Head lag at 11 months

[Sunisshining12]

My LO is a happy 11 month old who communicates, feeds himself & plays with toys. However, he is unable to push himself up or lift his head up whilst lying on tummy. He just lays there crying. He cannot even lift his head slightly. He cannot roll, crawl or walk, but can sit unaided.

This was initially picked up around 4 months. Since then we have been back & forth to a physio & ped. They diagnosed torticollis in his neck, which has now resulted in a severely flat head one side. We do stretches on the neck daily which has improved massively.

Re the poor head control on tummy, they said 'gross development delay'. Ped said there's no signs of anything else and can be just 'one of those things'.

The physio said it's due to lack of tummy time, he is right I regrettably didnt do tummy time. No excuse for it, I just had no idea of the importance of it. Obviously I massively regret this now & am looking to hear if anyone else has been in a similar situation? Would you agree it's definitely the lack of tummy time as a little baby?

We carry out tummy time lots now but still no improvement. Physio said it's a long road and to just keep doing it loads.

Should I be worried about anything else? Or doing anything else? Or just keep going? He's having some blood tests at 12 months but everything was clear at 6 months.

Tia

Its very very unlikely to be caused by lack of tummy time. DS had this and was investigated quite throughly. In his case it was Benig'n Infantile hypotonia. Ie it resolved with age, althrrough he was late meeting physical milestones like walking. What are they doing about the positional plagiocephaly? Is he too young for the helmet?

DD had almost no tummy time by the way and she was fine.

I don’t ‘do’ tummy time, yet mine were able to do what you’re describing within a few months (not crawling obv). It’s difficult to cause global developmental delay like this. I think your physio is being unfair to you.

Mine have spent a lot of time in slings - which helps developing neck control and core muscle building. Also helps plagiocephaly, because it reduces time spent lying down (although that’s not why I use a sling, it’s just practical for me).

However, I’ve no idea if this will be of any great help here - this really doesn’t sound like it’s due to lack of opportunity (unless you’ve been actually neglectful [you haven’t], I can’t imagine that this is anything you have done).

Thanks for the responses. My in laws/mother said they never practiced tummy time & all of us were fine (that's not an excuse btw on my behalf) I mentioned this to the physio. He said he's been a physio for 31 years & can say 100% the lack of head control & inability to lift up is due to lack of tummy time.

I have seen 2 ped. The first diagnosed the torticollis circa 5 months & referred us to physio. The second was more thorough, asked me many questions & checked DS eyes, ears, reflexes, joints etc.

He said he is a little flexible (e.g. Elbows can bend quite far back) but nothing else notificeable. providing the next lot of blood tests are normal then we will be discharged as the delay isn't pointing to anything specific, apart from the physical milestone delays there's not any other 'signs' of anything he said. But to continue physio once per month (as we do now) until DS is walking.

Never been any mention of a helmet?! We have a pillow & do stretches daily & reposition but unfortunately DS always reverts to that position no matter what, so of course the head is remaining flat.

I don't really know what to do or where to go from here. DH & I have had an argument today about this which has led me to here. He said I'm obsessed with tummy time and all I bang on about to him is have you done TT today, how long for etc etc. He's right. I think about it all the time, I feel like I don't enjoy my son or have fun everything revolves around the clock making sure I get tummy time in.

My family say my son is just laid back & very chilled/lazy that's why he's behind. He does have a very relaxed character.

As I've said, there's never been any attempt to roll, push up or lift head.

Where do I go from here? Is there anything flagging in your minds that I should be bringing up at the next appt?

Has your DS had anything like gene studies, nerve and muscle conduction tests, MRI to check for brain- based causes of low muscle tone?? You can't just diagnose GDD without ruling out some other things first.

Of course you've become obsessed about tummy time. Because some nit has told you that is the cause of all this. Which is highly, highly unlikely. And no NHS physio should be telling you that is the case unless.other stuff has been ruled out...

I didn’t do tummy time for either of my children and they never had any problems like you’ve described. They both had slight flat heads on one side as they always slept facing their left but nothing too severe, I didn’t go for the helmet and my eldest’s head is now perfectly round (and I’m hoping my youngest’s will be too as she grows). But if your son’s Flat head is severe have a look at the helmets, you can only get them privately and from what I researched a couple of years ago there were limited studies regarding their efficacy and the one study that had been done showed that they made very little difference and that flat heads improve on their own with time.

Ps I thought it might interest you to know that DS now age 7 has just been doing ' 'wheelbarrows' around the house with me holding his legs. He has a washboard tum and while still a bit floppy and hypermovile is just a normal little boy.

Sorry, I just reread my contributions and I hope it doesn't seem like I am suggesting there is something malign underlying all this. I really wasn't meaning that. What I meant was, it annoys me that mums in particular are made to feel responsible for every aspect of their child's development. Really it probably is just him and how he is meant to be. Some are off the bottom.end of 'normal' when it comes to meeting milestones. DS was! Someone has to be! It doesn't necessarily mean much for their future development.

No Ragusa not at all, I am grateful to hear any opinions. All I have so far is my DH & family saying DS is just a lazy baby. And then a physio telling me to do more tummy time! I feel like a crap mum & lazy that I didn't do Tummy time. I genuinely didn't appreciate the importance of it.

The last Ped did check DS reflexes, eyes, reaching for toys etc. He said he was eliminating potential conditions. He said DS didn't seem to fit the box for any conditions, he obviously has GDD but sometimes in medicine we just don't know why. DS will be discharged in Jan if bloods are okay.

He's never had any scans or other tests as the ped didn't pick up anything apart from the lack of phycial milestones?

Where do I go from here? Should I take DS to a private independent physio for a second opinion? Obviously I will raise my concerns with the ped in Jan but I'm guessing he will say it's up to the physio now!

I've spoken to the HV about it, she said she will refer us to a Ped, but obviously we are already seeing the Ped.

Physically he would be happy to sit there all day and play with toys. He reaches and babbles a lot, lots of smiling and waving. But doesn't attempt to reach far for toys. If placed on his side he will revert to his back & again is happy to just lay there, no attempt to roll. I've tried lots of games & encouragement, same with the tummy time. If I hold is head up slightly for him to see how fun it could be for him he's happy but once I let go he just buries his face into the floor crying no matter what toys I use or songs I sing. I've tried all the usuals lying on me, lying on edge of bed etc. It's not that he doesn't want to see it's that he physically doesn't know how to lift his head up or how to push up to see.

Tummy time isn’t just on their tummy on the floor, it’s being held on your chest, in a sling, on your knee, etc so I’m sure you did do that when he was a small baby without realising. I’m assuming he was cuddled, held on your chest, over your shoulder, carried about lots, etc and wasn’t just left to lie on his back all day!
It does sound like the physio is being really unfair blaming you.

I would be concerned about getting him discharged without ruling other things out. If they do look to discharge him, I would ask if he can be ‘kept on’ just incase. That way, if you’ve any other concerns, you’re already ‘in the stsyem’ so to speak, meaning you can usually just phone up and get an appointment. You may have to wait but it’s usually quicker and easier than going to the GP, getting a referral, bring put on a waiting list, etc.

I didn't do tummy time with my first as he didn't like it, but my second was happy to go on his tummy on the floor from the start so spent a lot of time like that. Honestly there was a big difference in the first few months, say 3-7 months. My first was much slower to push himself up, whereas my second started crawling at 5 months. However the difference evened out quite quickly and they actually both walked at 11 months.

From my sample of two I would say yes, at 6 months the baby who had lots of tummy time was very noticeably stronger and more mobile, but for a delay to persist to a year doesn't sound like lack of tummy time is solely to blame.

I wouldn't worry about rolling too much. If he doesn't like it on his belly then he's not going to roll onto it. My ds has gdd he will roll from belly to back but only because he doesn't want to be on his belly.

Is the main issue that he won't lift up when on his tummy? He can sit and support his head? He could just be doing it his own way. Not all babies fit the normal mile stone pathway. It doesn't necessarily mean there is anything wrong with them.

Don't beat yourself up about the tummy time. It wouldn't cause gdd.

My ds head has nearly rounded out and his was so flat his eye socket got squished. We gave him a special pillow and he only lays in a bed a night. In the day he sleeps in his chair or on a crescent pillow.

Have you tried getting one of those cylinder things or even rolling a blanket up to wedge under his chest with arms over it? Keeps their face a bit off the floor.

Yeah I have every tummy time ball, roller & device known to man kind!

My main concern is that he can't lift his head or push up at all when on his front.

I appreciate crawling & walking does come later for some. Obviously there's no way these will happen though if he can't lift his head

If you put him on his back and pull him up by his arms what happens with his head? Does it lag behind/ flop backwards?

Ragusa it's not as bad as it used to be (used to just flop back - that is how this was picked up by the GP)

He holds it forward some what but not in the same way that you & I would if that makes sense? It definitely tilts back?

developmentalgym.com

I have no idea sorry and have not read the thread but just want to say unless you left your baby screaming lying on his back all day everyday I can not see how this could be caused by anything you did or didn’t do. Mean doctor for suggesting it was!

Were you given exercises to do by the physio? My dd has poor head control at 6 weeks so started physio straight away with exercises to help her gain head control. She had poor muscle tone, we had to teach Her how to roll over etc, did the physio give you any info on how to help with that? Luckily she sat, crawled and walked at the correct ages. She’s 20 now and was diagnosed with hyper mobility in her teens.

Hi - I was wondering how is your LO doing? Could you please let me know. Thanks for your help.

Hi - Just wondering how you're getting on? Or if any answers were ever found? My DS has the exact same presentation at 12 months and we haven't been able to find any answers.