Re: Developmental delays from tort/DOC band?

[Guest guest]

It really sounds to me like your daughter is right on target. Both

of my children (one with tort/plagio, one without) started rolling

around 5 months or so, and sat up well after 6 months. Rolling over

takes a lot of work, usually they can only go one way for a while,

then they realize they can go the other way and then have to train

themselves to do it. When they roll belly to back, that does tend to

be kind of a flop, accidental looking technique. Back to belly takes

a lot more effort. I wouldn't be surprised though if maybe the band

does hinder that process just a little bit. You have to imagine that

the velcro side especially might be hard to maneuver over. Also, if

I remember correctly, I used a boppy around both my kids while they

were learning to sit up and didn't feel comfortable removing it

until they were well over 7 months old.

How big are the babies from Gymboree that are already reaching these

milestones? Both of my children were on the large side, and my

experience has really been that smaller babies tend to reach

milestones sooner. Their center of gravity is lower and they have

less weight to haul around. My son, who had tort, was really large,

and the ped never seemed concerned with his development, he always

seemed right on track at well visits. And your daughter seems to be

on the same track as he was. This is just my opinion, but I don't

think you have anything to worry about, at least not yet. Obviously,

keep encouraging her to roll and sit, but keep an eye on it. She'll

be due for a well visit soon, right? So it will be a perfect time to

check in with the ped on her gross motor skills.

Good luck!

Jake-17m (tort resolved/rt plagio/DocBand)

Jordan-4

>

> Hello All,

>

> My daughter is 5 1/2 months old and has been wearing her DOC band

for

> almost three weeks. She had pretty severe torticollis when she

was

> born. We began physical therapy around 2 1/2 months and got a

clean

> bill of health (no more tort, full range of motion) from our PT

about

> two weeks ago. She has the band for a combo of plagio and brachy.

>

> Has anyone noticed that their child is missing gross motor

> development milestones as a result of the tort and/or band? My

> daughter seems to be advanced on everything EXCEPT gross motor

> skills. She's very alert and can do things like transfer toys

from

> one hand to another, already has two teeth, etc., but she is still

> having difficulty rolling over (she does it, but it still seems to

be

> mostly by accident) and she can only sit unassisted for about two

> seconds. Many of the children in her Gymboree class and my New

Mom's

> Group that are a month or more younger than her seem to be hitting

> these milestones first.

>

> As an experiment we took the band off for 30 minutes today and she

> rolled several times and was able to sit a little longer - I guess

> because her " center of gravity " was lower without the band.

>

> I know every child is different and I shouldn't compare, but I was

> just wondering what the collective experience of this group has

been.

>

> Thanks in advance for your help!

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

I agree with that things are probably fine with your daughter. I got a little paranoid about my own little ones when I read your message, as my 6 1/2 month old twins are barely sitting up. They do it for a few seconds and then my son (who is my little helmet kiddo) flings himself to the ground on purpose. If I hold him sitting between my legs, he flings his arm to the side and around the back, trying to get himself into a laying position. He can't seem to understand why it doesn't work when I am holding him. I think his motto is " Why stand if you can sit; why sit if you can lay down; and why lay down on your belly if you can flip onto your back? " Lazy little monkey. My daughter on the other hand tries to stand up if I try to make her sit. She pulls her hips forward and screams if we don't stand her up. She can arch her way out of a bumbo seat by sheer force of will. I wouldn't believe it if I hadn't seen it. I never really worried much about their lack of sitting until your post about these overachieving Gymboree kids. But I went and looked it up and sitting unsupported seems to happen somewhere in the 5-7month window on average, and then add some time to that before you really trust that they won't fall. And again, that's just an average, and every kid is different, which is usually not indicative of a delay.

I also think that maybe we plagio mamas put our kids on their tummies more than other moms do, so our kids may crawl sooner but sit later. That is just my theory. I know my babies do way more tummy time and are closer to crawling than other babies I have seen who are the same age without the plagio/tort issues, but mine also tend to spend less time sitting in boppies than these other kids.

If you're worried about her strength for these milestones, you could do some baby sit-ups with her or just have her sit supported so she can build strength. But at only 5 1/2 months, I certainly would not be worried if I were you!

-Pam

On 2/23/08, nwilkens2275 <nwilkens2275@...> wrote:

It really sounds to me like your daughter is right on target. Both of my children (one with tort/plagio, one without) started rolling around 5 months or so, and sat up well after 6 months. Rolling over takes a lot of work, usually they can only go one way for a while,

then they realize they can go the other way and then have to train themselves to do it. When they roll belly to back, that does tend to be kind of a flop, accidental looking technique. Back to belly takes a lot more effort. I wouldn't be surprised though if maybe the band

does hinder that process just a little bit. You have to imagine that the velcro side especially might be hard to maneuver over. Also, if I remember correctly, I used a boppy around both my kids while they were learning to sit up and didn't feel comfortable removing it

until they were well over 7 months old. How big are the babies from Gymboree that are already reaching these milestones? Both of my children were on the large side, and my experience has really been that smaller babies tend to reach

milestones sooner. Their center of gravity is lower and they have less weight to haul around. My son, who had tort, was really large, and the ped never seemed concerned with his development, he always seemed right on track at well visits. And your daughter seems to be

on the same track as he was. This is just my opinion, but I don't think you have anything to worry about, at least not yet. Obviously, keep encouraging her to roll and sit, but keep an eye on it. She'll

be due for a well visit soon, right? So it will be a perfect time to check in with the ped on her gross motor skills. Good luck!Jake-17m (tort resolved/rt plagio/DocBand)Jordan-4>> Hello All,> > My daughter is 5 1/2 months old and has been wearing her DOC band for > almost three weeks. She had pretty severe torticollis when she

was > born. We began physical therapy around 2 1/2 months and got a clean > bill of health (no more tort, full range of motion) from our PT about > two weeks ago. She has the band for a combo of plagio and brachy.

> > Has anyone noticed that their child is missing gross motor > development milestones as a result of the tort and/or band? My > daughter seems to be advanced on everything EXCEPT gross motor

> skills. She's very alert and can do things like transfer toys from > one hand to another, already has two teeth, etc., but she is still > having difficulty rolling over (she does it, but it still seems to

be > mostly by accident) and she can only sit unassisted for about two > seconds. Many of the children in her Gymboree class and my New Mom's > Group that are a month or more younger than her seem to be hitting

> these milestones first.> > As an experiment we took the band off for 30 minutes today and she > rolled several times and was able to sit a little longer - I guess > because her " center of gravity " was lower without the band.

> > I know every child is different and I shouldn't compare, but I was > just wondering what the collective experience of this group has been.> > Thanks in advance for your help!

> > >

[Guest guest]

my daughter wore a starband for brachy, and was ahead or on time for

everything. she was rolling a little when she got it (5 mo) but

quickly learned to sit. she was walking before 10 mo. I think every

kid is different. Mine was pretty strong so the band didn't slow her

down at all. but even many kids without bands take longer for these

things.

-christine

sydney 2 yrs starband grad

>

> Hello All,

>

> My daughter is 5 1/2 months old and has been wearing her DOC band for

> almost three weeks. She had pretty severe torticollis when she was

> born. We began physical therapy around 2 1/2 months and got a clean

> bill of health (no more tort, full range of motion) from our PT about

> two weeks ago. She has the band for a combo of plagio and brachy.

>

> Has anyone noticed that their child is missing gross motor

> development milestones as a result of the tort and/or band? My

> daughter seems to be advanced on everything EXCEPT gross motor

> skills. She's very alert and can do things like transfer toys from

> one hand to another, already has two teeth, etc., but she is still

> having difficulty rolling over (she does it, but it still seems to be

> mostly by accident) and she can only sit unassisted for about two

> seconds. Many of the children in her Gymboree class and my New Mom's

> Group that are a month or more younger than her seem to be hitting

> these milestones first.

>

> As an experiment we took the band off for 30 minutes today and she

> rolled several times and was able to sit a little longer - I guess

> because her " center of gravity " was lower without the band.

>

> I know every child is different and I shouldn't compare, but I was

> just wondering what the collective experience of this group has been.

>

> Thanks in advance for your help!

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

Hi ,

Thanks for the note. The kids at Gymboree range from 4 1/2 months to

5 months. So between 2 weeks and 4 weeks younger. I know that's not

much, but... I'm paranoid, I know.

As for size, all the Gymboree kids are larger kids, and my daughter

is very small. She's in the 10th percentile, so I guess that's not

it.

I really wasn't worried until I took her into the pediatrician this

week for what turned out to be a bad cold and asked him how long it

usually takes kids from the first roll-over until they're doing it

deliberately. He said that my daughter should be doing it

deliberately by now, since she first rolled at about 4 1/2 months

(pre-band). He said maybe the cold was slowing her down. Who knows?

I know it's not time to worry yet. I was just curious if anyone else

had noticed the milestones coming a little later. To be honest, I

think the tort is probably more to blame than the DOC band.

Thanks to you (and everyone else) for the responses.

> >

> > Hello All,

> >

> > My daughter is 5 1/2 months old and has been wearing her DOC band

> for

> > almost three weeks. She had pretty severe torticollis when she

> was

> > born. We began physical therapy around 2 1/2 months and got a

> clean

> > bill of health (no more tort, full range of motion) from our PT

> about

> > two weeks ago. She has the band for a combo of plagio and brachy.

> >

> > Has anyone noticed that their child is missing gross motor

> > development milestones as a result of the tort and/or band? My

> > daughter seems to be advanced on everything EXCEPT gross motor

> > skills. She's very alert and can do things like transfer toys

> from

> > one hand to another, already has two teeth, etc., but she is

still

> > having difficulty rolling over (she does it, but it still seems

to

> be

> > mostly by accident) and she can only sit unassisted for about two

> > seconds. Many of the children in her Gymboree class and my New

> Mom's

> > Group that are a month or more younger than her seem to be

hitting

> > these milestones first.

> >

> > As an experiment we took the band off for 30 minutes today and

she

> > rolled several times and was able to sit a little longer - I

guess

> > because her " center of gravity " was lower without the band.

> >

> > I know every child is different and I shouldn't compare, but I

was

> > just wondering what the collective experience of this group has

> been.

> >

> > Thanks in advance for your help!

> >

> >

> >

>