Rubbish 8mnth check :(

[emaritska]

Feeling bit peeved....Ethan had his 8month check today (he is 8.5months) and I was looking forward to it as felt like past few weeks he has made some major improvements, however it didn't go brilliantly she is a lovely hv so can't fault her but she says of he hasn't progressed in next 6weeks then she wants a full check p done on him

I thought he was doing really well all things considering (6weeks early then bacterial meninigits at 11weeks). He can now roll both ways and uses that to get around floor, he can sit up unaided for 10secs sometimes less others longer, he says hiya (nt in context obv) and babbles "arghhhh ahhhh fr oooh " etc ....and most of this is in last 3weeks or so, before that I was a little concerned ...

She said he should be sitting unaided by now, should be pulling himself to all fours when on front, should bear weight on his legs (he doesn't) and should be babbling dadadada etc she also said that wheras I "allow" him a 6week delay ....now he over 6months they halve it so he should not be 3weeks behind!! I thought they had till 2 to catch up at the earliest? And I know term babies who can't sit up!!!

Glad they keeping an eye on him just imagined she was going to say " he within normal limits "

Rant over!! Will now go back to enjoying my smiley contented little bubba

 

[25weeker]

The amount of HV that get it wrong and expect too much are quite scary. I know plenty of term babies at 7 months don't try and get on all fours or bear weight on their legs so that is complete nonsense. My friends lg only started bearing weight on her legs around 12 months. Before that if you tried to stand her she pulled her legs up to her tummy.

Think it is different depending where you are but her they sign off babies who are born around 34 weeks at one year old but I am sure there is always exceptions just like not all babies are signed off at 2. Your lo sounds like he is doing great so ignore her.

xx

 

[emaritska]

Thanks 25weeker! Feeling better now hour or twos passed just was surprised at how behind he seemed compared to her expectations! Originally i thought 34weekers wouldnt be that behind....then when he smiled late etc, i assumed was because of those lost 6weeks...perhaos hes just lazy

thing is noone will ever know if he is really a little behind, or if he just perfect for him! even term babies do things faster/ slower dont they?
If he's happy....in happy

 

[dizz]

This is why I've put off getting ours done until nearer a year (it's a 9-12 month development check here - they normally get you at 9 months) - told the HV I'm not prepared to be unnecessarily scaremongered or have her development marked as some kind of a problem when it's not really and she's being unfairly compared against babies with 7 weeks head start on her... and to be honest - if they'd caught her at month 8 she'd have looked terribly behind (she couldn't sit unaided for long then, couldn't roll, was immobile - and pissed about it), get into month 9 and early month 10 and it's NOW the gap's starting to narrow at a massive pace.

And no one's EVER mentioned to me halving the delay they're "allowed" (and who the fuck are they to give some kind of "permission" for your child not to follow their manuals) at 6 months - indeed the HV is one constantly reminding ME that I need to knock the best part of 2 months off her age! (One of her colleagues is a chuffing idiot and DOES go in for the scaremongering though - despite increasingly irrate comments being written in large capitals at the top of all her clinic notes!)

 

[Agiboma]

@emariska your LO seems to be doing fine to me like 25 weeker said ignore the HV and focus on you LO

 

[AP]

I agree, I think your LO is doing just fine!

 

[Springflower]

Goodness, I would ignore your hv. Your man sounds just fine to me and I'm the same if your baby is happy then that's all that matters!

I can't remember where you live but I think you also had a bad ES experience, so maybe we have the same hv group? My hv has been amazing and like dizz it's her who constantly reminds me no to judge Indy like other babies. She is north tandridge. If we have the same group I'll pass you her details.

Indy is only having a 1 year check, she didn't have an 8 month check. Do all babies have that?

 

[Srrme]

It sounds like he's doing brilliant. My 35 weeker did not sit up on his own until he was 9 months old. He's now over 1 year old, walking, talking, and getting into everything like any other toddler.

 

[emaritska]

Thanks girls I've definitely perked up now!
Spring flower I'm in dorking so not sure if we have a crossover of health visitors....I know they have recently merged with Reigate / redhill team. Funnily enough after our bad es experience we booked with guildford for our new lo we are expecting....only to find ourselves back at es at my community midwives request as she agreed the rsch weren't providing adequate care and supervision over this pregnancy!
Having said that this time round, es are doing much better, seen a consultant at every app I've been too and regular growth and fluid scans have been booked so fingers crossed it stays this way!!!

Not sure how common the 8month check is..think its 8-12month generally but they said they wanted to check him at 8months then see his progress by 12 months. Xxx

 

[Springflower]

I'm so pleased emaritska. I'm in Caterham so I think we would have a different HV team. We are trying our luck at Brighton this time. Due to what happened to the girls in neonatal at ES we can't go back there. As this bubba will definaltey be spending time in NICU we thought we'd head back to Brighton. We only left in mid May - haha! Sorry to hear things had been bad at Guildford. I haven't anything either way about that hospital.

 

[Foogirl]

Correcting your LOs age is absolutely the right thing to do. I hate all the "should be" stuff, even for termies. Tell her you are happy with his progress and you'll see her at the next check up.