Does my child have CP?

[Sunstreaks1704]

My DD is 17 months old corrected, born premature at 28 weeks 5 days. She is a tein and had a rougher entry to Life than her brother. She was born not vreating and an AGPAR score of 0. She recovered fairly quickly, but had a long stay in NICU due to apnea of prematurity. Her cranial ultrasound and genetic testing all came back clear.

Since discharge I've been keeping a close eye on her development. She rolled at around 6 months back to front and front to back for a few weeks and then stopped until she started up again recently. She has always hated tummy time but suffers badly with constipation and her tummy is always bloated and uncomfortable.

She sits unassisted and has done since about 8 months.

She doesn't crawl or walk but since she's started rolling again she getting into crawl position.

She can't put herself into sitting from lying down or pull up to standing (only using our hands).

She weight bares and has done from an early age. She walks flat footed holding hands and with her walker. She'll stand holding furniture but won't cruise.

It seems to me she has the physical capability but lacks the confidence and panics.

She's been under physio since discharge but only been seen a handful of times. She hates it there and always kicks up a fuss. They did find some stiffness but can't be sure whether this is tone or just because she is so upset and is natural resistance. In the basis of this at her last paeds appointment the consultant did a full examination and and found full range of movement and no stiffness. He even told me directly 'you have nothing to worry about' and she is following the developmental pattern of a bum shuffler.

Her fine motor skills, eating an communication are beautiful.

I guess I'm interested in knowing whether anyone had had children that met their gross development milestones late without an underlying condition? Or whether I should be pushing hard for a second opinion.

Thanks

She isn't late by the sound of it. 18 months is when they start to look at it, but you've already had it looked at. Some babies walk quite suddenly. DD1, who does have disabilities, wasn't walking, then just before she was two, she learned to walk in one afternoon. Then the next day she walked over a mile.

My DD never crawled and didn’t walk until she was gone 2. She turned out to have hyper mobility but that wasn’t discovered until she was a bit older. Her ankles were too flexible to support her weight. Once she started wearing boots to keep her ankles rigid, she was away!

3 kids who are “ normal “ ( eldest may be dyspraxia and ND ). All grown up now.

eldest bum shuffled. Walked at 15 mo. Rode a bike at 11yrs 🤣

middle crawled early and fast. Walked at 15 mo. Rode a bike af t 4. Sporty but gangly still.

youngest crawled a bit. High knee ran ( as did I ) which isn’t a commonly mentioned method of locomotion- but is fast , stable and lets you use hands. Took physio putting her in boots to get feet at 90 degrees and annoy her enough to get her up 🤣 at 22 months !. Apparently if you knee walk for ages you get tight Achilles as feet pointing behind.
once up she rode a bike at 3 and whilst not sporty is very tidy to watch running etc 😆

so don’t worry yet. The “ early “ walkers will always boast and a twin will always be compared.

she’s her own person X

She doesn’t sound late really.

Our daughter has cerebral palsy, she’s almost 2.5 and was very recently diagnosed. She was fine with rolling, sitting, crawling etc and walking holding on to things. But we noticed early on there was an issue with her left side, so when she crawled for example she lent on her entire left forearm, where as she would just lean on the right hand. The placing of her left foot was also a bit odd and seemed very planned, unlike her right one which would be stomped down. She can walk fine now, but has a slightly odd walk at times if she’s tired etc, she also has fairly good use of her left arm, but will struggle with fine motor skills. She does have a thing for her left anke (I can’t remember the English word) that gives it a bit more stability. We do physio with her every day, she then has water therapy three times a week.

I was wondering about this too. My DD (21 months) is a bit further along and still not pulling up or cruising. We have been seeing the physio every 4 weeks since 19 months and she is making slow progress but still miles behind other kids her age. We are not under any sort of paediatrician or consultant and not sure if we should ask for this. I wouldn’t want to put her through unnecessary and invasive tests so I’m really not sure what to do.

The physio says DD has low muscle tone but not hyper mobility and is not sure if there is an underlying cause it just the way her muscles and tendons have developed through bum shuffling.

Has your physio suggested any footwear ?

the trouble is bum shufflers ( and those who knee run or use any other alternative form of moblilisation) are “ superior “ mechanically to those trying to walk on two tiny wobbly feet - they are more stable , lower centre of gravity and easily use both hands - so why would a bright baby bother to walk till they are sure they’d be good at it 🤣

I dunno what eventually persuaded my bum shuffler up and walking ( she crawled well after walking ) - probably being baby no 1 we both spent ages trying to persuade her legs were for walking 😱😆.

certainky if the knee running kid hadn’t been put in those boots that annoyed her so much ( you try staying in a high kneeling position with your feet held at 90 degrees ) she’d have carried on for months taking the knees out of all her trousers !

My little boy never crawled, just bum shuffled using one leg, and didn’t walk properly til after 18months. I was scared there was something wrong too, but turns out he was just taking his time over it!!

My daughter has CP, she crawled at 13 months and walked at 19 months. We knew from a young age though as she wasn't using her right arm and struggled with her right foot, she has right sided hemiplegia (she suffered a perinatal stroke). My DD couldn't weight bare till close to her walking so it's amazing that your child is and phsyios etc wouldn't worry (so mine have said) till 18 months. However, my DD does have piedro boots now that really help!

Initially the physio has recommended getting shoes with ankle support (not great timing to be getting boots with summer coming on!) but said she might recommend orthotics if there isn’t much progress soon.