Baby and milestones

[Lemonadesun]

Hey, It’s my first time posting in the parent forum so hopefully I’m in the right place!
My little girl is 4 months old next week and I’m just worried she’s not reaching certain milestones are quick as other babies her age are. I know I shouldn’t be worrying at all that she’s still small and every baby is different but I can’t help but worry (I do suffer with health anxiety and just general anxiety so sometimes my thoughts get the better of me) she makes eye contact, she turns her head to look at us and turns to our voices too, has found her feet about a month ago and loves to put them on her mouth haha (it’s her favourite thing to do at the moment) she’s coos a lot! Hasn’t really started babbling yet, she’s teething, can grab objects that are in front of her or that are passed too her, she holds her head up completely and has for the last month too. But babies her age are sitting unaided - she’s very shaky when we put her to sit up with help of course, she just flops to the side or goes forward - and laughing and rolling, she’s laughed once and rolled from her belly to back once too but hasn’t since and I feel like me and my husband are doing all the right things, loads of tummy time, play time, loads of sensory toys, sorry this is really long and I don’t really know what to expect from me saying all this but I’m just a worrier and I’m worrying that she isn’t rolling side to side - only the once - laughing - only the once too - and sitting, sorry just a worried first time mum here! Sorry again 😩 thanks!

Where are you reading that she should be meeting these milestones by 4months?

Yourbaby sounds perfectly normal to me.

My baby was a bit late with certain things like laughing, reaching for objects etc but is 9 months now and almost standing unaided and has been crawling/pulling up for months. But anyway 4 months is still so so young to be sitting unaided and rolling can be any time up to 6/7 months? No need to worry x

She sounds completely normal to me, where are you getting this from? I can’t imagine my four month old being able to sit up unaided yet at all

Laughing- they do it but then forget how! You have to wait until they remember again



This table is from Emily Oster's Cribsheet and shows the WHO's range of what's normal for babies in meeting milestones. You have nothing to worry about.

Emily Oster is a really good resource for rationalising these kinds of fears IMO.

None of the babies I've known have ever sat unaided at not even 4 months! That's incredibly unusual. DD was the first in our antenatal group to sit and she was 5.5 months!

Enjoy your baby and don't compare to other people's babies (other people lie so much about their own child's achievements anyway, something makes people super competitive about really unimportant stuff). Your health visitor will fill in questionnaires called Ages and Stages that check your baby is on track.

Ahh thank you so much everyone, really appreciate it and the reassurance too! I forgot to say too she doesn’t really put an weight on her feet when I stand her up too her knees just buckle haha. 2 friends have has babies one a couple of weeks before and one that was born a day before so basically the same as my little one and they’re both sitting now, laughing, rolling etc, they send photos/videos into the group chat often about how advance their babies are and it just makes me think then and thinking isn’t good for me haha. Also I was looking on the what to expect website and they say about rolling now and putting weight on their feet when you stand up them on a hard surface. Thank you so much everyone I’ll have a look at Emily Oster, I’ve only seen my HV once too just after she was born, I could get in contact with the pope easier than her haha! Thanks again everyone 😄

Everything you have said she does is spot on. Everything you say she doesn’t she is far too early for.

@AnyFucker thank you so much! Feel 100x better now after posting, I was nervous to post but feel so much better! I’ll love her no matter what of course that’s a given just over worry too! Haha

Also not all babies do things in the"correct" order, DS didn't sit unaided until after he could crawl, basically sitting was boring he wanted to be on the move!

It’s been hard for mums in these covid times. Not able to get the RL reassurances we were all used to a few years ago. Very isolating.

Don't worry about this. Babies get there in their own time.

Both of mine were lazy movers. My son didn't sit unaided until 7 months. He didn't crawl until 11 months or walk until 16 months

DD sat early at 5 months but then just sat there soaking up the world around her. She didn't crawl until almost 1 and didn't walk until 17 months. But she answered the HV at her 1 year review so .... 🤷🏼‍♀️

Don't compare your baby to others or feel that you have to do things to hit these milestones.

As everyone say, not all babies do things in the 'expected' order, or at the 'expected' time, but either way, your little one sounds spot on where she should be.
It is pretty unusual for babies to sit unaided before about 6 months.

I think trying to get a four month old baby to sit could potentially be quite dangerous.... it's too young!

I know how it feels to suffer from milestone anxiety. My baby had been very late to do lots of things and actually ended up needing physio. Although she was late and needed a little help when she was finally ready she needed hardly any practice to do things and just did it! All babies get there eventually.

You can definitely work things in to your every day activities with baby to help set good foundations for milestones. Look at Instagram accounts like momma and me PT.

Please try not to worry or let it take over too much. Babies are wonderful things but they don't all fit in to the milestones by age listed in books x

Thank you again everyone for the really lovely comments honestly really appreciate it!
I’m way more at ease now, just need to relax more because if I don’t it will consume me 😔 at least she’s on track for what her age is and she’s just such a happy content baby! Thank you again guys!

I also have a 4 month old and he's exactly the same as your baby girl. I'm a first time mum, so can understand comparing your baby with others, but it's so true that every baby is different.

Your baby sounds very advanced for 4 months. My DD sat unaided about 6 months. She rolled at a similar point as she became a tummy sleeper. Try to enjoy your time with your little one rather than pushing them to meet milestones early x

Thank you both! Yeah every baby is so different and on their own time scale I do let me thoughts run away with me sometimes 😔
Ahh thank you! She is the absolute love of my life, yeah I will definitely will! Time goes too fast haha, thank you! X