9 1/2 Late on Some Physical Milestones

[MarinaVanessa]

Ok, ladies, I need some advice.
I have a 9 1/2 month old who for the most part meets every milestone. The only two things she's having a problem with is rolling from tummy to back (can roll from back to tummy just fine) and has not started to attempt sitting up yet.
EDIT: 3 things, she's not crawling yet either.
Normally I wouldn't be bothered but she started rolling from back to tummy at 5 months and has not progressed at to rolling from tummy to back since then. She attempts but there's no progress, she doesn't tuck her arm in at all. Ever.

Here is what I have been doing with her so far since around 6 months:
- She's on the floor the majority of the time, I mean it. She spends about 80% of her time on the floor.
- When she rolls from back to tummy and then gets stuck I encourage her to try to get her to roll over on her own (smiling, "come on", toys, snacks etc) until she starts to cry from not wanting to be on her tummy anymore, I stretch her arm either over her head or tuck it on her side, nudge her slightly to try to get herself to roll, and end up rolling her over. Rinse and repeat.
- I use 0 baby equipment, not even a swing, other than a highchair when she's eating.
- I don't strap her shoulders into the highchair, just the lap belt and I don't put anything around her lap to support her (like a towel blanket or something) and she always ends up leaning to one side or another after a few minutes. She can't support her upper body.
- I sit with her between my outstretched legs using them as lower support only so that she does not fall over and she has terrible balance. The longest that I've clocked her at sitting without falling over while I'm not touching her is 30 seconds.
- I set her down and pick her up using a rolling motion so that she gets used to the motion. I do this about 4-5 times a day for 10-15 minutes.
- I tuck her in into a rounded position (tuck her thighs/knees up towards her chest so her spine curves up) a few times a day and carry her tucked like that every time I need to carry her.

I don't know what else to try. I wasn't concerned before and thought I'd work with her and figured she was just a late developer but after 4 months of the same routine and no improvement at all now I'm starting to really monitor it. She also just recently stopped having the bobble-head effect as of like 6 weeks ago. I thought the rolling and sitting up were close behind but nothing so far.

Ideas, thoughts? Mom has noticed but Dr said to wait it out.

[Homebody]

This reminds me a lot of my nephew when he was a baby. His parents finally had him evaluated and found out he had low muscle tone, and they had to start doing physical therapy with him.

[jenboo]

Most babies who aren't propped up dont sit until after they can they crawl. They kinda have to get in that crawling position in order to get in a sitting position.

No advice on the rolling though.

[284878]

Do you have a developmental screening assessment tool like ages and stages questionnaire?

[Cat Herder]

Was she full term?

[MarinaVanessa]

Originally Posted by Homebody

This reminds me a lot of my nephew when he was a baby. His parents finally had him evaluated and found out he had low muscle tone, and they had to start doing physical therapy with him.

This is what I'm thinking. I've been keeping an eye on it but I haven't seen any major improvements since about 5-6 months and she's almost 9 months now.

Originally Posted by jenboo

Most babies who aren't propped up dont sit until after they can they crawl. They kinda have to get in that crawling position in order to get in a sitting position.

No advice on the rolling though.

Yeah and she doesn't even attempt to get anything except her chest and shoulder off of the floor when she's on her belly yet. Usually, by this age, they're starting to crawl or at least are in crawling position and rocking.

Originally Posted by 284878

Do you have a developmental screening assessment tool like ages and stages questionnaire?

I was able to get my hands on a ASQ-3 form for her and even used the calculator to make sure I used the right form and spent yesterday assessing her. She only scored a 10 in gross motor ... 1 out of 6 benchmarks got marked off.

Originally Posted by Cat Herder

Was she full term?

Yes full term.

[Cat Herder]

Does your CCR&R have screening staff you can call in?

[MarinaVanessa]

So after doing an ASQ-3 for her she only does 1 thing out of 6 in large motor. She only rolls from back to tummy and gets her arms out from under her. Rolling from tummy to back wasn't even on the assessment.

She does not
- lean on her hands when I put her in a sitting position, I have to hold her. (without support she will just fall over and not put her arms out to try to catch herself, but that might be too much to ask of her at this age anyway)
- get into a crawling position and won't stay in it even if I put her in it
- can't support her weight on her legs when I hold her hands/arms and put her in a standing position
- Can't sit up without using any support
- can't hold on to stuff when in a standing position because she can't hold her weight

Someone I know is trained in ASQ assessments and suggested that I do a level below and above the one I already did just to see if there are other things that she should be doing at a younger age and isn't or if she's doing stuff in other areas that are more advanced so i will work on that today.

I'll be talking to mom/dad today to see what they say.

[MarinaVanessa]

Originally Posted by Cat Herder

Does your CCR&R have screening staff you can call in?

That's something that I will also be looking into. If not our CCR&R then we have a program called TriCounties that offers screenings for children under 3 years. I will be suggesting to mom that she speak to her Pediatrician at a minimum and that she ask for an assessment. We have a great local program called Easter Seals that does physical therapy for kids under 3 so I will give that info all to mom/dad today.

[Cat Herder]

That sounds great. Here, if referred by childcare, the therapy is free to families (block grant). They can come to daycare and the childs home.

I'd also ask about confinement equipment use at home, too.

Does she spend her weekends strapped in a carseat, shopping cart, and high chairs? Is she held or in a swing at night?

Life gets hectic and many people don't even realize just how much time sneaks away during necessary errands.

I'd hope to get them thinking about it enough to purposefully plan her days to work on her development.

[hwichlaz]

The mom needs to take ASQ to dr and insist on an EI referal

[MarinaVanessa]

Originally Posted by Cat Herder

That sounds great. Here, if referred by childcare, the therapy is free to families (block grant). They can come to daycare and the childs home.

I'll let DCM know to ask about free assessments. I believe that TriCounties does them for free but if not I'm sure we can find something, if we still can't find something free they have good health insurance and will just need a referral from the Ped to get it covered.

Originally Posted by Cat Herder

I'd also ask about confinement equipment use at home, too.

I thought about this also. Here I don't use anything for her other than a highchair for meals and while I'm pretty sure DCM is pretty vigilant about the equipment they both are super busy people and DCD picks up at 5:30 p.m. because mom doesn't get home until 6:30. She is also with DCD in the mornings so not sure if DCD has her in highchairs/bouncy seats/swing etc. I'll have to discuss this with them too.

I do know that DCM has mentioned that the baby doesn't let her get stuff done and she has to pick her up etc. and I'm assuming they hold her more than she needs. She was this way for me at first but is able to spend most of the day on the floor so for them at least it's learned behavior. She cries-she gets picked up.

They are good parents, but like you said, life gets hectic and sometimes you don't realize how much time babies spend confined.

Originally Posted by hwichlaz

The mom needs to take ASQ to dr and insist on an EI referal

Yes. I will give her my assessment and I will give her a blank one that she can do herself. She can take both assessments to her Ped./early development office when she asks for her assessment.

I am also typing up my observations, noting the things that I have been doing and have included the things that I will be incorporating/changing so that hopefully I can feedback and ideas on what else to do here and what to stop doing.

I am totally for someone coming here for physical therapy, I prefer it. That way I can see what they do and I can support it and do it here also.

[hwichlaz]

I have the ASQ3 activity book if you can tell me specifically what to look up for you.

[nanglgrl]

Have you researched RETT syndrome? I’m only mentioning this just in case she’s screened and there is concern because it often takes so long to diagnose but can be easily tested for. I had a little show the same symptoms, she was an awesome and intelligent child but just wasn’t progressing physically and I had concerns. The doctors kept saying to give it more time and then eventually started testing her for everything under the sun. They finally realized it was RETT after a little over a year of testing so she lost a year of therapy.

[MarinaVanessa]

Originally Posted by hwichlaz

I have the ASQ3 activity book if you can tell me specifically what to look up for you.

I honestly have no idea, I've never been trained in ASQ before but after this, I saw the value in it and signed up for an upcoming training i ASQ3 and the other one (I can't remember what it's called).

Originally Posted by nanglgrl

Have you researched RETT syndrome? I’m only mentioning this just in case she’s screened and there is concern because it often takes so long to diagnose but can be easily tested for. I had a little show the same symptoms, she was an awesome and intelligent child but just wasn’t progressing physically and I had concerns. The doctors kept saying to give it more time and then eventually started testing her for everything under the sun. They finally realized it was RETT after a little over a year of testing so she lost a year of therapy.

I'll take note of. I'll suggest it to mom as "she most likely doesn't have it but you can easily rule it out" type of thing. Thank you!

[nanglgrl]

You’re welcome. I think it’s so rare that many doctors haven’t seen it or wait until testing for other things before testing for it. It happens more to girls, usually around that age. Mine met physical milestones such as rolling over on time but sitting and crawling late and then never reached walking. She seemed perfectly healthy but way before they diagnosed or the parents were even concerned I noticed that when she crawled it was just different than other crawlers, almost like one side of her body just didn’t cooperate fully.

[hwichlaz]

Originally Posted by MarinaVanessa

I honestly have no idea, I've never been trained in ASQ before but after this, I saw the value in it and signed up for an upcoming training i ASQ3 and the other one (I can't remember what it's called).


I'll take note of. I'll suggest it to mom as "she most likely doesn't have it but you can easily rule it out" type of thing. Thank you!

There are different categories,, like Social Emotional, Gross Motor, Fine Motor, Communication etc. If you give me the categories she needs work on, I can send you the activities to do to help her.

[284878]

Originally Posted by MarinaVanessa

That's something that I will also be looking into. If not our CCR&R then we have a program called TriCounties that offers screenings for children under 3 years. I will be suggesting to mom that she speak to her Pediatrician at a minimum and that she ask for an assessment. We have a great local program called Easter Seals that does physical therapy for kids under 3 so I will give that info all to mom/dad today.

If you. (or any reading this post) ever need ASQ again, you can find it here: http://www.easterseals.com/mtffc/asq/

[MarinaVanessa]

Originally Posted by hwichlaz

There are different categories,, like Social Emotional, Gross Motor, Fine Motor, Communication etc. If you give me the categories she needs work on, I can send you the activities to do to help her.

Thank you! She scored really low (10) in gross motor and right at the cusp for low in problem solving (25, cuttoff is 24) so something that I could do with her in those two areas would be really helpful.

I still haven't spoken to them, another daycare parent was here when she got picked up so I didn't bring it up and I didn't want to just send a note home or do it by phone.

[hwichlaz]

I'm on a new computer, so I'll figure out how to post the attachments at nap time.

[hwichlaz]

Found a link!! https://pages.uoregon.edu/asqstudy/a...Activities.pdf

[MarinaVanessa]

Originally Posted by hwichlaz

There are different categories,, like Social Emotional, Gross Motor, Fine Motor, Communication etc. If you give me the categories she needs work on, I can send you the activities to do to help her.

Originally Posted by hwichlaz

Found a link!! https://pages.uoregon.edu/asqstudy/a...Activities.pdf

This is perfect thank you! I can give some of the ideas to her parents to do at home also. I'll be speaking to dcd today at pickup so wish me luck. This part makes me nervous because I never know how the parents will react *breath*