First time mom of 9 month old

amother

Sat, Jun 15 2019, 9:57 pm

I have a delicious 9 month old. She loves laughing and rolling and clapping and sitting and is very relaxed, sleeps and eats well. All was well in my world. We went to the dr for a check up and filled out the questionare about development and it seems there is so much she should be doing that she isn't that I didn't realize!!! She doesnt do a.command ie.if I tell her to give me a toy she doesnt respond. She doesnt pull herself up or crawl. She just scoots. She doesnt have a name for me or my husband. She doesnt like picking up finger food- she likes.to be fed. She kind of seems like she is in her own happy world exploring and talking to herself. I thought this was normal but apparently its cause for concern. Any experienced mamas out there have advice? I'm a teacher and like to think of myself as educated but I feel so clueless and powerless. Crying

amother

Tangerine

Sat, Jun 15 2019, 10:01 pm

Please don't worry! Every baby goes at their own pace and some skip certain milestones and others reach them very early or late, unless there's something VERY concerning about her development, please don't worry about it.

Ridethewaves

Sat, Jun 15 2019, 10:02 pm

She sounds like a happy normal baby. These are all developments that sometimes take a few months longer for each baby. If you’d like you can invest in some toys that will help her learning curve along. You can find recommendations on parenting blogs, Pinterest, Amazon etc

amother

Copper

Sat, Jun 15 2019, 10:02 pm

Nah shes fine.
I never look at the development charts because they're not very accurate. (I'm a speech therapist. Your daughter seems fine in the speech/language department.) Keep giving her smushes and kisses!
Start reading to her (I lovvvvve lift the flap books for her age. Say "BOO!" when you lift), talk to her, label things CONSTANTLY (mommy, daddy, bottle, banana, paci, crib, night night, more, bath, toy, bird, cat....), tell her what shes doing (you're eating, you're playing, we're putting on your shoes....).

amother

Jade

Sat, Jun 15 2019, 10:07 pm

OP, neither of my kids did those things at nine months! I stopped checking those development charts a while ago, because I found that they made me really nervous. As long as I see that they're interacting with me socially and babbling, and they're starting to move normally, I don't pay attention to the exact ages. There's a huge range. My family is at the lower end of the range with everything.

Please don't worry -- your baby sounds totally fine. Enjoy her!

Last edited by amother on Fri, Jul 05 2019, 3:51 pm; edited 1 time in total

amother

Denim

Sat, Jun 15 2019, 11:36 pm

There is a normal range but my oldest took the longest to reach milestones because I wasn't an experienced mother.I didn't know what to Put items on top of chairs, couches to encourage her to stand up. Talk to her alot. Now that you are made aware encourage her and work on it. Also if your child is by a babysitter make sure she is not sitting in a carriage all day.make sure shes spoken too

amother

Turquoise

Sat, Jun 15 2019, 11:38 pm

amother [ OP ] wrote:

did the doctor who look at the questionnaire seem concerned? It was for him - not you.

amother

Powderblue

Sat, Jun 15 2019, 11:43 pm

What did the doctor say?
One of my kids was very late to crawl/stand etc and walk. I had an evaluation at age 12 months at the doctor's suggestion, got therapy, and now the child is thriving.

amother

Babypink

Sat, Jun 15 2019, 11:44 pm

As a mother of a few kids and a speech therapist myself, I don’t hear anything concerning in your post! Each child develops at his own pace. And for a 9 month old to not yet pull up or have a name for parents is completely normal! My 9 month old doesn’t do either of those yet. Just keep providing love and stimulation, she’ll get there.

camp123

Sun, Jun 16 2019, 3:30 am

Lots of babies develop a lot between 9-12 months. Wait until she's 12 months to even begin to think about these things.

My daughter never crawled and only walked at 20 months... She's totally fine now.

DVOM

Sun, Jun 16 2019, 7:16 am

Your daughter sounds adorable and normal, but I am going to be the voice of dissent here:

If your ped is concerned about delayed developmental milestones, get your daughter evaluated for early intervention. It can't hurt and might be able to jump-start her development.

My pediatrician was also the first one to note developmental delays for my child, and I am always grateful that we started getting help when we did, at a very young age.

amother

Coral

Sun, Jun 16 2019, 8:21 am

Are you going to be home with her during the summer? I would try to work on stuff with her if that's possible. Give her lots of floor time, hold her hands while she stands....Different babies develop at a different speed but development can definitely be encouraged.

My kids are late talkers. With my first I spoke to an early childhood therapist and she said she wasn't concerned so I didn't take the child to therapy and now she's quite talkative Wink

If you know anyone like that I would suggest you talk to them. There's also no loss in getting her evaluated and getting therapy if you want, I'll just admit that I didn't.

There's been other stuff that I did take my kids to therapy for so I'm not anti therapy just didn't feel like early intervention was necessary for my kids.

FranticFrummie

Sun, Jun 16 2019, 9:12 am

It may be something, it may be nothing. Some doctors can spot warning signs at that age, others are just going by charts.

Don't panic!

Keep being very involved and interactive with your child. If she seems content and withdrawn from the world, keep working to pull her out and into your world.

DD walked at 9 months, but didn't crawl until later on, when she decided that walking was too slow. I thought she was a genius, but I didn't realize that crawling first was crucial for left/right integration of the brain. She couldn't ride a bike until she was almost 8. She had problems with black and white thinking. It took a lot of physical therapy to get her coordinated.

DD didn't talk until about 20 months, when she said "Kitty", but she was consistent with using baby signs to communicate. Shortly after that she said "Daddy", but "Mama" didn't come until she was almost 2. Then she started talking in PARAGRAPHS! She totally skipped the short sentence stage, and hasn't shut up since. LOL

It's said that we spend the first two years teaching our kids how to walk and talk, and the rest of their lives teaching them to sit down and be quiet. Wink

Sun, Jun 16 2019, 9:18 am

She sounds like a totally normal 9-month-old, unless the standards have changed drastically in the past 20 years. My now-grown baby was just like yours, and there was nothing on the how-to-be-a-baby lists that said otherwise. But please take your concerns to your pediatrician at Baby’s next checkup. You will probably get a good dose of reassurance, and possibly a referral for evaluation for the baby if needed.

thunderstorm

Sun, Jun 16 2019, 9:35 am

When I was at my pediatrician at my daughters 9 month visit and my daughter waved and said "Hi" and then proceeded to show the doctor she knows the sounds of animals , as in "What does a cow say?" And she answered "moo". The doctor told me that is extremely advanced and they don't expect babies at that age to have the language skills yet.
They checked to see if the baby picks things up and transfers from one hand to the other . If she is crawling etc. To me your baby sounds totally fine in terms of the babbling. At that age it's also normal for them not to handle finger foods well enough that they push it into their mouth with the back of their hands etc .

tichellady

Sun, Jun 16 2019, 9:58 am

DVOM wrote:

Agreed. The pediatrician knows more than random mothers on this blog who have not met your baby. I would listen to the doctor or get a second opinion. What did the doctor advise?

Also in terms of the feeding you can continue to feed her but also offer her finger food so she can learn how to eat herself.