6month old seems behind developmentally?

[PfizerFan]

I'm extremely worried about my daughter. She will be six months old next week and can't roll from back to front (can the other way) and can't sit unassisted for more than a few seconds without falling. Is this normal? It seems everybody else in my NCT course have babies who are rolling everywhere and already sitting
The health visitor is refusing to visit (got a six week check up and after that nothing until a year!) and the GP isn't interested. I have had to stop going to baby classes as they make me too anxious.

Am I right to be concerned?

I can remember feeling similar when DC1 wasn't crawling at 11 months and would only be spoon fed smooth purées.

Like another poster said, "when did you start to crawl" isn't a question that he's yet been asked at Uni or in any job interview

Agree with the PPs, your HV will have an incredibly large workload. Services for Women and Children aren't a priority when it comes to funding.

You can do the 6 month ages & stages here, the scoring is at the bottom.

It's totally normal for them to score grey in a couple of areas, but if it's more than that I think I'd speak to the HV at one of the weigh in clinics

@SirVixofVixHall I could have written that post, except that I was 9 months old! It's a family joke how lazy I was. I can now sit unaided, and could probably roll over if I had to, but I am still very lazy. I'm sure your baby is just doing her own thing in her own time, but if you're still worried in a few months time, try contacting your HV again

My DS wasn’t smiling at 10 weeks, I was totally panicked and tbh the health visitor didn’t help and implied it might be indicative of a learning difficulty. Low and behold a week later he started smiling and has a constant grin on his face and very quickly started mimicking sounds and trying to sing a long when we do (more of a screech… but he’s trying!). The HV was then singing praises about how early he was developing. Only mention this because seeing a HV may cause you more panic when as PPs show all babies develop at different stages :-). If you really want to see one though might you have a drop in clinic nearby? Our local council holds about 6 a week where they’ll do a general health check and answer any questions.

I worried myself sick about DD1 who sat unaided at 10 months, rolled at 10 months, crawled 2 weeks after her 1st birthday and walked at 21 months. By 2 her motor skills had all caught up. She’s 18 now and at university, easily in the top 10% of marks for her (extremely difficult to get into) course. She just did things in her own time.

She is not behind for not rolling. continue your tummy time, one game I did with all my kids was the "rolling blanket" : roll her in a blanket than very gently unroll her. They really like this game, she will learn from that.

It’s so easy to worry when they are babies but this post is correct: this early milestone business relates to absolutely nothing ( unless at the extreme end, which what you have described definitely is not). We had one baby in our NCT group who did things very, very fast at first: rolling, smiling, weaning, sitting. Mum was so proud and tbh a tiny bit boastful . Then at one year get together suddenly her little girl was the only one still not crawling and the others were ( mostly) walking. We never heard from that mum again ( which was sad actually, though I guess DD is walking by now!). Within our wider family ( being vague as to who is who as not fair ) we have some big intellect, talented kids who sat like potatoes ( in hindsight absorbing everything!) and some super fast milestone heroes who are now kind of really only just above average with school. And then a mix of that and a range in between. It really isn’t much of an indicator of anything.

Do you have a local weighing clinic? Usually you can go there and see the health visitor in person and ask any quick queries, without needing to have a home visit. They will also often be able to offer weaning advice if you are worried about this. In many areas a course is offered to show you the basics.

Just to say though DS1 was also not sitting up unassisted at 6 months and I remember it being a big topic because BLW was new/a big thing back then and there was all this about them needing to sit unassisted - which was not correct - they only needed to be able to sit with support. Also, a couple of months later he was one of the first NCT babies to crawl. There were two of them and the others didn't start for a few weeks after that. They just choose to work on different things at different times!

Remember that with any groups of babies like NCT, you'll notice all the things that the other babies are doing which yours isn't yet because it will stand out as odd, but you won't register the things that they aren't doing (but your baby is) because of course no baby does them all the time so you'll just assume that they are doing those things at other times :) NCT is also a small group, so you get odd clusters which aren't actually representative of the wider picture.

Agree also that rolling sounds right for her age. The red flag to watch out for would be no rolling at all by 6 months. You have already passed this so not to worry if she doesn't roll both ways yet.

In terms of sitting the milestone to look out for is that they can support their head e.g. if they are placed in a sitting position in your lap or against some cushions or some kind of baby seat. If they are still floppy by 8 months old, this is a red flag and you should seek advice.

Most of the milestones they do before 4 months are easier ones and so they happen pretty fast. After 4 months you're getting to the harder milestones so they take a lot longer to work on. Perhaps this is why it feels like things have slowed down? Don't worry.

Oh the only thing I have heard re milestones ( and this may have changed as baby advice changes with the wind) but I remember my mum being really relieved that ours crawled ( and your LO isn’t at that stage yet so don’t worry ) as she thought this was somehow related to knitting both sides of the brain together which all sounded to me like complete and utter bollocks. Then I did happen upon a few articles and a documentary that did, in fairness, seem to confirm this. Another MN poster might be more informed on this front but I flag it as you may want to make sure LO has a nice area with an encouraging surface to try to facilitate crawling when you approach that stage ( normally not until at LEAST 7 months). This might be outdated advice btw. Please chip in MN?

Lol. I was an early walker and now ask DCs to fetch everything for me so that early milestone didn’t translate to any particular gift at using my feet .

My baby is 6.5 months and doesn’t roll although he can sit up but that’s only happened in the last week or 2.
You probably are already but just keep practicing she’ll be able to tolerate more and more until she can sit unaided.

I met a baby who was born a day before my son who was fully crawling this week, I couldn’t believe it and my son is nowhere near this. They’re all different.

Try not to worry, I know that’s easier said than done.

Some babies take a while to hit milestones and some miss them out altogether by jumping to the next one.

One of mine is disabled but we could tell way before 6 months.

You’re desperate to get baby moving but one day you’ll come back into the room and find they’re not where you left them! Then you’ll realise how much easier it was before they were mobile.

Mine was the same. And then she walked at about 11 half months. Never crawled. It's normal.

Yes it's to do with being able to cross the meridian. So one thing you can do to train this is once they are sitting up, try to get them to grab things on their left side with their right hand and vice versa.

But they will also usually learn it even if you don't actively teach them - as long as they have plenty of opportunity to move freely, they will usually be fine.

Thanks! Yes, that was it. That’s a good idea about grabbing things!

Aww I know it’s worrying OP but she sounds normal. I was 12 months old before I could sit up, 13 and a half months and I was walking. I just did things differently. I’m a vet now, completely average, and have no physical issues at all

Did the HV give you the ready steady baby book? If not you can get it online. Normal range for sitting is between 6 and 8 months. Sounds like your little one is getting there so I really wouldn’t worry at this stage.

my daughter has a wee friend who is about 10 days older than her. My DD was walking for well over 6 months before her friend could even stand. But then her friend has a waaaaay better vocabulary than my DD. They do things in their own time!

My daughter was developmentally delayed at 18 weeks but perfectly average by 21 weeks. She scored very poorly on her 4 month check. She didn't smile or respond to sounds. She couldn't be comforted nor could she be put down for even a second. At 18 weeks I went dairy free and she was put on the right reflux medication. She caught up so quickly afterwards. We saw our HV every 2 weeks up to 7-8 months so had every assessment available! We raised concerns about her hearing at 8 weeks but it wasn't until 18 weeks that a hearing test was arranged. She had it at 7months by which point we had no concerns. The HV didn't raise concerns until she was scoring behind across the board / her scores were dropping month by month

We had the HV back at 20 months when her speech dramatic stopped developing and regressed backwards. She was almost mute and communicated by pointing. She scored 0 on the 18-24 month assessment and ok on the 12-24 months. We had some worksheets to help her language and at 26 months she was near her peers

I know that, what I'm worried about is that there's something wrong.

That was to the poster who said nobody will care when they're at university.

My baby started sitting at 7.5 months. Happened overnight. I think it's very normal

My DS2 didn't sit up until he was 10 months, didn't crawl until a year, didn't walk until 16 months. He has just aced his GCSEs and is very sporty. Don't worry!

I think that post was meant to be reassuring not dismissive. The point was really her confident expectation that nothing is wrong from what you have told us. All new mums worry, we all remember that - and by the time LO is at uni, acing GCSEs or racing about the playground etc, most of us realise we had not needed to, notwithstanding that dons milestones might have been “ slow.” From what you have told us, and given our experience as mums, your LO sounds fine. But sometimes there is something wrong and you should seek more expert advice if our words have not reassured you. Ultimately we have not met your LO.

Some

I think what we are all trying to do is reassure you that this is normal. Normal is a broad range of abilities.

Whether there is "something wrong" is something all of us question. But there is zero to indicate anything at this stage so try and put those thoughts to one side.

Totally normal. I’d say 6 months is early to be sitting and around about average for rolling from back to tummy.

Funny thing is DS1 rolled exceptionally early both ways. He’s 3 now and the most clumsy, uncoordinated child going. Much more interested in verbal/social development. He never crawled and walked late. I don’t think age of rolling has any indication on what they are going to be like long term.

DS2 is 5 months and has showed no sign of rolling either way at all. I’m not remotely worried.