5 months and hasn't found her feet yet

[Jokat]

Hi, I've been waiting for dd2 to discover her feet and play with them, but she hasn't yet! When I move them up to her face, she finds it very amusing and laughs when I tickle her face with them and she'll have a brief hold if I put one of them in her hand, but once she lets go, she won't attempt to get hold of them again. My dd1 never found them but turned out to have cerebral palsy and her muscle tone had never allowed her to get hold of her feet. (She also found it uncomfortable when we moved her feet up to her face, while dd2 doesn't mind at all.) I'm not worried dd2 has cp as well, but still a bit nervous about this. Could you just reassure me that it is not uncommon for babies of her age not to play with their feet yet? Pretty please? :)

I have no idea whether it's normal or not but have you tried foot-finder rattles? These are quite cute.

Hi, my dd is 22 weeks and isn't showing any interest in her feet yet but I've not been holding them up to her.

My ds1 never played with his feet. He just wasn't interested. Even if I lifted them towards him he'd just ignore them. He's 2 1/2 now and absolutely fine.

Those feet finder rattles are def worth a try though.

I never thought about it but ds never played with his feet. He is 18 months now and crawled fine and is walking now. Do they all play with feet then?

I'm not sure now, I alwas assumed all babies do it (apart from those with challenges like my dd1), but according to your posts, obviously not! Good to know :) I did have a pair of foot rattles but the socks they are attached to are way to small for her now so haven't put them on her in ages. Shall get hold of a new pair.

My 5 month old hasn't found his feet yet either! He's ticklish and if I bring them close to his hands he'll grab them, but then let go and forget. I'm not too worried as he's doing everything else he should be, but will keep an eye on it.

Just sharing to reassure you're not the only one! Know it must be a worry with your other DC's medical history though.

my ds is a year old and never played with his feet. he's walking now so must be aware of them maybe some babies just don't?

I can understand your concern considering DD1, maybe mention it to your HV for reassurance? My son never bothered playing with his feet, he's now 11mths, sometimes now when I'm changing him he may hold one for a second but just isn't that interested. X

DD didn't bother with her feet until I started putting them up to her nose and saying 'pwoar, they're cheesy'

She was about 18mo at the time, and started sniffing them herself, before confirming they were indeed, cheesy

Dd3 is nearly 20 months and has only just started playing with her feet, she never did it when she was smaller. It's probably just one of those things that not all babies do, I never thought twice about it until I saw this post and she is baby no.4, lol.

Many thanks everyone. No point telling hv about it. Had regular consultant and pediatric appointments with dd1 as a baby as she'd been 11 weeks premature. I kept telling them then and they kept saying it doesn't mean anything (though in her case I got very upset afterwards that they hadn't been more attentive as they should have been looking out for problems due to bleed before birth, she only got diagnosed with cp at age 1 year). So this time around, I'm sure dd2 is just one of those babies that aren't bothered with them (yet).
Feel much more relaxed about it now :)

How is he

Hi! She is now 11 years old and perfectly fine 🙂

😂 Presumably wears shoes & everything these days.

Yes 😂

Hey there! I saw you had some recent interactions. I am curious- what did your LO with CP show as symptoms, that the pediatricians disregarded? Did they sit up/ roll over/ hold head in line? I’ve been worried about that with my son, due to he has ankle clonus - a tremor like reflex in his feet. But he is 5 months and still hasn’t found his feet. He can roll from back to belly and sits assisted very well. He has no head lag etc. but I was curious thank you!

Hi! In hindsight, to start with, instead of marvelling at her "strength" in her legs that she was pushing through and managed to carry her body weight when we hadn't even left SCBU yet, we should have been alarmed at it. It turned out to be spasticity in her legs (hypertension of the muscle that is caused by signals from the brain getting scrambled), rather than amazing natural strength. But at each 3 monthly appointment, up until she was 9 months old, the consultant said her muscle tone was normal. At 9 months, he said she had hypertension in her legs.
A health visitor first noticed a delay at around the 6 month mark, as dd1 could not sit or crawl yet (she could roll over and back) and started the process of referrals. By about 10 months, she started doing a soldier crawl. In photos, it is noticeable that her hands were often clenched fists and her toes were often curled, which we did not realise at the time.
When she started pulling herself into stand later, her feet were turned outwards, especially her big toes came all the way over the next tows along. She looked a bit like standing on a pair of flippers. (This all improved drastically a few years later with the help of physiotherapy.)
That's all the symptoms I can think of right now. If you have any more questions, please ask away.
I have not heard of an ankle clonus before. How does this come about?

I messaged u

@Jokat Hi OP, thought I would try my luck to see if you reply.
my youngest is 5 months and not found his feet yet. Did you LO do it in the end? X

@eliayd sorry about the late reply. Yes she did.
How is your LO doing in other aspects of movement? Are they on target with rolling over? Are they trying to sit up yet? Were they born at full term?