ASQ - black for gross motor at 12 months

[Foreverbaffled]

My baby is currently in the black area for gross motor on the 12 month ASQ. In white section for everything else. He has been sitting unassisted since 6 months, crawling since 8 months and pulls to stand well and can stand with just one hand to balance. However he is barely cruising which is the main reason he "fails" this area.

He was under neurology as a newborn as was born with ankle clonus and intermittent high muscle tone in his legs. He had grown out of both by 4 months and the neurologist had no concerns. He was also seen by a physio at this time who said he has hypermobile joints but no low muscle tone. I'm guessing this is the reason for his delay? Does anyone have any similar experiences or can reassure me? I've had dreadful PNA all year mainly relating to baby milestones so have found this incredibly hard to be rational about.

Thanks

Oh also just to say he's still under physio so have requested another appointment for review. Just hoping not cruising at this stage isn't that unusual. He is 12.5 months.

I would have thought that this falls perfectly within the normal range? He’s bearing weight on his feet and standing which is great. Totally anecdotal but most of the crawlers I’ve known have been on the later side to walk. I didn’t personally think it was even something to worry about unless baby is approaching 18 months and still not walking.

I should add- if you’re under physio definitely ask them! If he needs extra help due to hyper mobility then they are absolutely best placed to advice. But nothing you’ve said would personally worry me.

Your DS is doing far, far more than my DS was doing at 12 months, who was way into the black for gross motor (comfortably white for everything else). The HV wasn’t remotely concerned - I was told if he wasn’t walking by about 18-20 months to contact them, otherwise he was doing fine. Speak to your physio, but if he is developing well elsewhere I suspect they won’t be concerned.

@LakeShoreD Thank you so much for your reply. I honestly didn't think he was out of the norm until I got the form. I have hypermobility syndrome and was slow with all these things too as a baby. It's just hard to see properly when anxiety takes over.

Just to add, he’s now 1.5 and is walking, but still scores really low in gross motor in all the subsequent ASQs, but excelling in everything else.

Thanks @AliceW89 that really is so reassuring. I'll see what the physio says. I think it just brings back all the anxiety I had about him as a newborn. He's been so focused on communication lately (no proper words yet but lots of babbling, pointing and other gestures and better receptive language) that maybe gross motor just hasn't been high on his list of priorities.

Your DS is doing a lot more than my DD at that age! She didn’t pull to stand or cruise until a few weeks after her 1st birthday then walked at 15 months. Sounds like he’s doing great to me!

My eldest had only just started commando crawling at 12 months, and then first steps were at 18 months. Everything else was fine. I think at the next ASQ there were still some gross motor issues - things like not going up and down stairs in one step and maybe something like not jumping with 2 feet off the ground, but by then we could see she was also very cautious physically. She’s completely fine with milestones now (she’s at school). Obv there’s the potential hypermobility to keep an eye on, but overall it doesn’t sound worrying at all.

My neither of my daughter's have cruised. First one was walking by her first birthday, the second didn't take any steps until 20 months. No long term difference between them

Thank you to everyone who has responded, it really helps to get a balanced view and is so appreciated. I spoke to the health visitor today to go over the questionnaire and she was reassuring too that he isn't disastrously behind and really they don't have many concerns regarding walking until after 18 months. Feeling so much better.