7 weeks prem - development stories please

[34PinkLadyApple]

Hi, my DD is now 10 weeks old having been born at 33 weeks. Just wondering if anyone can tell me how their little one got on development wise at roughly this gestation? She was 3lb 9oz at birth and is now just over 8lb. Looking for comfort really... What to expect etc

33 week ds now five. He was a bugger to fed and will always be slim. He may have been slim anyway?His development is ahead and he had no health issues. All my friends had children around the same time who were all term. He is the only one without issues of one sort or another. I wish I had not stressed so much and enjoyed the time more when he was little. All will be fine

My DS was 33+6 weighing 4lbs 1 1/2 oz. Spent 1 week in SCBU then 1 week in transitional care. Crawled at 11 months. Walked at 15 months. Now almost 10, 5 ft tall.
Doing well at school etc.

Agree with prev post, it is horrible at the time but all will be well.

All will be fine as plentyofsleep says. My 31 weeker is now 12 (!). He was slow to walk and talk but in retrospect that was mostly personality: he won't do anything until he can do it perfectly. He is in top sets at secondary, is Grade 5 on 2 instruments, runs for an athletics club and plays demon computer games ( proud, me ?). Like plentyofsleep I look back and wish I hadn't worried so much. All will be fine. Enjoy babyhood, you will blink and have a teenager.

My 33-weeker slept through at 5 months (hooray). My 34-weeker took a couple of years to manage that. They both walked at 16/17 months but I suspect that was just when they were going to walk anyway iyswim. 33-weeker talked early, 34-weeker talked late. Both a nightmare to potty-train. One super-skinny and average height and one 50th centile for everything. I also have a full-term child who is tiny!

I think the early milestones are all a little bit delayed - smiling and so forth. Or at any rate, if they're "late" to do something you can console yourself that it was because they were prem, and if they do it early you can tell yourself you have a genius baby.

Healthwise - 33-weeker developed a belly-button hernia (which resolved itself) and was pretty prone to bronchial infections (he seems to have grown out of that now, at 5yo). 34-weeker got loads of ear infections. Those are the things that may be due to being prem.

They are 11, 8 and 5 now and you'd never ever know which ones were prem.

DD was 34+0, 4lb 15 and is now nearly a year old

She has done most things at roughly the expected corrected age.

So she smiled at 12 weeks/6 weeks corrected - god that was a long wait.
Rolled front to back at 14 weeks corrected (but rolling back to front was much later - 8 months corrected I think)
Sat unaided just before 6 months corrected
Pulled to standing at 8.5 months corrected
Crawled and cruised at 9 months corrected
Now walking pushing her walker... Also babbling, clapping etc and has been for a while.

Fine motor skills are a little more behind I think, she has a pincer grip just about but suspect she is a bit more uncontrolled than other babies her corrected age. No problem getting toast into her mouth though
Eating is normal for her age
Sleep is not great but that's personality I think
Weight and height she is pretty average or possibly on the fat side for her corrected age.

I will say that we found the early months very very hard. DD was very sleepy and difficult to feed for her first 7 weeks after birth. She also wouldn't sleep anywhere except on my chest for the first 3 months. she had terrible wind and a bit of silent reflux (caused in fact by undetected tongue tie rather than prematurity, but we didn't know that at the time).

However from about 17 weeks onwards (and once we got the bloody tongue tie fixed) I think she has been much like any other baby of her corrected age (albeit at the feisty end of the scale...!). I wish I had known this during the early weeks, sadly no one can give you a crystal ball. But the vast majority of 33 weekers are absolutely fine.

PS that's amazing weight gain PinkApple!

Hi! My DS, now 2, was born at 32 weeks and spent a month in NICU. He was at the later end of normal developmentally until about 18 months (crawled at 14 months, walked at 17) but now you literally would never know he was early. He's bright, affectionate, chatty and confident, at his 2 year check the HV (a new one, usual one is on sick leave) couldn't believe he'd been early and said he was hitting all milestones and was even quite advanced in some things! He uses a knife and fork, has excellent manners, asks for what he wants, follows instructions (when he feels like it) and puts sentences together. I have 3 friends whose children were born at similar gestation and they had all caught up by age 2 as well, try not to worry!

My DD was born at 33+1 and weighed 3lb 1oz. She's now 7 and has never had any problems at all. She was a bit late to walk but otherwise all good.

DS was 5lbs 3ozs born (I had GD) and apart from a blip when we had some feeding troubles in the first months which saw him drop to 4lb 12ozs by about 5 weeks, he's always been on or just above the top centile for weight and about the 95th for height. He's currently sitting in front of me pushing a train around the floor with one hand and mashing a banana into his face with the other hand while going 'choochooooo!'

Ds 33 weeker. Now 7 months and is a chunk! Some things I think he's caught up on whereas some things like sitting without me clutching onto him he is a little under confident at. It's amazing how when you have a 33 weeker how many people say to you that they it someone they know was born prematurely! My bil was born at 33 weeks too and he's now 44 years old and 6ft something tall, and that was before all the medical marvels of today so that always gave me comfort x

My 32 Weeker is now 9! She's one of the tallest in her class.

She was like a newborn longer than my 37 Weeker but she quickly caught up after that. Walked at 14 months but so did my older daughter (and dh!) crawled earlier than I expected, chatted and climbed and has been causing chaos ever since. By about 6-8 months she was hitting some milestones for term babies.

I think once the initial worry of will they be ok is over, preemies are lovely to have, and they come on so fast, when her consultant signed her off at her year check she said look at her sitting there so straight playing away, you would never believe she was two full months early.

My DS was born at 31+5 and weighed 2lb 6oz at birth. He is now 2yrs and 8 months old, still very slim (he's never had that "chubby" baby stage) but as tall and sometimes taller than children his own age. Still in 18-24 month clothes because he's so slim but not far off 2-3yrs now!

He has been behind for all milestones. Learned to sit up independently at 10 months, crawled at 11 months, walked at 17 months, said his first word ("mama") at 23 months. He was weaned at the normal ages and potty trained by 28 months. He is now talking loads and it seems to have come together rather quickly this year. You'd be hard pressed to tell was prem as the only thing he's behind on now is speech but he's catching up by the day. He's never had any health issues since leaving SCBU either.

When he was a newborn I thought he'd never catch up, always be tiny, and just this year was worried he wouldn't be talking by the time he starts nursery next year. But things just seem to fall into place.

Hey just posting today as well as m 33 weeker saw the health visitor today and he is now on 50th centile and weighs average of a 9 month old which is his actual age!