Developmental milestones in a child with Downs Syndrome and Lani

Developmental milestones in a child with Downs Syndrome and Lani

                                                                                Averages

Activity                                                                 Typical Child                       DS Child                                Lani

Hold head steady when sitting                   3 Months                             5 Months                             3.5 Months

Rolls over                                                            5 Months                             8 Months                             3 Months

Sits alone                                                             7 Months                             9 Months                             9.5Months

Follows objects with eyes                            1.5 Months                         3 Months                             1 Months

Reaches out for objects                                                4 Months                             6 Months                             4 Months

Passes objects from hand to hand           5.5 Months                         8 Months                             6.5 Months

Babbles Dada and mama                              4 Months                             7 Months                             9 Months dada only at the mo.

Smiles when talked to                                   1 Month                               2 Months                             1.5 Months

Plays peek-a-boo                                             8 Months                             11 Months                          6 Months

Crawls                                                                   ?                                              ?                                              9 Months

Climbs to kneel unsupported                     ?                                              ?                                              10.5 Month

I cant find any data on the last two achievements but I think Lani is doing very well.  

Now I find it very interesting how sometimes I try to compare Lani with the kids without DS (I don’t know any kids of Lani’s age with DS), why do I do this ????? surely they are incomparable???? Well Lani in some areas seems to be and that makes me hopeful for her future development, I am sure that as far as Lani is concerned she will be on par or just behind in most areas but on others she may struggle, one thing is for sure like all children Lani will work to her own timetable and whatever that may look like I have the time and patience to walk that road with her.  I cant and will not ever talk for the DS community or other children with DS but from what I have read children that find activities harder seem to be the ones who have had major health problems and Lani is so so so lucky not to have any major issues.

Questions

Q – Is there a test at birth to find out the severity of your daughter’s diagnosis?

A – This is a good question, thank you to the person who asked. When Lani was born I did ask the same question and was told that DS is developmental and not testable. We as parents of a DS child have to wait and see. I find it hard to not have a clue about Lanis future but I figure that no parent can know what will be in the future so this is an issue I just have to deal with and try not to worry too much about.

A little funny which has been prompted by yesterdays post..... Lani not yet saying mama and only dada!!!!! I talk a lot during the day to Lani about her wonderful dada and I always makaton sign dada to her, then a few weeks ago Lee was home and I was talking to Lani and signing dad when it dawned on me ......Oh NO Lani ignore the makaton sign for dada coz if you sign it and say it before you say mama I will cry lol so I didn’t sign dada for about 3 days then I realised I am supposed to be an adult!!!! I grew up and signed dada again now.........

 

 

Blog diary

3rd October 2012

Morning

Busiest ever day ahead...I need to have my game hat on for my timings, 9.30 – 11.15 is our weekly session at a school for babies and children with special needs. Lani has been going to this school since she was just 4 weeks old, now I know this is early but I wanted to get out and about and meet people and get Lani professional help early on in life, so many people during the pregnancy y told me that the first year of a babies life is the building blocks for the future. So in my head the DS made it even more important to go, it did also make me feel better for knowing I was / am doing everything in my power to help Lani reach her potential.

We weren’t running late today which was amazing but Lani was ill in the car on the way there so having to pull off the road and find a suitable place to stop and deal with her made us late!!!! Lani has only ever had little posit sickness before, but today for the first time she projectile vomited and sprayed the entire car in milk sick.... apart from that it was a great session today and lots of little one’s were there, it is a structured time which I enjoy with songs to start then play time, snack time and then songs to say goodbye. I feel very comfortable in the environment and enjoy the other mums being there to talk to, even though everyone’s children have different needs to each other and to Lani we all relate to feelings that we go through as parents of children with special needs.

Afternoon

1pm we have portage coming to our home for the first meet and greet with our new portage worker who will then come on a weekly basis, Portage is a charity that help children with special needs learn through play. When they came today they told us that the sessions now will not start until the beginning of November....I have been pushing and waiting for 6 months for this to happen and I thought that today was the start of weekly as of now sessions so having it moved back yet again has upset me. I have to admit to having a good cry today about it, I feel like I have to fight so hard for things and sometimes just get nowhere. Lee is great he says its ok and at least its going to start but I feel like yelling at the top of my voice ..... “you’ve now missed the first year window of opportunity...why wont you help my little girl” Rant Rant Rant.....AAARRRRRRRR. Its very rare I get like this but I find it so frustrating.

2.45 Dash up to the Doc’s to see my health visitor (who just happens to be one of the most important professional people in Lanis life) to have Lani weighed.  I try to have Lani weighed every week still, I know a lot of mums don’t worry too much, but a baby / child with DS is prone to weight gain so I am a real stickler to keep it under control. I will talk about this issue in further posts during the month.  I also need to check in with my Health Visitor to see what is going on with our efforts to get the social services occupational therapist involved with Lani as we are needing some specialist equipment in our home and they are the ones who provide it. Lani is a dinky little girl and with what she weighed today on her special DS chart she is just a smidge over the 50^th percentile so right on track but compared to a baby without DS she is very small, her weight today would put her on the 5^th percentile. The whole social services OT thing has got very confusing...so I have called our physio lady at hospital to try and find out what is going on and who it is that will be able to help us. Also today I checked out if Lani is going to be having the flu jab this winter...Yes she will as Lani is a “high risk” person, this is great news for her a real  positive to end the day. 

A couple of pics from today

Evening

I have done enough today so tonight I am chilling out and cuddling my little girl..... down time together is so important, I really enjoy snuggling up with her and her dad on the sofa.  Plans have now changed as Lani has just projectile vomited over me and the sofa  aaaahhhhhh , got her to the doctors and they are saying that it is a D&V bug and will hopefully be gone in a couple of days, so all plans with Lani cancelled for tomorrow, cuddles on the sofa until she is well again.