Do you think that boys develop slower than girls?

[Mummy Bean]

I know there is the age old saying that boys mature slower then girls - but this mostly refers to school age children...but do you think that this also applies to babies?

following a few people asking me if Parker could sit,crawl, roll ect and when i said no i have been told 'oh well that boys for you...slower than girls'.

So i asked my mum who has looked after babies in a range of setting her whole life sand she aid that in most cases that she has dealt with any girls she has looked after have hit their milestones of crawling/walking/talking ect earlier.

then i was talking at my mothers group to my friends who all have boys and they all said that they also felt that boys are somewhat slower and described it that they are able but simply lazy.

and finally i spoke to a girl i know with twin (boy n girl) and she agreed her girl was up and talking way before her brother.

so what do you think...are boys actually slower/lazier then girls?

(obviously i know all babies are different and there always exception but on the whole in your personal experience what do you think?)

 

[aimee-lou]

with 2 boys maybe I don't have the experience with girls, but I don't think there's a massive difference. Both my boys are doing well for their age and Earl was walking at 10.5 months, and jabbering like a good'un, so hardly slow. I do also know of girls who didn't walk til well over a year and even now at 2.5-3 are not up to where Earl is.

I personally don't think there are any gender differences apart from the fact that boys and girls learn in different ways - boys tend to like experiences and to get on with the job at hand, whereas girls tend to take it all in then try things slowly. I've been told that boys tend to hit pyhsical milestones before girls, whereas girls are more cerebral so talk earlier for example, so I suppose this supports it.

 

[Vickie]

So far Rhys seems to be hitting his physical milestones earlier than Hannah did We'll see if the trend continues though (and she was always a very physically inclined child--still is!)

 

[kmumtobe]

I challenge anyone who thinks boys are lazier to try my boy for a day! Hes been determined from day one to do, and be on the go. Once they've recovered from it I think they'd of changed their minds

 

[MrsBea23]

I have found the opposite in my NCT group there are 8 of us, all the babies are within 4 weeks of each other. There are 6 girls and 2 boys and the boys and one of the girls are hitting their milestones ahead and the other 5 girls are just average.

My LO is a girl and she is 5.5 months and can't even roll although she does sit unaided and has done for a while but the boys have been able to roll, sit and now almost crawl way ahead of her.

Who knows all babies will do what they want when they want lol

 

[sequeena]

In my experience yes, Thomas has been slower to develop. He didn't sit until 8 months, refused to eat until 9 months and crawled at 11.5 months. I don't think any of those milestones were late but compared to female babies he's been around/online he has been slower.

 

[eulmh82]

My MIL disagrees apparently both her sons hit milestones earlier than everybody else - not quite sure how true this is... but my son - I wouldn;t call him slow but he;s def not quick - he;s prob average in terms of hitting targets to be honest. I am a teacher and I have to say that some of the most intelligent children i have worked with have been boys - I think in terms of education it;s due to the fact boys mature slower than girls and therefore maybe don;t realise the importance of exams rather than them being slower as such.....with regrds to babies I don;t know

 

[eulmh82]

I have found the opposite in my NCT group there are 8 of us, all the babies are within 4 weeks of each other. There are 6 girls and 2 boys and the boys and one of the girls are hitting their milestones ahead and the other 5 girls are just average.

My LO is a girl and she is 5.5 months and can't even roll although she does sit unaided and has done for a while but the boys have been able to roll, sit and now almost crawl way ahead of her.

Who knows all babies will do what they want when they want lol

My son has been rolling since 18 wks but can;t sit unaided so I guess when they are ahead in one thing they are behind in another

 

[liz1985]

In my experience of working with children, girls generally develop faster than boys, including speech, potty training etc. this is a big generalisation though obviously it's not always the case.

 

[Lizzie K]

In my experience, boys tend to hit physical milestones sooner, but the mental ones later, than girls. My two older boys have female cousins within a few months of them in age and they were rolling, sitting, crawling, and walking earlier than their cousins, but took longer to learn to talk and learn the fine motor skills. My 3 week old is already rolling and has been holding his head up since birth, so I think it all depends on the baby.

 

[jenniferttc1]

No I don't believe boys are slower at all. My son has done everything before my friends girl and she's 5 weeks older. My brother was an early walker and my uncle walked at 9 months. I wish I had a lazy baby, but he has always been active and now constantly crawling all day for the past month and now trying to stand up from sitting position without help it anything.

 

[Saphira]

I'm not completely sure and as you said every baby's different. I have gotten told a few times in the potty training department boys are usually "slower" at getting the hang of it.

 

[Tor]

For me my little boy and the boys i know in general seem to be much slower, physically and otherwise than the girls that i know of similar ages.

 

[Bevziibubble]

Im not sure, I guess everyone has their own theories on this based on their own experiences. From my experience, based on my own baby and friends who have babies of a similar age I would say that boys develop and hit milestones earlier than girls xx

 

[Jaylynne]

When we were in the nicu, they said boys generally take longer to get to the point of going home than girls do. We had two sets of twins when we were there born at the same gestational time and neither set had issues other than being early. The girls went home almost a whole week earlier. They said the boys usually need more assistance.

LO got out a few days earlier than they thought. Either way, he will hit milestones whenever he wants to and I will be excited the same whether a month early or a month late. I'm just very happy he's home.

 

[leahsbabybump]

my son hit miles stones before my daughter intellectually was very advanced with talking abc 123 etc but my daughter is a lot more physically advanced than ds was she can walk a lot sooner than he could

 

[GracieGoo]

I personally merit all children on their own rather than categorise them by gender. Obviously I have heard that boys are 'lazier', but hbe no experience of this.my ds is 8mths a he is sitting unaided, crawling, pulling to stand and cruising around furniture confidently. I don't think he is advanced not behind, just a happy healthy little boy

Xx

 

[Flake-y]

My mum has worked with children for a long time, & studied child development, & says statistically boys do develop slower than girls. But she also says that all babies are different, & some boys will develop faster than some girls, it's just an average for boys to be slower.

My LO was a late crawler (9 months), but is pretty chunky so that's probably why, he sat unaided fairly early (5.5 months), started babbling fairly early too, he is cruising a bit but is nowhere near walking & only just got his first tooth! One of his wee friends who is a girl is doing pretty much the exact same things, at the exact same time! Another of his wee girlfriends isn't crawling or bearing weight on her legs though, she's a couple of weeks younger.

They're all different, and they'll all walk/sit/talk eventually!

 

[steph.]

I was just thinking the opposite. In my mothers group most of the boys can crawl and pull to standing where as the girls cant.

 

[Kristin52]

Not in my case. There's a little girl i know 2 months older than him and cannot do anything.my boy can.