In
our course of work as occupational therapist we meet parents, all of them are
usually concerned about the development of their child whether it is cognitive, social/emotional, gross motor, fine motor etc.
But
mostly, its based on the common advice given by the people surrounding them.
Like if a child is 2 years old and still has not started walking or let's say
standing; near and dear ones start
raising concerns .. arre abhi tak chalta nahin hai !!! check karwao koi problem
toh nahin hai… but its mostly raised once the kids are either above 2 or 3 yrs and
in few cases one and half year. We all know babies start developing in the
foetus itself and continue after birth.
Almost all mothers follow the growth milestones during the pregnancy
very diligently whether
its first month or 9th month but its very rarely acknowledged
that development keep following milestones even after birth, they may be very
simple such as lifting of head or hand
etc.
So we get to visualize the entire picture only after 8 or 10 months when
they start sitting. Sometimes delays
during the first year are not taken seriously as each baby has their own
growth pattern and some babies skip a few steps. But it’s a wise idea to keep a
tab on what is going on with your baby, a delay of two months is normal and
acceptable for any milestone but if it’s more than that getting an expert
opinion is always a good idea as small intervention for few months can bring
the development pattern back on track. I have
seen kids of 8-9 months who haven’t rolled come for me two months for therapies and then they start rolling and
then they are back to enjoying their childhood. Kids who is standing on
support but not walking started walking after few months of therapies and now enjoying his childhood and
playing to fullest.
So,
I thought it would probably be helpful if I put together an all-in-one resource
for everyone to get the first hand information on different aspects of
development during the crucial development years of our dearest
It
will be a really long discussion if I try to describe or explain all the
developmental milestones at once. Hence we are going to take one area per week
and build up on that .
Before
starting the discussions please remember that every child has their own pace of
development. Some achieve milestones before the designated age while some are
delayed at different level. But as mentioned earlier if this delay is
longer than say two or more months, then it has to be take care of.
So,
please remember even if there is a range of “average” and every baby follows
their own developmental timeline as all kids are different.
THE MOST IMPORTANT THING that as parents you should consider that your child
is making progress. Don’t get too much concerned with whether your kid is
developing EXACTLY with a developmental chart or else you will worry yourself
sick!
It
is very important to make the
environment for your baby in a way that it build off of your baby’s
current abilities and interests, rather than “forcing” or “pushing”
milestones he or she just isn’t quite yet ready for or interested in.
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