Development

[Bagpuss17]

Isaac was born 5 weeks early, I've really noticed in baby group how far behind he is in terms of development.

All other babies his age are starting to roll over onto their sides and nearly onto their fronts. They pick toys up and put them in their mouths.

Isaac isn't doing any of that and showing no signs of doing it at all.

I know you shouldn't compare prem babies with full termers but I'm surrounded by babies of a similar age to him and I just can't help it.

What was the development like for your babies for those of you who've had babies born around 5 weeks early?

 

Hi hun, don't you worry, damien was late at doing this too. He got the idea of trying to attempt it (showing that he wanted to do it) at about 4 months I think, but always got stuck if and when he did do it.

Don't ever get caught up with what mums say their babies do and don't do when they are term, I knwo it's easy to but our babies are different. They take that extra nudge to help them.

Things I did to help Damien were just rolling him and letting him have a go when he was showing signs of trying to do it. When he got his arms stuck, I would pull them out from underneath him. It took a while for hi to get used to, but by 5 months he was rolling over like a champ.

At 3/4 months, the development signs were very clear that my son was behind, and it rally really got to me. The paed and HV told me they wern't sure if he was catching up or not vert well, that they might have to test him for his development if he wasn't doing aswell by 8 months. But by 6/7 months he just excelled somehow.
They do catch up, they just take a bit extra time.

As for picking up toys, Damien didn't do this for ages, just stared at them. Sometimes made a few half dashed attempts to swipe at them, but didn't grasp that for some time either.

 

[Bagpuss17]

I'll feel happier when he shows a little of signs towards doing these things.

He's spot on in his weight gain for his corrected age, that's something.

He's very alert and smiley and laughs plenty it's just the rest of it. I must be patient with him.

 

[Rachel]

Nathan's still not showing signs of rolling over or picking up toys and he's 5 months

 

Hun, all babies grow different, prem or not. Damien took a long time for other things instead, his speech has only just got up to speed and only just starts to babble a bit.

We have been lucky that Damien has always been spot on with weight gain too (apart from a tiny blip when he was about 7 months). Alot of prems do well with it but not all.

 

[weestar21]

Adele was born at 29 weeks, she was very slow on everything. She didnt start to make noises till she was about 8 months, she wouldnt take lumpy foods till she was well over a year old and was about 13 months before she even rolled over.

When she hit 2 years old everything just seemd to speed up and she caught right up to the average child of the same age as her.

As sami has said every child is different, although you will soon start to find that your LO is better at something than another baby might be a bit slower at.

take care everyone
xxxx

 

[Dee1985]

Harley has been pretty slow with a few things, he didnt smile till nearly 3month old and still cant roll over, the last 3weeks hes been reaching for toys though.

its frustrating because Harley looks nothing like a prem baby, he is huge wears 6-9 months cloths and weighs just over 20lb. but he just lays there al day, he can now lift his head though.

Dior was the opposit she was tiny and looked newborn for ages but she could roll and hold her head earlier.

with your first i think its easy to get upset when you see all the babies doing things your LO cant do. but now with Harley im just enjoying him being a baby for longer

 

[alschafr]

Ella was a little slow of the starting blocks but now you would never know she was prem

 

[Dee1985]

Ella was a little slow of the starting blocks but now you would never know she was prem

how early was Ella?

 

[alschafr]

i just posted the story, she was born at exactly 35 weeks

 

[Dee1985]

i just posted the story, she was born at exactly 35 weeks

ok cool il go have a peep

 

[Bagpuss17]

You've made a good point there Dionne, at least we get to have our LOs as babies for a bit longer.

You're so right about the weight thing though. Isaac is now 13lb 9oz and other babies slightly older than him are tiny by comparison, you would never guess by looking at the size of him that he was a premmie baby.

I bet once he starts to do more things, there'll be no stopping him.

 

Damien has always had good weight gain too. Enjy them little babe, we get ours longer