Anyone else had a 'jelly on the plate' baby?

[Impossibletofindusername]

Hi,

My baby is 8 months, he has only just started sitting for a few minutes unsupported. The thng is, he is sooo wobbly. I don't mean where they lose balance a couple of times and fall, I mean its a constant wobble, his head and body- like jelly. Has anyone else experienced this with theirs?

He has always had a bobbly head but its definitely getting better. He gets hours of tummy time, but not yet getting far (bless him). He kicks his legs but gets no where 🙈

I get they all develop differently, but this excessive wobbling doesnt seem right. I am tempted to post a video but want to keep my identity private.
Thank you in advance x

Or is this actually what people mean by wobbly sitting? Im abit out of practice, my eldest is 12 now!

Anyone?

It sounds like hypotonia - you might want to flag it to your HV.

Thank you for your reply. That is what I thought, do you have experience of this? I have flagged it with my HV, GP and his paed. His paed is useless tbh and wants to 'wait and see' I am going to get a private physio assessment

It’s probably worth a private physio assessment to see if it’s hypotonia - don’t panic if it is though as there are lots of benign causes for it and if your babies development is otherwise on track then likely just an isolated issue 🙂

Thank you for the reassurance :) he is abit behind with his gross motor, not getting around yet i.e. scooting/bum shuffling and struggles to push up on his arms..but would that be the hypotonia? Did you have this with your little ones? Trying not to worry 😥 he just looks knakerd when he tries to do anything x

It could be hypotonia although my second DS has been somewhat delayed with gross motor and that was attributed to hypermobility in his shoulders and ankles rather than low muscle tone. A physio will also be able to tell you if that’s a potential cause too 🙂

I havent heard of hypermobility, mind me asking what symptoms he had? X

Basically it means that his joints have a greater range of movement than is typical for his age (all babies are quite bendy but my son’s joints are particularly ‘loose’ so they flex and extend more than they should.) It was most noticeable when he was lying on his back as a baby as his shoulders would retract back quite far and he was slightly delayed bringing his hands together as a result. He was slow to push up when on his front too as again he needed to engage more muscles to stabilise his shoulder girdle enough to push himself upwards. His ankles are also very bendy and he was delayed walking. His joints also click a lot when he moves them. Hypermobile joints often go hand in hand with low muscle tone but my sons muscle tone is fine. I have hypermobility syndrome myself so clearly just a hereditary thing in our family.

There is nothing wrong with being hypermobile I will just add, you just need to keep active so you develop good muscle strength to stabilise the joints. This is something I never did for myself (and regret it now) so worked with DS2 on it from an early age and he’s pretty strong and able now.

Okay- thank you for the in depth reply thats really useful. My DS isnt flexible, but his shoulders do look far back when on his tummy and clicky, but only his shoulders. His head can wobble abit aswell but getting better, he is getting better at sitting but still not pushing up on tummy. He is coming along albeit slowly! I do think he might have some hypotonia- in the face aswell as his mouth hangs open alot, but its the why that worries me 😥 Ill see what physio thinks- thanks so much for your reply xx