Doctor overestimating my preemies?

[ShelbyLC]

My twins were born at 29+5 and are now nearing 11 months old. The last two times we saw their pediatrician (the most recent time being last week) she told me that my girls have caught up with their actual age and are right on track for development. On one hand, that's great to hear, and I am so glad they're doing well. But, on the other hand, I don't think they're quite ready to be treated like 11 month olds.

She wants them off bottles and onto cups by their birthday. She also wants them to recieve their MMR vaccine next month, even though I've read that it's better to wait until 15 months.

I know I don't HAVE to have them off bottles in a month and their vaccines aren't mandatory. I'm not really particularly worried about either of those things, it's more the big picture. I'm just worried that my girls are going to be pushed too hard. I don't know what it's like to have an 11 month old, so I can't accurately say if they are or aren't at that level. I just want to be cautious.

Does that make sense? Am I worrying too much?

We see the developmental pediatrician and speech therapist at the end of this month, so I will be able to have someone more accustomed to preemies' development tell me how things are going. Until then, I know this worry is going to sit in the back of my mind.

Any advice?

 

[jandksmommy]

Great news that they are doing so well! I wouldn't push them... At 11 months, they are actually only 8 1/2 months developmental age so asking you to stop their bottles is silly. Our youngest was a 23 weeker and her dietician has been pushing us to start her with cups since she was 7 months (adjusted age) which I refuse to do. My twins let me know when they were ready by refusing the bottle at just over a year old.

I worried about expectations for our preemie too. I have decided (with the help and advice of mommies on this forum) that she will do everything in her own time and when she is ready. I am just going to keep encouraging her and watch for her cues to tell me when to introduce new things.

 

[waitingfor]

Just browsing in this section so I hope you don't mind me answering!
Do whatever you feel is right. Don't let anyone pressure you into anything you don't feel comfortable with.

My LO still has bottles at 25 months. I know this is fairly unusual but at 12 months she still drank a lot of milk and would not drink from any type of cup. She has never been a big fan of food and would go hungry if she couldn't have her milk.

I've been planning to get her off them for months now but she has a nightmare with teething and she gets such comfort from her bottle at bedtime.
Her teeth are healthy and I have no other concerns so I don't see it as a big deal now. At 12 months I did find it stressful when she wouldn't take to a cup but it's not the end of the world.

If you want to keep using bottles then keep using them. There's nothing magical about 12 months that means bottles have to go!

 

[Craigswife]

Im in the UK, so the advice here may be different. My son was born at 28wks and his age was corrected up until he was 2yrs old. I trained in child development and work with children so could definitely see he was slightly behind his peers of the same 'age' and that he was meeting his milestones based on his corrected age. For example, he sat up at 9mths actual age and walked at 18mths, but when we took off the 3 months it was developmentally correct.
So, I think what im saying is 11mths is quite soon to expect a premmie to have caught up. Id nod and smile at your dr, but do what you think is right for your girls, at the end of the day you're their mummy and no one knows them as well as you do.

 

[lanaross]

Ha! My full term daughter didn't part with her bottles until well over 2. She just loved it, so I let her have a bed time bottle, it calmed her down. What's the rush? They'll drop it when they are ready.

MMR vaccines recommended before 18 months, 12-15 months period is marked in the official schedule. So it's not that you have to have it at 12 months on the dot, you can easily have it at 15 and it'd still be on time.