Tell me not to worry about ds2...

[tortoiseSHELL]

...he's number 3 so I'm supposed to be relaxed chilled mum. But, does this sound ok to you?

He is 13 months. He can sit very securely and can get from sitting to a crawling position. He does a funny sort of 'commando crawl' where he kicks along the floor. He can't pull up to standing yet, and doesn't like standing although he can weight bear. If I put him next to a chair or a sofa he can stand using the chair for balancing but he isn't cruising.

He rolls everywhere - if he wants to get somewhere fast, he rolls, and is very purposeful, so he is very mobile, just unconventionally.

He is still very 'little' - weighs about 19.5 lb. He can say 'Quack' for 'What does a duck say?' and 'Dada' for dh. He can also do the actions to various songs - Wind the bobbin up, If you're happy and you know it. He can eat yoghurt with a spoon, otherwise is very good with finger food. He can drink milk from a beaker himself.

Does that sound ok? should I be worried? My other two were charging round on their feet at this age, and were very much toddlers - dd was talking in sentences(!) and ds1 was climbing all over everything. It just feels like ds2 isn't doing ANYTHING iyswim!

Thanks!

he sounds pretty fine, tbh. The commano crawl can (theoretically) lead to some delay in cross braina ctivities but that easy to compensate. Anya ctivity that crosses the brains midline reinforces it, so if you laid him down twice a day and liften the right leg and left arm then the other way round to music in a dancing thing, that would do it. Its important for later childhood and co-ordination.

But the rest sounds fine, just at the opposite end of the average. if he's not cruising in a month I would chat to HV but you may find the excercises (based on BIBIC and brain gym principles) aid him anyway

That all sounds perfectly normal, maybe he just isn't ready to walk yet. Sure he will be fine sounds to me that he is bright as a button.

why don't you ask your health visitor

without meeting your ds it's very hard to give an answer

sounds OK to me - DS (now 18 months) did commando crawl - walked late doesn't speak much. Has been assessed by paediatrician (for other reasons) who says he is absolutely fine, no problems at all

Mine wasn't cruising at this age either. I enjoyed the respite from running around after a toddler whilst it lasted!

Sounds normal to me, but then ...
ds didn't walk til 17 months - didn't crawl until about 13/4 mths - much prefered to sit still and tell other people what to do
dd (currently nearly 15 mths) still isn't walking either. And she weighs MUCH less than your ds (not sure how much - have stopped having her weighed )

Language & other motor development sound normal to me.

Why don't you give him a month, and ignore it til then, then go & see GP/HV (assuming either of them are any good?) if you still feel wobbly?

Our HV isn't really very clued up I don't think - she is the sort who says 'are YOU worried?' to which I think 'I don't know - should I be?'.

Thanks for your replies everyone - so I shouldn't be panicking yet? I wonder if it's just a third child thing - the other two run round after him, so why SHOULD he walk?

I don't think its a third child thing - my (first) is the same, they just all develop at different rates, thats why there's such a wide range of accepted ages when they do stuff.

The paediatrician also asked if I was worried (about certain things) said in his experience that mothers are often the best judge - though in this case it was something which appeared to be normal (hearing) but could have been a problem. I had no doubt that his hearing was absolutely normal so paed said that was good enough for him!

You have just got two who did things differently so you think that is the norm.

My DS now too walked at 17 months, crawled at 17.5 months and frankly said very little until he was about 18 months old.

I fretted and fretted. He is now running aorund and talking in sentences (sort of).

That should readl Ds aged 2

tortoise, i dont think you should worry, and this comes from the original neurotic mother. My DD NEVER crawled, she bum shuffled, she went from a rather impressive shuffle to proper walking at about 17-18M, none of the wobbly falling over rubbish that early walkers do I never crawled, walked at 9 monhts, DP never crawled, was nearly two!! The fact that he weight bears is good, they worry if they don't, about their hips, but he is weight bearing so no worries there. DD didnt weight bear until about 13m either, HV refered me to the GP, as a consequence i pulled my hair out, made an EMERGENCY appointment with GP who, in a round about way said that HV shoudlnt have worried me over nothing and DDs hips were fine. I think HV was being over cautious though as her records showed a hip ultra sound, had she bothered to follow up as to why, she would have seen it was routine because she was a big baby (over 9 pounds and i think they scan routinely).

I know this sounds trite and it annoyed me to, as i was eager for DD to walk, just enjoy it while he is still in one place for a bit longer Being on MN has really brought it home to me how DIFFERENT our children really are and that all those bloody development charts should be burnt!

Tortoiseshell - your DS sounds just fine.

Hewcumber - regarding hearing in babies, you'll be surprised to hear that before newborn hearing screening the average age of picking up hearing loss in children used to be 2 years in the UK. So lots of parents did get it wrong. In our case with DS for 8 months.

Critina - yes but DS's assement was at 16 months and the concern about hearing was a generic one due to prematurity which was not tested at birth or soon after.

"do you think his hearing is normal" - doctor

"well on the basis that he can hear a floorboard creak outside his room when I'm trying to get him to sleep - yes" - Kewcumber

"Ah - yes thats quite a good indication!" - doctor

I wasn't doubting that your DS can hear just pointing out that parents' perceptions are not 100% accurate (my DS could pick up someone behind him from shadows, perfume, I don't know what and he'd turn towards you at just the right time as if he actually heard his name being called etc).

I understand what you mean but I suppose I was on the look out for problems and obsessed about it until I realised that he could hear me when he couldn't see me IYKWIM. I suppose if you're not looking for it then it would be easy to miss early on.

Anyway HIJACK OVER!

Yes, that definitely makes a difference.

Thanks for replies - I probably do worry because he's different to ds1 and dd - he's definitely less mobile and less 'talkative' than dd was, but that may just be him. He is also grouchier, and when he's unhappy REALLY screams. But he is very lovable most of the time, and really 'connects' with people - so I suppose he is communicating in that way!

I was watching him yesterday, and I think he just seems 'floppier' than the other two, but he isn't floppy, he just doesn't hold himself so strongly.

I will try some of those braingym exercises, thanks!

My ds (now 2.2) didn't get mobile early - walked at 14.5 mths but was immediately into running (day 2 of walking) and was very secure on his feet. With 2 older siblings at his beck and call why should your ds2 try something that might feel rather precarious at the moment - much better to wait until he feels more secure!

DS1 didn't even roll over till 13 months, let alone crawl. Only a couple of words at 13 months too. Walked at 18 months. Now 2 1/2 runs everywhere, huge vocab and considered very bright by his nursery. I think some are just late developers.

mistlethrush - my DS did the same thing - didn;t walk until about 16 months but took off like a rocket when he did. Everyone said how steady he was on his feet.

Looking back, I think that I had it easy with him walking relatively late - it meant that he understood 'careful' and 'mind your head' before walking/running which helped. Also didn't have lots of falling down. Another advantage was that, as he was a bit older, he was taller and therefore it was much easier holding his hand without having to bend down so far. In comparison, one of his friends was walking at 8.5 months - can't imagine how difficult this must have been to cope with.

Ds liked swimming which I understand helps with coordination and mobility etc - tortoise, have you tried that (although with 2 others, might be difficult)?

Thanks - yes I take ds2 swimming once a week which he does enjoy, although he doesn't like being 'let go of' iyswim - he prefers to cling to me than to bob off on his own. I think he is just a very cautious child, so maybe the feeling unsteady is the reason he's not climbing everywhere.

Ds1 was walking round the furniture at 8 months, and it was a bit of a nightmare tbh - he had no sense at all, and was constantly falling over or falling off things!

I always thought that my DS didn;t like feeling unsteady too and is the same in the water - wants to holson to me all the time. He didn;t walk until he was pretty steady and more confident and has just started climbing at 18 months.

kewcumber - that's really interesting! Sounds just like ds2!