When MasterS was born, I was petrified.. the love for him was unconditional. The gene machine threw us a curve ball with his strawberry blonde hair and blue eyes – where as the rest of us have brown hair and very dark brown eyes! That made him all the more special!
But I was petrified as had no idea how to bring up a boy! He has those lil bits that point and pee all over me – his aim got pretty good too!
Considering MasterS was our second child, I knew how to handle a new born baby. When MasterS started screaming after every feed, I thought oh no! We have another screaming child! MissC was a screamer and she threw up alot and the only thing that calmed her was a dummy. However a dummy didn’t work for MasterS. He refused to take it.
At our 6 week appointment with the Child Health Nurse (CHN) I brought it up, she wasn’t the normal CHN I normally saw, so it was refreshing to ask questions that I wouldn’t normally ask. She asked if he was a chucker (her exact words). I said no, he’d drink all his milk and then cry for about 15 minutes before settling down. She diagnosed MasterS with silent reflux straight away! She told me to go to the Dr’s and get a prescription for Silent Reflux medication in liquid form. I was seeing the Dr that afternoon for his injections and she was hesitant with the diagnosis.. until after watching him for a good 15 minutes as he poked his tongue in and out.. MasterS was on liquid medication for almost 2 months. We saw the difference in him straight away! It was a wonderful change in his personality.. Such a happier baby!
So life went on as normal for my lil man. He was developing normally, slowly hitting the milestones.. he smiled, he laughed *alot*, he clapped, he rolled, he sat. Because he was now such a happy baby, I was able to leave him on his play mat and play with MissC while he watched us giggling and clapping and occasionally rolling.
I started to notice at 5 months that he couldn’t roll from his tummy to his back. I also noticed that he didn’t like to put any weight on his legs.. Whenever we held him, he never seemed to want to put his feet down, when we put him in a sitting position and move him onto his tummy or try and stand him up, his legs would be straight out, never bending, never wanting to stand or get into the crawl position. Always crying out in pain. I was worried. Google made me worry. My friends and family said he was only young, he’ll get there. I continued to worry. The local doctor said this was normal, that he wasn’t ready and to leave him until his 8 month checkup.
At 6.5 months I finally phoned the CHN, she adviced me to make an appointment with another CHN who specialises in fine and gross motor skills. When we went for the meeting she asked me how MasterS was developing, was he hitting his milestones. I told her yes, everything. She asked if he could pincer grip. I said yes because we were Baby Led Feeding him and he has been able to feed himself now for a few weeks. She told me that she could refer me to a paediatric physio, however they won’t see a baby until they are 8 months old. She told me that his hips were fine and to come back then for an assessment.
So off I went feeling a little disappointed, but knew that by 8 months if he wasn’t putting weight on his feet atleast I knew something was wrong and it wasn’t just me! We tried to encourage his standing, but he cried out in pain that we left it alot of the time. He was still hitting his other milestones, so no one was concerned (except for me!).
I borrowed a walker and a jumping jolly off some friends to see if he would put his feet down on that. (yes I know they are bad for development but it wasn’t for him to play in, it was to see if he would bare weight on his legs.) He did not. He bounced a little bit, but he never locked his legs to stand.
But things didn’t change, he still wouldn’t stand and he would always sit at his highchair with his legs up over the table.
We did his exercises for a couple of times a day for a few minutes (he got tired quickly), but he loved being on his knees and rocking. He loved sitting standing sitting standing – giggles like crazy! And he loved bouncing up and down and spinning around in his play activity station.
We started down this path three months ago. We have been going to the physio every 2 weeks up until last month. Then we had a month off and went last Thursday. With MasterS now 11 months old, he has progressed so well, even the physio said she was so impressed with his progress.
He has become so much stronger in his legs and man has he got that commando crawl down packed! Once the gate to the kitchen is opened he is the first one there – trying to get his freedom!
MasterS can get up onto his hands and knees, although he doesn’t know what to do once he does. Except when he can play on my computer. He will sit up on his knees and hold out his hands for you to pick him up.
This weekend he started getting up on his feet and hands with his bum in the air – like he is doing yoga!
We still call him our Jelly Man, because he wibble wobbles when he is standing, but he has determination that as soon as we put him back down he is back standing up again.
His legs still are far apart, and one of his foot turns out. He still drags that one leg and I doubt he will learn to crawl properly before he walks. But who says what is ‘proper’ crawling.
One thing that has increased is the amount of washing – his tshirts gets quite dirty from crawling around on his tummy all day. And so does the toes of the one foot that pushes him along. I find it a little amusing.
I think you are doing such a wonderful job with your gorgeous little man! you're an awesome mum!!
Thank you!! xx
Oh Yvette I remember you mentioning this before, and I'm so glad you are seeing some progress here. Must be such a huge relief to both you and Drew. Xxx
Its a massive relief Jess! It really makes you realise that you can not compare children at all!
Wonderful to see that he is making progress Yvette. Sometimes it pays for us to follow our hunches even when professionals tell us otherwise. p.s. Love the pic of his yawning – so precious! x
Good on you for following your instincts and continuing to seek help. Thankfully as he is your second child you KNEW what was normal and what was not … I imagine if it was a first child showing these signs, any new mum would be more hesitant to persevere with the medical avenue. Mumma really DOES know best!
You are doing a wonderful job. I have a friend that is a midwife and has three girls. Her last girl sounds very similar to your jelly man. she had very weak muscles in her lower body and crawled in a unusual way. She did physio and at 2.5 years she started walking. She is now 8 yo and perfectly lovely and no residual symptoms. You are doing everything right. Rachel x
Wow. Isn't amazing that you just know when something is not right? Good on you for your perseverance and good on MasterS and all his amazing progress
First of all, congratulations on your beautiful wedding.
Now, about this young man of yours…wow. What a journey for one so young, that's him, and for you and his dad.
How interesting to have 'experts' who are in the guise of other parents.
Sorry, but I am now a grandma of 6 and I can tell you now, there are no LAZY babies.
In fact, unless there is a conscious effort via will and behaviour, there are no LAZY kids either.
You did a great thing…listened to professionals who could support and acknowledge with some more simplified activities your little boy would be getting there.
Love it.
Congratulations on such a wonderful family you have. BTW I am here from #TeamIbot should have said that first!! Denyse X
That's great to hear yvette. Hope your little man can keep hitting all his milestones. Please dont think you need to explain your actions for using equipment like jolly jumper and walker. We have all used them. I don't see anything wrong with using them i always have. My first 3 children didn't crawl till they were about 10-11 mths but they then walked not ling after. With miss aneesah 11mths now she crawled way earlier then her sisters at 5mths. And she is the one that has used the walker and jolly the most.
Mothers always know when something isn't right. You're doing a wonderful job. Regular play at the pool might be good for strength building. He can kick and stretch without bearing weight, which should be pain free. Thanks for linking up with Flash Blog Friday – again!
Oh i so would have loved a late walker in our family! Our last baby (our fifth son) walked at 7 1/2 months of age…I used to sit him down on his bum!
just thought it might help!
We also had a silent reflux baby! He was our second baby as well
But I can see how you were concerned. With regards to his leg turning out, and dragging behind – did he have any issues when we was being born?
Was he stuck and had to be turned at the last minute? was only wondering..have you thought about a Chiropractors appointment? Our boys have one for any issues with walking/sleeping/eating and anything that is out of line
So glad that he is now determined to stand up, and move around.
He sure is cute
This just proves that you should always trust your intuition as a Mum. I'm so glad to hear that your little boy is progressing so well. My P1 (who is now 5) completely bypassed crawling and walked at 9 months showing that crawling is not really necessary.
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