is my baby developing at the right speed?!

[fairycakes]

my dd is 18 weeks old, and i have just spent the day with 2 friends with babies of 16 weeks and 17 weeks.

their babies are pulling themselves up, rolling over and reaching out to pick things up.

my dd can hold something if you put it in her hand, but wont reach out for something, and is no way trying to roll over or anything - i know all babies are differnt, but should i be orried that she is not developing at the right pace?

when did everyone elses babies start doing things?

thanks!!

Fairycakes,

i have to second what everyone has said on this thread. However hard it is - please try not to worry to too much. I do speak from experience here too. When I think about it now, it's true that initially, all everyone is really able to compare is the gross motor development of their babies as initially, this seems to be the only 'visible' form of development (apart from general growth!). With this is mind - I have worried myself massively but I'm a lot more chilled about things now.

DD is 16.5 months old - she sat unaided at 5 months BUT, has never crawled, bum shuffled at 11 months, rolled at 12 months, was never interested in standing until about 14 months, only learnt to 'pull herself' up at 15 months. Is not yet cruising but can now climb an entire flight of stairs and 'let's go' of all support when standing for about a nano second! So...on that score and in comparison with most of her peer group - many of whom have even had the nerve to suggest developmental delays to me , she is slightly behind.

However, her comprehension is as good as a 2 year old. Her speech is normal if not advanced for her age and her fine motor skills are also well advanced - even the GP has been surprised about what she can do.

So I'm now truly in the camp of babies do things in their own time and cannot be easily compared. They do tend to concentrate on being good at one specific thing - but in the end thay all catch up with each other.

As the others have suggested, if you are generally worried, please go and speak to your HV or GP for reassurance and whatever you do, try not to get too hung up on what your friends babies are doing....