Worried about new son's possible delays

iVillage Member
Registered: 09-24-2006
Worried about new son's possible delays
7
Mon, 01-14-2008 - 1:55am

I have a 9-month-old son, Luke, and am starting to wonder what is going on with him. My oldest son, 4-year-old Kyle, has Asperger's Syndrome. My hubby and I had thought our new son was typically developing until lately.

For about a week, Luke babbled a lot and made a lot of different sounds. Now, he does not babble hardly at all - he prefers to grunt and shriek. He does pay attention to what we say and smiles a lot to us and laughs. He loves to watch his brother play. It seems like he often understands what we say. He is VERY social - even the ped thinks so - which is not like Kyle was at his age. It is very weird.

Kyle has major feeding problems and hates to eat, but Luke loves to eat and it shows. Kyle didn't like to make eye contact as a baby and even now, but Luke loves to make eye contact.

Other possible delays are not crawling (not even really trying), not sitting up on his own and not standing on his own while holding onto furniture. Yet, those might be delayed given Luke's weight - he is 75% in weight, but only 25% in height.

What could be going on with Luke? I just don't know what to make of it.

Michelle
Mom to Kyle (5-28-03) and Luke (3-28-07)

iVillage Member
Registered: 01-25-2007
Mon, 01-14-2008 - 4:17am
Kids all develop at different rates but if this is something that really worries you maybe you should get a second opinion. Since your older son is on the spectrum it is only natural to be more anxious with the second one. Does your ped have anything to say about not sitting up on his own? Doctors often downplay parents concerns so trust your gut.
iVillage Member
Registered: 01-07-2008
Mon, 01-14-2008 - 6:48am

You really need to talk to a paediatrician about this. From my experience with kids they all develop at hugely different rates, and particularly at this age - 9months - there is a *huge* variation in what babies are achieving that is within 'normal' range. Some are barely eating solids and hardly sitting up, some are walking and feeding themselves, some are babbling, some are saying recognisable words, some are sleeping through the night and others are still waking 4 or 5 times for a feed. All of this is within 'normal' range. It is still far too early to know if Luke is on the spectrum and probably at this age, unless there is some physical developmental delay that your paediatrician will pick up on, although you will naturally be anxious and looking for 'red flags', you also need to remember that every child is very very different. It is natural to 'compare' siblings but it isn't always particularly helpful. Try taking Luke to a playgroup of babies and toddlers of similar age - how does he compare to them? You will soon see that there is a huge variation in what a 9 mo can do. Crawling can happen anytime up to 18m, and sometimes doesn't happen at all. The only thing that looks slightly delayed to me is that he isn't sitting up unaided, which babies are generally doing by this age. Was he a preemie? if so you need to adjust the 'normal' ages of development to account for this.


Talk to your paediatrician - and always listen to your gut mummy instinct. If something feels wrong get it checked - even at the risk of feeling foolish when it turns out to be nothing. I *knew* for ages that somethign wasn't 'right' with DS1 and it was only when he was 7 that we got a proper diagnosis. On the other hand, professionals were telling me all along that DS2 had potential 'problems' that all turned out to be nothing and my mummy instinct knew absolutely that there was nothing 'wrong' with him (and I was right. Turn to the textbook for a 'NT' 4 year old boy and you will see my DS's very cheeky face grinning at you!)


Kirsty mum to Euan (9, Asperger's) Rohan (4, NT) and Maeve (2, NT)


"My definition of housework is to sweep the room with a glance"


Follow my blog on http://mumsnet.com/blogs/kirsteinr/


 

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
Mon, 01-14-2008 - 7:16am

I think Luke has some good things going for him.

                                

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-28-2007
Mon, 01-14-2008 - 9:41am

Hi Michelle,

I have an NT 13 month old and at 9 months she wasn't crawling either. Now she's cruising around and crawling fine. Even so she has no interest in walking independently.

Still, the not sitting up is something to be mindful of. Talk to the ped, however most states have an Early Intervention program, in GA it's babies can't wait. Can you call the EI program in your state/district and get an evaluation. It sounds like he may qualify for PT for possible low muscle tone. I know how hard it is having a kid in the spectrum and then watching every little thing with your younger kids.

Dee

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iVillage Member
Registered: 04-07-2003
Mon, 01-14-2008 - 10:24am

My child who most worried me as an infant/toddler is my now 11yo NT ds. He began saying "dada" and a couple of other words at a "normal" age, but then he regressed and didn't talk at all for a loooong time. When he did start speaking again, he was saying things like "gaga" instead of "dada." For the few words he did have (at 2.5-3yo), he was dropping beginning sounds ("fish" was "ish"). He also HATED to be on his stomach so didn't learn to crawl until after he learned to walk.

We had ds tested for hearing problems (none), and he began speech therapy. At first when early intervention came out, I felt silly for bothering them over such a little thing, but they assured me that they'd rather do the testing and find out everything's okay rather than NOT have a child tested and get the help they need.

I agree with the previous posters about not worrying too much over the variances in a child's development, but to also trust your instincts if you really think there is a problem. In hindsight I realize I worried too much about my NT ds and not enough about my AS kids (tho' when they were younger my AS kids' symptoms weren't as pronounced, either).

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Mon, 01-14-2008 - 6:46pm

http://www.nectac.org/contact/ptccoord.asp

That will give you the Early Intervention contact for each state if you are US

Give a call. Most times testing is free of charge

Low tone does run in families. Did they mention low tone with Kyle? It often manifest in reluctance to chew meats, etc.

Be sure he is on his tummy as much as possible and severely limit use of anything like an exersaucer

iVillage Member
Registered: 09-24-2006
Tue, 01-15-2008 - 5:20pm

Thanks all for your supportive posts. When I wrote Luke is not "sitting up on his own," I meant that he's not getting into a sitting position on his own. He can sit up unassisted if we put him in that position. However, he sometimes falls back from losing his balance.

Forgive me for not being very clear. I am dealing with a family health crisis, too - sister with cancer and we don't know the extent or stage of it yet.

Regarding Luke, we are most concerned about him babbling for about a week and then stopping. I don't why he would just up and stop like that. He babbles at times now, but very rarely - not at all like he did before. And yet he remains very social with good eye contact and reacts when we talk to him. Go figure!

Luke gets a lot of floor time; we rarely put him in his exersaucer - maybe for 30 minutes after a feeding up to two times a day. It doesn't help matters that he is teething badly these days - getting 4 new teeth at a time - and very crabby.

Next month, our Parents as Teachers trainer will come to visit Luke. I will have her check where he is in the various developmental areas. I think it's too early for him to get accepted for First Steps (our early intervention program). My first didn't get into First Steps until he was 18 months old for speech delays.

Michelle
Mom to Kyle (5-28-03) and Luke (3-28-07)