Hello
I am just really looking for any reassuring slow ish development stories!
Essentially my DS2 just turned 1 and is still not crawling or pulling to sit or stand. He also doesn't do any canonical babbling (mama dada etc).
He has been sitting well since 6- 7 months and gets around the floor by rolling. He has just this last week or two started attempting to pull himself up but isn't managing yet (except from seated on our laps which he has mastered) as he hasnt figured out how to get himself into the right position. He has been weight bearing well on his legs for many months and will stand and play for long periods and has just started bouncing on his legs while he does this. No cruising yet though he is practising weight shifting between his legs. He is quite long and slim like my DD1 was and always detested tummy time (though is now finally tolerating this better) so I feel it's taking him a while to build up the upper body strength he needs. His fine motor and problem solving are great, he would happily sit and stack things or attempt the shape sorter all day if he could. He is under a physio already for prior torticollis who has given some exercises which are helping and she feels some of it is that he is quite cautious (at times with support he is nearly commando crawling but cries the whole time!)
Regarding the babbling- he was early to blow raspberries and seems to just love doing this all day, he vocalises constantly but mostly vowel sounds and also he loves making soft "sss" and "thhhh" and "p" type sounds. We are getting more consonants lately- a lot of "ah goo" when he is happy and "ah buh" when sad plus he often makes a d sound lately and had a few days where he said "di di di" a lot. Not much "m" though. He sometimes seems to copy us saying "hi" but doesn't generally consistently attempt to copy us with speech sounds although he loves a chat. He has had a clear hearing test. He has been clapping a LOT very socially since 7 months, waves and loves to play peekaboo and shrieks with delight at DD1s antics. I am not really worried about autism at all as he is so very sociable and engaged with great eye contact and definite shared attention etc. He responds to his name and understands a few object words and phrases like "do you want to come up?"
We actually saw a paediatrician a couple of months back about other things and she was not worried about his development and also feels ASD is unlikely. We have a plan for speech therapy at 15 months if he still isn't babbling "properly" and obviously he is already seeing the physio for the gross motor stuff.
I think I just wondered if anyone has had babies who have been similarly at the slow end of the milestones who have got there in the end?? Although I've had plenty of professional reassurance I am just finding it so hard not to fret and I feel like I am always waiting to know whether he will be "ok". I suspect he will slowly get there with the gross motor but the babbling worries me a bit in particular. He probably misses out on the focused attention DD1 got as she takes up a lot of airspace. He is such a happy contented soul I should probably try and enjoy things more!