Baby’s development delayed. Could this be linked to constant sickness at nursery

[Mumofone89]

Hi all.
my baby is 14months and is attending crèche from she was 9 months. I’m concerned as every week seems to be a throat, ear or viral infection. She’s had conjunctivitis, countless bugs. And her most recent bout she’s got tonsillitis and gastroenteritis. She was blue lighted to hospital on sat due to a seizure from a spike in temp for same.
i feel that due to this she is falling behind in her milestones some what.
She can walk from 11months
clap hands when prompted (at times)
enjoys peekaboo.
enjoys her nursery rhyme books.
loves exploring around the house.
displaying separation anxiety with me
at times will follow a point to a book.
when in good form enjoys being chased.

however
rarely answers her name, only when she knows I have food or something else exciting.
eye contact could be better. Only looks if she wants something or interested. Such as when I sing her nursery rhyme.
Doesn't initiate me in play, but will roll bus back and forth if I initiate.
Shows limited understanding of commands except come here and no.
No words. Has said mummm once or twice when she was upset and I lifted her. (Will smile when I repeat mamamama to her, but no attempts yet)
and overall does not appear interested but seems to be happy in her own world, apart from looking over to check I haven’t abandoned her to do house work. In that case she’ll come find me.

I feel guilt that I may have subjected her to suffering by sending her to crèche and it has deeply affected her. I am in the process of trying to find alternative childcare but any thoughts, or similar worries would be much appreciated.

Do you think she might have glue ear? That could affect her speech.

Try this progress checker and let us know if it says that she needs some support

I competed tge questionnaire you attached. It says she could have issues with her communication it not sure what this means?

Ok so it sounds as though she needs a little support.

I'd call the HV tomorrow morning and tell her what the progress checker says and ask her to refer DD for a hearing test and ask her to do the Ages & Stages assessment with DD.

If she's had so many infections it could just be glue ear

Thanks for your reply. It was really helpful. I had been in touch with the hv a couple of weeks ago to raise my concerns and she referred me to paeds. She said my baby was still very young and didn’t think that she would be accepted though. So not sure of the point of the exercise. I contacted her today to request a hearing test.
I will say my baby was coming on leaps and bounds between illnesses. Learning to climb on furniture and turning around to us to giggle to show us what she done. She also was initiating games such as chasing and clapping when we sang, ifyour happy and you know it, which she was working on.
from her illness this time around she seems to have taken a total step backwards and I feel like she hasn’t smiled in weeks.
I had a look at the questionnaire that you sent over which was very informative. Some things she’s scoring not great on and others such as movement and motor skills better.
hard to know what is the best thing for her.

It is quite normal for them to regress a little when they're ill. If she's already been referred to the Paediatricians hopefully the appointment will come through soon.

Getting the HV to refer her for a hearing test is a really good idea. The appoint might take a while to come through and if she does end up being referred to SLT they will want her to have had a hearing test before seeing them

That’s great thank you for your help