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12:57:39 PM     trackback [] Comments? []

Super Freak

 

I had my first real freak out this week on Conor’s development.  To be honest, I have been pretty calm as far as Conor’s development, illness and the like.  I Have, Too!!  Trust me, based on my past experience, I could be much more freaked out than I have been.  I’m a basic zen monk in the level of calmness based on what I would have expected.  Nonetheless, I still have my moments.

 

Case in point: Monday night.  I was reading the American Pediatrics Association’s Caring for Your Baby and Young Child.  In the developmental milestones that they have for each phase of the baby’s first year, they have a list of things to expect and a list of things to call the doctor about if they don’t happen.  In the 4 to 7 months language section, they state that if the baby isn’t “babbling consonant sounds” by seven months, this could be a sign of a problem in hearing or speech development.  (p. 209, Fourth Edition)  We have yet to hear Conor make a single consonant sound (bah, dah, ga, hefalumpahpa); he much prefers to make raspberries, and it’s hard to go “bah” when your tongue is sticking out.  The chart also says that Conor should be responding to his own name by this time, which over the weekend, with Dave and me and the Grandparents all saying “conorconorconorconorconor” we didn’t notice a response. 

 

So, I freak out.  Really freak out.  I call up my mommy friend whose daughter was born a week after Conor and she does her best to calm me down.  But her daughter has been babbling dadadadadadadadada for over a month now.  Dave comes home from teaching and I start by saying that he cannot use the example of his younger brother who didn’t talk until he was 18 months and then his first words/sentence were “Please pass the peas.”  I read him what the book says and he agrees that we should call the doctor, because that’s what this book says to do if he’s not babbling.

 

On Tuesday, I call the doctor and leave a message because he’s not in.  I’m still totally freaking out going over in my head all the things that show he can hear and that he is trying to communicate.  We were walking on Monday and he heard a bird and started looking around for it.  *I* didn’t hear the bird until I noticed him looking for the source of the sound.  Tuesday morning, in the big bed, he woke up around 4:30 and starting happily cooing his vowels.  It had been so long since we’d heard him coo, that despite it being 4:30 a.m., we encouraged it.  (One of the problems of daycare, doncha know)  But not a single consonant to be heard. 

 

So in addition to calling my doctor, I emailed my July04 birth club listserv and posted a message on my babycenter.com July04 birth club bulletin board.  What is lucky for me is that both groups had speech and language pathologists on them.  And pretty much according to them and the other, more experience mothers on the group, the APA book is talking out its ass.  As long as the baby is making some sort of communication attempts with eye contact, smiling, and responsiveness, and is making some sort of noise, it is not essential that consonants be babbled at this point.  9 months to a year is more realistic to start worrying. 

 

In fact, one said that some babies focus on one type of development (e.g., physical) to the exclusion of others (e.g., language).  As Conor is trying hard to stand on his own and is sitting and reaching and trying to clap, we’re now thinking he’s preparing for the baby Olympics over the baby debating team. 

 

The best news though was talking to Dave’s mom.  According to MY mom, my brother and I hit the language development milestones at age appropriate times.  According to Dave’s mom, they were all slower.  Only Dave spoke “on time” but he was “talking” to his brother who was exactly one year older.  And the little brother who didn’t speak until he was 18 months?  Well, he’s a math professor now, so he turned out ok.  Dave’s mom also said that several of Conor’s cousins have often started their language a lot later causing initial worry in Dave’s brothers and sisters, but have turned out ok. 

 

So I’ve calmed down.  I still feel like a freaky a$$ mom.  And I have a feeling I’m going to worry a lot.  In fact, this may be a new sign of stress!!!  (At this point, fluffy clouds rolling by on a sunny afternoon feel like a sign of stress to me) 

 

BTW, daycare has not noticed anything unusual or of concern about Conor’s speech.  And as this is an inclusion classroom where some of the kids do have speech problems, that’s probably the most encouraging news of all. 

 

OK.  I’m off to accomplish some tasks.  I’m a bit freaked out per usual.  Whatever. 

9:53:43 AM     trackback [] Comments? []