Help with My Child

M., you have quite a few decent responses below so I'll be short. Check with your Doctor, they should have a "Denver" assessment that is very detailed about what a child should be able to do at what times.

-B.

I would ask your pediatrician because your doctor can refer your daughter for a physical therapy evaluation if they are concerned. Also, do you have a Parents as Teachers program in your area? They can come to your home 4 times a year and help you know what you can be expecting from your daughter developmentally, help with food issues, etc... Call your local school district and ask if they have a program similar to this for infants/toddlers. It is usually run through the school district and is free.

Being a grandpa, and helped raise my grandchildren too, i suggest you go by their appetite. if you are feeding her a full jar of food pretty often, then it is time to step up to the next level. All children are different, as is their taste for food. Do not worry about it, unless they are not gaining weight. You may try to stimulate her crawling, etc. by trying to find her favorite toy and let her play with it. Lay her on a blanket and tease her with it. She may want to reach for it, and will learn to reach out and move to get it. babys are like adults. you put them in a compfy chair and they will sit there forever. Stimulate her with different musics, and sounds, and keep her on a blanket a lot. Surround her with a few safe toys around the edge of the blanket. She may try to go to them. She will see there is a bigger world from that view and will want to explore and get around more. My oldest granddaughter never really crawled. I guess she did not like the feeling of the floor and blanket on the knees. She crawled with her butt up in the air for 3 days, then got up and walked. she has not sat down since. lol

God Bless your family! Your husband is a true hero...

Don't worry about her not crawling yet, she will do it when she is ready. Take her out of the walker more and help her to get on her knees to get started. Put things that she likes to play with a few feet in front of her. She will get the hang of it and scoot towards it.
Feeding- you can upgrade her is she is able to swallow the stage one. Stage 2 is jsut a little thicker and there is more in the jar. Start slowly, and start with veggies.. my son loved sweet potatoes..

If you have more questions.. you can email me directly at ____@____.com..

Thanks,
R.

Hi there M.! My daughter is nine and a half months old, so we have just been where you are now. Please do not worry about your daughter's developmental milestones. She sounds just like my daughter at that age. My daughter now rolls over all the time and just learned to crawl about a week and a half ago. I remember worrying that my daughter was not hitting her marks, but it was not long that she would achieve the skill I was worried about. Now that she is crawling, it's like she cannot stop. She is all over the place! A cue that she will be crawling soon is if she is trying to get up on all fours or if she is scooting around by pulling herself somewhat with her arms. Her legs may be kind of useless right now, but they won't be for long. My daughter tended to scoot around in circles or she would end up traveling backwards. She did this for a few weeks and then, sure enough, she began crawling. About the food, most baby food maufactures would recommend starting your child on 2's when they are 6 mos old or sits without support, rolls over from back to front, eats from a spoon easily and has control of head and body movements. We started our daughter on 2's before she could technically roll over and completely sit independently and she did just fine. We just used up what 1's we had and then started buying and feeding her all 2's. We have bought a variety of foods so that her taste buds develop. If you are buying baby food (instead of making your own) you really don't have to worry that she will eat something she isn't supposed to. A typical day for our daughter is cereal and a fruit in the morning, milk all day, and then a vegetable and meat blend for dinner with milk before bed. Sometimes if she is still hungry I'll give her two veggies for dinner or an additional fruit. We are getting ready to transition to 3's for our daughter, so our schedule will be changing as well. I hope this information helps you out. One source that I use is the American Academy of Pediatrics Birth to 5 years and it is very helpful. Let me know if you have any more questions! Good luck!

Your pediatrician should be able to tell you if there is anything wrong developmentally in your little one, and if so what steps to take. Good luck :) If you happen to receive a discouraging diagnosis, feel free to contact me - I've been there and would be happy to share our experiences.

I presume you have a peditrician for your daughter. If not, get one. Children develop at various stages and there is no set date (only observed "norm"). Ask your prediatrician.

I would contact Sooner Start early intervention for an evaluation. Since she was premature she might qualify for physical therapy.

Call your local health department to get a refferal to SOONERSTART seems the prematurity has delayed her. My son has been through the program it is a godsend and it has been great when the child turns 3 if they are still delayed they transition them to the public school for preschool trust me it is so worth your childs development. please help your child by at least getting a developmental check up as here in the US all children are covered under the federal regulated laws to help the kids thru 21 good luck

S.

Hi M.,

I'm gonna say first on her rolling over every baby develops differently and at different times. But some things that might help put her on the floor on her tummy and/or her back and put some toys in front of her and off to the sides. Also you don't say if she can sit up or not but if she can or she isn't very good at it yet put some pillows in behind her and put her toys a little out of reach. Sit down there with her if you can and scoot the toys closer if she can't really reach them. I see she was 3 weeks early and it doesn't seem like alot but for a baby in the womb it is. Be patient it will happen soon enough but if you still have concerns about it talk to your Dr.

As for the food, you could move her to the #2 jars. I'm not sure how much she eats now but if she eats 2 # 1's at one feeding then you could let her take half of 2 # 2's. If you figure she is eating 2 then (# 1's) thats 5 oz's so half of each would be 4. You could go with cereal and a 2nd foods fruit for breakfast, feed her her cereal first then see how much she will take of the fruit. Then for lunch you could give her a fruit and a vegetable and then for dinner you could by the ones with the meals where it has a vegetable or a fruit with the meat you could let her eat all of this jar for dinner. Also still make sure she is getting formula. As you get on 2nd foods gradually increase the amount yo are letting her eat.

It is my opinion that when they are babies they need FOOD to grow and thrive. You have to feed their brain. That doesn't mean over feed them but a well rounded diet will do wonders.

I hope I helped you a little, have fun with you your little girl. W. mom of 4

It is a good idea to get the evaluation done - couldn't hurt. But I did what I called "baby yoga" with my daughter (I've done yoga myself for 14 years). Use a comfortable surface like your bed for this, just make sure the bedding is pulled taut so no lose or over-soft blankets/comforters can impede her movements or - more importantly - her breathing through her nose. Place her on her back and gently manipulate her limbs and body to roll her over. Do this 3 - 5 times. Don't wear her out. Then, place her on her tummy and gently bring her limbs into the crawling position. If you have a small throw pillow (and those cylindrical ones are best) use it to support her tummy. Improvise with anything that is supportive yet soft. Then rock her back and forth a little bit. After a few days or even weeks, when her muscles are strong enough and she is in the crawl position, again physically manipulate her limbs to copy the action of crawling. Another thing I did was take baths with my daughter. This is tricky but do-able: Roll her over in the bath water. IF the water is shallow enough, take her through the crawling exercise there as well. The warm water is comforting and naturally conducive to motion, if you want to do it but don't feel comfortable doing it by yourself have a friend help.

Also, get down on the floor with her and play. Giving her stimulation and reason to roll over and then crawl. Sounds a little mean but place her bottle or something she wants where she can see it and would have to roll over to get it. When she shows signs of trying to roll over, go ahead and help her.

I would go ahead and start feeding her the 2nd foods. Just try to use the same flavors as you are with the 1st foods though. No new flavors until she is used to the new texture. If babies don't have the proper enzymes developed to digest the foods, they will have a putrid taste and she will spit them out, make a terrible face, etc. So you'll know if you need to go back to the 1st foods again pretty quick.

My friend has a baby that is 15 months old and is just starting to crawl good. The doctor kept telling her that she was holding her way to much and that she needs to be put in the floor.

Now The little girl is crawling every were and walking around furniture.

Sorry I don't remember about the food.