Late Development

[clare2307]

Hi,

I have a 10.5 month old baby girl who is not yet sitting unaided and has been assessed as age 6 months developmentally due to this, poor fine motor skills development, her lack of babbling and lack of interest in toys etc. She has had a hearing test which was inconclusive. She has been referred to many different departments which include weekly physio sessions, another hearing test & appointment with the consultant at audiology, occupational therapy and speech & language.

Does anyone have any experience with developmental delays? Did your baby eventually catch up or were they diagnosed with something?

We have been told that if these delays are caused by something that nothing will be diagnosed until she is nearer 2.

Any advice would be welcome.

Thanks in advance.

I really don't understand why they are so concerned at 10.5 months. All babies and children develop at different rates. My ds2 was behind and wasn't sitting until he was 12mths didn't walk till he was 16mths. And his speech took a while but he did get there. Try not to worry. Your 10.5 month old doesn't seem to be massively behind tbh at the moment. Usually they don't bother to intervene unless they are extremely far behind.
Keep talking to her, playing with her and I bought my son a cushion to help train him to sit up with support then you take it from there. Don't panic though as there is plenty of time to catch up, still a baby.

Thanks for replying BITCAT. I am glad to hear your son caught up and has given me hope that she will also catch up eventually! She is my second and my first was on the early side of average for most things so I guess I am seeing it as worse than it it. I know they all develop differently and you shouldn't compare etc so I am not too concerned, just seems to be appointments every weeks for something or other! I guess what I am/was looking for is stories of babies who were 'late' developers who were just that - nothing wrong with them just took their own time to get things done so that we can keep positive!

Some babies like my ds2 are just what I call lazy..not that he couldn't do it. Just didn't want to and with having to other siblings ds1 and dd1 to do stuff for him he had no reason to do anything as they did it for him.

My DD1 is 7 so she is like a second Mum running after DD2, perhaps she is just lazy and likes us all running after her!

It is very possible that maybe try to get dd1 to stop fetching stuff so much. She will do it when she is ready. If someone was willing to do all my cleaning I'd happily let them..it's no different. First children have to do it as there is no one to get it for them so they do tend to develop quicker. 7 year old girls are like mother hens basically mini me's. Don't worry I'm betting she will have caught up by the time there is any need to worry.

there a re a slew of tests they can do now eg microarray to see if anything at chromosomal level - they dont need to wait until two. you can certainly pursue testing if you wish...
the physical delays yes often they will catch up - so focus on the communication side especially if maybe low hearing - do lots of baby signs/makaton, watch something special so she can pick up signs and work on communication.

two of my dc didnt walk until age two plus - so yes they both caught up int the physical department - but but one has significant learning issues associated with a chromosome disorder and the other is very bright .
cognitively.

the earlier you can focus on developing play and social skills the better, be guided by the SLT.

Hi cestlavielife,

Her paediatrician has referred her for blood test to check her chromosomes so waiting for appointment for that to come through then a 8-10 week wait for results we were told. Taking all the advice on offer from everyone we have been referred to and spoken to. I will definitely look into makaton in case of any hearing or learning difficulties - thanks for that advice!

Yes my son was like that and had GDD and a diagnosed medical condition. He has had lumbar puncture, mri, skin and muscle biopsy. much more useful tests than blood tests.

Kanga the microarray is now standard and picks up a lot of micro deletions or duplications. This test identifiedy ds syndrome micro deletion on chrome 17. Microarray shld be first line of testing.