Do Preterm Babies Are Late in Acheiving Milestones

Parents Role In Helping Babies Achieve Milestones

Every new parents, after getting used to the routine parenting cycle, start thinking about their babies achieving milestones. It took me a while to get used to the new life with my little one. Soon after that, I started scanning charts and numbers to check if my baby was have a normal growth and development like other average babies.

During this journey as a new parent, I ca m e to realize that all babies are unique and take their own time to achieve different milestones. Having said this, I don't mean to say that it's perfectly normal if your kids doesn't reach certain milestones within reasonable period of time. In this case you should definitely consult to your doctor.

It's quite normal for us, parents, to worry about the development of our child. I clearly remember how worried I was when the healthcare professional was doing hearing test for my son. She then said that he was a thinker and even though it looked like he was sleeping he was actually thinking, so the test was taking bit longer. I didn't care if she was kidding or was serious, it simply felt great to hear that. All babies are special for their parents and I guess it feels even better when somebody else tell you the same thing about your baby.

My son was born with swollen gums. We simply didn't know what it was and had no clear answer from the hospital. The specialist said that it was normal among some babies to have swollen gums. Only thing that brought us relief was it didn't affect his feeding. Sometime after three months, my wife told me that she might have given him slightly hot formula and burned his gums. I checked his gums and to our surprise his gums weren't burnt but he was simply teething at only three months.

At this stage, we knew it was extremely uncommon for infants to start teething at three months. Not forgetting our baby was born from c-section and was born 3 weeks early. Even my parents didn't believe that he was teething and I struggled taking a good picture of his teeth to send them as a proof. I had this other friend whose daughter was 8 months old and still hadn't started teething.

In our case, my son started teething much sooner than other babies. However, he simply didn't start taking steps till he was 15 months old. I have many friends whose kids had started walking even before they turned one. Thinking and comparing the development of my child with others' got stressful at times. However, I was wise enough to understand that all child develop differently.

When my son was taking longer to walk, instead of just worrying, I started spending more time playing with him. I had this earlier incident that made me realize how smart babies are. He often slept with us in our bed. I was worried he might wake up during the night and suddenly jump from the bed.

He must have been only 9 months or even less when I trained or taught him to crawl backwards and get down from the bed. He learnt that in no time and simply crawling backwards and got down from the bed. Even though, he was still too small to land properly, I was simply happy that I was able to teach him a valuable life saving skill.

I decided to try something similar to help him achieve this important milestone. Everyday after I got back from work, I provided him support and encouraged him to take steps. It didn't haven overnight, but after two weeks, he took his first steps on his own. Soon after that, he started walking comfortably. This was another important lesson for me. Whenever it felt like my child wasn't developing in any area properly, I should have spent bit more time to help him get better in that specific area.

Kids are smart and only thing they need from us is time to teach and help them achieve these milestones. Some babies do it by themselves and some might need a bit of push as my son did with his walking. I am still following up with him regarding his milestones. I have seen many kids of his age who clearly speak some words and even recite ABCD. With my son, I am still waiting for him to say DAD clearly. However, this time, instead of worrying, I am spending some time with him, teaching and encouraging him to speak. Hopefully I can soon hear the magic word — 'DAD'.

My suggestion to other new parents, its never right to compare the growth and development of your baby with others. You should still follow the general guidelines for baby milestones and consult to your doctor if your have any worries regarding your baby not being able to achieve any milestone. The best you can do for your little one is spend some quality time with them and encourage them to achieve all the milestones specific to their age.

Do Preterm Babies Are Late in Acheiving Milestones

Source: https://medium.com/@rayromeo02/parents-role-in-helping-babies-achieve-milestones-30539776a5c2

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