays?

During pregnancy we were informed that the pregnancy would more than likely fail as they had spotted cystic hygroma, essentially there was a large fluid filled cyst which they said would cause the baby to potentially suffocate whilst in the womb. We were marked as high risk and had monthly scans, the cyst cleared up over time prior to birth, we were then informed that the baby would have short long bones and so the birth date was brought forward 2 weeks early, although still classed as full term. Anna was born face presentation, and suffered from a lot of bruising to her face meaning that she couldn't open her eyes for a few days and was in neo-natal to help with her breathing / feed.

We were then sent home and informed all is ok and no follow up offered / needed. The health visitor along with us started to detect behavioural and developmental delays, and since then we have been referred around almost all NHS departments including having a CT Scan performed which confirmed her skull was forming correctly, they wanted to do an MRI scan but were unable to at the time and so this may come in the future.

Genetics have been checked and all has come back clear up till now, they are now running further tests for any other syndromes that may pose any risks to her.

Over time, by going through department by department it's meant that we have faced a lot of uncertainty over what the future may bring for our beautiful daughter. I know that all children develop at different stages, and as much as we tell ourselves this all the time, we are also wondering what the worst case could be, for example could she be suffering from some form of brain damage that we don't know about.

Thank you for taking the time to read this post, and if you can offer any advice then we would both really appreciate it.

Take Care
Dad (James)

It's so hard to tell from the Internet whether she has delays and obviously I'm not a Paed. Didn't want you to go unanswered though. My first baby had cystic hygroma and unfortunately didn't make full term.

Not speaking isn't really a sign. My DD spoke very little until she was 3, I was told by the HCPs that's is more of an indicator that they can understand simple sentences, like where's teddy? rather than speak.

As for crawling, neither of mine did, I've been told it's genetic whether you do or don't. 18 months is also on the older side for not walking but again, it's not an indicator in itself.

Have you both had a debrief following her birth and have you had access to her medical records?

My ds didn't say more than three words until after he turned two and wasn't in any way delayed, he had more words than I could possibly ever count by 27 months.
So even if she has a delay in gross motor skills there's certainly no need to think at this stage that her speech is delayed.

I'm sorry you are going through such a hard time. The uncertainty is the worst feeling! It sounds as though you have been seen by the relevant professionals so that's good.

My ds is 22 months old and since he was 12months old he has been diagnosed with global developmental delay. He is behind in all areas of development. But we don't know why, so are awaiting the results of a genetics test.

If you google "ASQ tests 18months" then you should get the questionnaire that health visitors use to assess your childs development (apologies if you already know this!) My ds is severely delayed in ALL the areas and always has been.

My priority is to ensure that he gets as much help as is out there. So he gets physio, OT, had a block of speech therapy etc. He is still delayed but with the right help he has come on so much further.

I don't know if he will catch up as he gets older or if the gap between him and other children will widen. But for the present I'm just (trying!) focusing on how to help him progress.

my child has delays and also a disease which explains it. I don't think children have delays for no reason . sounds like you need a better medical team and to be more persistent yourself if you want some answers quicker.

Is she meeting other milestones? My son is 22 months old, and didn't really crawl before walking. He also doesn't talk but has been making more talking noises this past month. The health visitor wasn't concerned as he shoes goid understanding (such as do you want a drink, let's go outside etc)

I don't know the proper milestones for this age but going by my sons behaviour - does she turn pages in a book, scribble with crayons, use a spoon and fork, put duple blocks together etc?

Is any of this helpful OP?