New DCK - At a loss...advice?

[Sandbox Sally]

She does have a schedule at home, and her parents assure me that she is your average little girl. When they were here for the interview, and again when they came to sign on (they were here almost an hour both times), she was completely fine. She sat on the floor and mouthed toys the entire time.

Let me ask you this guys...

Is it "normal" for a 12 month old to:

- only vocalise by cooing (no consonants)
- be unable to crawl, scoot, shimmy, commando or anything else to move around
- be incapable of pulling up to standing
- unable to cruise on furniture
- unable to get down to a sitting position when placed against furniture

My gut says she is physically "behind". If this is the case, and she is cognitively fine, as she seems to be, perhaps she's just massively frustrated??

ETA: she seems reasonably calm when we are outside, so I am desperately trying to be out as much as I can, but the other kids want to do their crafts, have their snacks, do their indoor routine as well.

[Emily3]

Hi!

I can't comment on most of your concerns....except that my daughter was an extremely late 'mover'!! Other than rolling, she did not really move at all until she stood up in the middle of the floor and started running...at almost 17 months!!!! She could hold herself up if we leaned her against the sofa but would not move.

I hate being inside so something I do sometimes is just grab paper and glue sticks and let my kids run around the backyard collecting 'treasure' to make pictures with. They then just make a collage type picture while sitting at the outside table!

I hope she settles soon....I'm sure you are exhausted!!!!!!

[sunnydays]

I have a 13 month old who cannot pull himself to standing although he does commando crawl (he started that at around 11 months). He does vocalize quite a bit and can repeat things sometimes, but physically he seems behind to me. However, I've always put it down to the fact that he sleeps a lot...5 hours of napping during his 8 hours with me!!! More sleep means less time to practice moving around. Also, he is very happy in an exesaucer, so I suspect his parents put him in one a lot. I've also been wondering if his physical development is normal. However, he is very happy and NEVER cried from day one (unless he gets hurt etc), so I wouldn't necessarily put it down to frustration. Probably it is a harder adjustment for her for whatever reason

She does have a schedule at home, and her parents assure me that she is your average little girl. When they were here for the interview, and again when they came to sign on (they were here almost an hour both times), she was completely fine. She sat on the floor and mouthed toys the entire time.

Let me ask you this guys...

Is it "normal" for a 12 month old to:

- only vocalise by cooing (no consonants)
- be unable to crawl, scoot, shimmy, commando or anything else to move around
- be incapable of pulling up to standing
- unable to cruise on furniture
- unable to get down to a sitting position when placed against furniture

My gut says she is physically "behind". If this is the case, and she is cognitively fine, as she seems to be, perhaps she's just massively frustrated??

ETA: she seems reasonably calm when we are outside, so I am desperately trying to be out as much as I can, but the other kids want to do their crafts, have their snacks, do their indoor routine as well.

[Sandbox Sally]

I swaddled her, and stayed in the room with her (still in here w her), and she's been asleep for over an hour! YAY! Thanks Reggio. I think it was you who suggested swaddling? I just didn't think it'd work, as she always pushes away when I try to hold her tight, and because my own kids wouldn't tolerate being swaddled after a few months of age. Thanks to all of you for the support.

Now. Let's see how this afternoon goes.

[Mamma_Mia]

Let me ask you this guys...

Is it "normal" for a 12 month old to:

- only vocalise by cooing (no consonants)
- be unable to crawl, scoot, shimmy, commando or anything else to move around
- be incapable of pulling up to standing
- unable to cruise on furniture
- unable to get down to a sitting position when placed against furniture

.

I would be a bit concerned....and I'd try to see if parents have mentioned this to Dr.?
My daughter was a very slow mover, (slow everything lol) started walking at 16mos but walking-walking by 18mos....she only started to move/crawl at 11mos. Our Dr. said as long as she's moving in SOME way by the time she's 1year it's ok. By the sounds of it she's not moving at all.....I would look a little deeper on that if I was her parent.

[Inspired by Reggio]

Is this a FIRST child for these clients?

Cause with first kids it is not uncommon for them to be 'late' developers .... if a child is held a lot as an infant they do not have the time and practice to develop the muscles to MOVE ... infants need lots of time on their bellies to develop upper body strength to crawl and without upper body strength they cannot WALK either even if they can 'sit' ... you need to have the upper body strength developed from pushing your head up off the floor, than up onto your hands and knees and so forth to BALANCE to pull yourself up to a stand and so forth.

Same with talking .... the more a babe is talked to and sang to in infancy the earlier t hey will take and babble and so forth cause the more 'exposure' they have had.

She very well could be frustrated in daycare seeing all the other children MOVING and not being able to do it herself, she could also be overwhelmed by all that 'action' and feeling like a sitting duck cause she cannot move out of the way and so forth so it could be anxiety as well?

I would start with some 'history' of how much time she has spent on her belly as an infant - if it is minimal cause she did not 'like it' cause that is often the excuse you hear cause some babes 'cry' cause they cannot SEE you ... I would start by getting the parents to work with you on developing upper body strength so she can 'catch up' .... google exercises for babies upper body strength for ideas on what to do to help.

As for lack of language - I too would talk to the parents 'I notice that little X is not really repeating alot of the noises when we read or sing - how is she at home when you read and sing with her?' ... if they are NOT reading or signing with baby than I would suggest to them that they START cause they are the precursers to language development

[mom-in-alberta]

Agreed that many, many first-time parents don't realize that most of the time, you need to "teach" these things a little bit. I mean, if you don't sit your baby up, allow them to slump over a little and then correct themselves, how will they learn? Veeerrrrryyyy slllloooowwwwlllllyy yyy. Hahaha.
Same goes for crawling, walking, etc. My oldest daughter didn't crawl until 10.5 mos, didn't walk until almost 16 mos. I was getting worried, but I could tell that it wasn't that she COULDN'T, she just WASN'T. I don't know if that makes any sense? I mean, I would stand her up, she had the strength etc in her legs, she just didn't seem to want to. So we were constantly encouraging by holding her hands to help her, etc.
The same goes for language. Personally, I would watch her in the coming month or two. If you have seen NO improvement whatsoever, then I would begin to worry about a developmental delay.