| Author | Message | ||
     Weber_gregston (Weber_gregston) Username: Weber_gregston Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 194.176.105.47 |
I received a proud text message from my brother this morning announcing that my youngest nephew has now learned to sit up by himself. That would have been a good text to receive 6 months ago as my nephew is now 16 months old. He doesn't walk or stand by himself and tends to bum-shuffle across a room rather than crawl or walk. How do I persuade my brother that he needs to get the kid checked because his progress is so damned slow. Especially seeing as there is a history of genetic spinal problems in the family. If you do say anything to my brother he shrugs it off and says children progress at different rates. But there's different rates and different rates. My brother's other son was walking at 14 months. My sister's two year old has been walking since 10 months. To go back to the title of the thread, should I be worried? | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 213.219.8.243 |
16 months does seem like a long time for a child to sit up...http://www.cowandgate.co.uk/my_toddler/my_toddlers_development | ||
| Stu (Stu) Username: Stu Registered: 04-2008 Posted From: 86.29.187.239 |
Right, I know nothing about babies so you should ask someone much more qualified especially if there's possible hereditary medical conditions involved but I found this on the net: "When to be concerned As mentioned above, some perfectly normal children don't walk until they're 16 or 17 months old. The important thing is the progression of skills; if your baby was a little late learning to roll over and crawl, chances are he'll need a few extra weeks or months for walking as well -- as long as he keeps learning new things, you don't have to be too concerned. Babies develop skills differently, some more quickly than others, but if yours seems to be lagging behind significantly, bring it up with your doctor. Keep in mind that premature babies may reach this and other milestones later than their peers." Full article at http://www.babycentre.co.uk/baby/development/walking/ | ||
| Carolinec (Carolinec) Username: Carolinec Registered: 06-2009 Posted From: 82.38.75.85 |
I'm no expert on babies, Weber - I've never had them myself - but I can tell you that I didn't walk until I was 18 months old. I just used to bum-shuffle along all the time! I don't know when I first sat up on my own though. But development-wise, I ended up walking fine. Also mentally, no problems - I mean I'm not a slow learner or anything as I'm now a university lecturer! However, in later life I did develop fibromyalgia, including my back and legs - but personally, I don't think this had anything to do with my late walking. But don't babies have health checks and things nowadays anyway? I definitely think it would do more good than harm to mention it to a medic the next time they see one with the little fella. And how does the mother feel about this? Often mothers are more anxious about these kinds of things than the fathers - might a word with her (very gently) about mentioning it to the health professional the next time they see one be a good thing to do? I wouldn't think there's any cause for concern given what happened to me, especially if the baby seems otherwise very content and healthy, but it's certainly something I'd mention to a health pro if he was mine. | ||
| Simon Strantzas (Nomis) Username: Nomis Registered: 09-2008 Posted From: 38.113.181.169 |
Judging by the number of stubbed toes, I'm still working on getting this walking thing down. | ||
| Weber_gregston (Weber_gregston) Username: Weber_gregston Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 194.176.105.47 |
 | ||
| Barbara Roden (Nebuly) Username: Nebuly Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 142.179.24.243 |
It's hard to say, Weber. Yes, children reach developmental milestones at vastly different times. Tim was walking before he was a year old; on the other hand, he didn't start speaking, apart from the odd word, until he was two-and-a-quarter (but when he did start speaking it was in complete sentences). We weren't worried about the speaking (or lack of it) because there was nothing wrong with his hearing or comprehension, and the words he did speak were clear and understandable. Our neighbour's son didn't start walking until he was 16 or 18 months; until then he was content to do the bum-shuffle thing, which you say your nephew does, so that would seem to be fine. However, if he's only just developed the muscular strength and/or coordination to sit up by himself, that would seem to indicate an underlying problem that needs to be checked out. What's your sister-in-law's take on the matter? Could you approach her instead? Or is there another family member or close friend who could tactfully suggest that it might be an idea, next time your nephew has a check-up, to bring up this question? |