8 month old low muscle tone

[Badmm]

Looking for some advice as I’ve been Googling and now worried sick.

my son is 8.5 months he had an assessment with the health visitor and she has said he is developmentally delayed.
He can’t sit or crawl and arches his back a lot. He is quite unstable and doesn’t feel solid when holding him he often has jerky movements where he throws himself back. He also can’t bear weight on his legs.

health visitor has suggested he has low muscle tone and has referred him to a physiotherapist and paediatrician but didn’t have any advice on what could cause it.

does anyone have any advice or went through similar ? Thanks

My little boy is 19months and he sound similar to your little boy. He was referred for a joint assessment late last year because my gp believed he too had lone muscle tone. He now gets regular physio, occupational therapy. He is slowly progressing, him receiving physio has made such a difference. He is starting to get a lot stronger and can sit up unsupported for a couple of minutes. He’s not as wobbly now when holding him. He had bloods taken in April to check for any genetic conditions and they all came back clear. Just now they have put it down to gross motor development delay and global development delay as he’s not very vocal either and doesn’t the now follow simple instructions or respond to his name. We’ve been referred to see a neurologist for them to assess him. We’re hoping really just to rule things out. My little boy was 7 weeks premature and his sister is awaiting her assessment for autism. So there is a possibility he may too have this assessment in the future. Just now our main focus is working on his gross motor skills then we will review his communication sensory issue at a later date. Once you met with the paediatrician they will get things arranged for you like physio for your son, occupational therapy for any extra support your son may need to sit up. We have a special bath chair as bathing him was so difficult because he constantly moved and couldn’t hold his head up. We also received a supported seat for my son to sit and eat at. We had a lovely lady come out from speech and language to check he was eating safely because he can’t sit properly up. Just now he’s still on mostly mashed up food but he’s improving all the time. It can be totally daunting not knowing what going on the now, I’ve been in your position and still going through various appointments. But what keeps us going is since he was initially referred last year he’s received so much help and is progressing at his own pace. I hope like my son your son starts to progress once he gets some extra help he may need at the moment.

Thank you for your reply I’m glad your son is making progress!
My son wasn’t premature and also isn’t babbling or really responding to his name 😔 I have 2 other sons who are also on the waiting list to be assessed for autism but they developed normally until they started school that’s when issues started to show. I wonder if this might be the same for my youngest it’s just so worrying not knowing what is causing it Googling is telling me the worst x

When you go for your referral if it’s like ours they will cover family history etc. When we took him for his joint assessment there was the paediatrician, a physiotherapist, occupational therapist and nurse. The nurse was the same one who assessed my daughter with her paediatrician and she mentioned it during our assessment that my daughter was awaiting her autism assessment. I did ask about autism then, he was about 13 months at the time. They advised sometimes delayed motor skills, low muscles tone can be an early indicator of autism but stressed due to him being so young they wouldn’t consider that until they see what he is like when he’s 2/3 years old. Also him being premature can also cause these delays. We had his 6 month review recently where we covered a-bit more about his communication and behaviours. She highlighted he’s not saying any words, he didn’t respond to his name or really acknowledge her during the appointment. The only time he engaged was to take the toy car from her and he sat spinning the wheels for the rest of the appointment. He’s had his eyes tested since that appointment and they were fine and awaiting an ear test to check his hearing. It’s so hard not to google things I was the exact same as none of my other children had any difficulties in sitting up crawling etc I hope your not waiting to long for his appointment and get some answers as it’s can be so stressful not knowing what’s going on.

Hi @Badmm my eldest DD has low muscle tone and hypermobility. She sat independently around 7-8 months but didn't bear weight on her legs for ages and ages, she finally crawled at 16 months, could pull to stand around 20 months and took her first steps a week before her 2nd birthday. She was quite smiley and sociable but never babbled and had very delayed speech.

Fast-forward to now where she is 3.5 and her low muscle tone and hypermobility are still evident in particular skills, she can't really jump and she struggles to climb up and down things but she can walk no problem and she can run now too and go up and down stairs. Her speech took a long time to catch up but now she speaks perfectly and is actually quite ahead for her age. However she has literally just been diagnosed as autistic which if you look into it has quite a strong connection with hypotonia and hypermobility. She's cracking though, completely hilarious, very chatty, such a sweetheart.

My advice would be push push push for help, advice, referrals etc. I was fobbed off for over 6 months before I could get anyone to take me seriously. Trust your instincts.

@Badmm wondering if you have any updates on your lo? Hope everything is okay. 🙂

Hey he is one now but still not much in getting a diagnosis but on our way hopefully. He sees a physiotherapist once a week and a speech and language therapist every 3 weeks also been referred to occupational therapy. He is still delayed, not sitting, crawling or weight bearing also still struggling with weaning but slowly making improvements. Physio doesn’t think he has low muscle tone but he is very sensory sensitive. Finally seeing a paediatrician in a few weeks so hoping they will be able to give more answers x

Thanks for the quick response @Badmm glad to hear you're making progress in getting support etc.

I'm in a Google rabbit hole worrying about my ds who is 8 months this week and have just been looking to others to hear their stories rather than frantically googling. (Which I have been doing since he was tiny 🤣)

When you say not sitting do you mean independently? Or not sitting with support. My little guy sits with lots of support but only very briefly (seconds) by himself. He also wobbles in a highchair unless it's very padded. He can pretty much crawl though.

Both really he would sit supported for a few mins then he would start arching his back or sliding to the side. He throws himself back if you attempt to sit him up or stand. He also used a supported cushion in his high chair because he would often lean to one side. I know how you feel about the Googling I was the same so hard when you don’t know what’s causing it but we are finally getting somewhere x

Same here he arches his back! I can't work out if he can't sit up or if he simply doesn't want to! Good luck with the rest of your journey and hope you get some answers and your lo continues to do well 💐

Have you spoke to your health visitor ? I would definitely raise your concerns so that you can get any referrals made if your worried. That was the main worry with my son the back arching although his seems to be voluntary not that he can’t control it so he doesn’t want to sit it’s very strange x