Questions about the baby I babysat today

[Guest guest]

Hi

I'm not sure this is the right place to turn, but I am worried and

have questions running through my head. I was babysitting a friend of

a friends baby tonight, and started to see disturbing things. She is

a 5 month old girl who seems to be behind in her milestones. She can

roll from back to front, but not front to back. She doesn't have any

muscle control in her trunk and will bend completely in half if I try

to sit her up on her own. She has a horrible flinch reflex when I was

playing with her. And I do mean horrible. She acted like I was going

to hit her or something. Her tongue seems too big for her mouth and

causes trouble eating.

Then she has some physical characteristics that point to possibly

some kind of birth defect, but I'm not sure what. She has the

epicanthal folds by her eyes as is common in fetal alcohol syndrome,

and her mid face is rather sunk in. Her forehead protrudes and her

ears are set very low.

I know this is very off topic for this site, but I am really

disturbed by what I saw today. I have never had a baby flinch from

me, let alone a 5 month old. It breaks my heart that someone might be

hurting this baby. Does anyone have any idea what could cause the

physical characteristics?

Thanks, Dawn