I hate baby milestones.
There, I said it.
Since Georgia was born, I've unsubscribed from every mailing list and baby development email I was receiving. They were nice to have as a guide, but then they started making me nervous. By Month X, your baby will likely be doing this, this & this! That's all well & good if they are, but what if they're not? The needless worrying begins.
Georgia isn't crawling yet, despite being over 9 months. I wasn't too worried at first, as she's doing plenty of other things - sitting completely on her own, rolling both ways and flipping over and over to get to things, spinning in circles and reaching for toys on her own. She has a good grip of objects & can pass things between her hands. She talks like there's no tomorrow, in her own baby babble. But no crawling, and no pulling up on things or interest in standing. It was only when I realised that nearly every other baby her age, and some younger than her, were mobile already, that I began to panic.
'Don't worry!' they say. 'She'll get it when she's ready!' they say. 'My baby didn't crawl until they were close to a year old!' they say. And most patronising of all, 'Enjoy it! It's so hard when they're on the move!'
Listen, friends. I get it. Logically, I get it - and I KNOW babies develop skills at their own pace. But please, please don't tell me to enjoy it, even though I know you mean well. I'm not enjoying watching her peers, many younger than her, crawling around rooms and pulling up to stand. I'm not enjoying feeling like she's behind, even though I know deep down she's perfectly fine. I'm not enjoying feeling like I should be helping her learn this skill, even though I don't know how to do that. It's the equivalent of telling someone who is TTC to 'just relax!' It just doesn't help, even though they mean well.
So for now, I grit my teeth, keep on playing and encouraging Georgia to do what she wants to do, and try to ignore the worry. I've already blinked & lost 9 months of her life {seriously, how do I have a 9 month old baby already?} - I'm determined not to miss the little moments now, because I'm so caught up in worrying about her milestones.
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9 comments:
Every time I see a new pic, I expect G to have the same spiky hair as she did when she was little :).
I hear you on the milestones. It's impossible not to worry about it. The best thing I like reading is that highly mobile babies are often slower in other areas like language or whatever. So G is probably working on something else that's keeping her from crawling. But probably now that you've posted this, she'll start next week!
I'm going to agree with the above commenter, because while B is super duper freakin' mobile (and is a week or two away from walking and he'll be 11 months next Friday), his babble just barely started in the last month or so. I was actually really worried about him not babbling much!
I think we all have our things we worry about with our babies. It's hard, especially when you're exposed to other babies the same age who are doing different things. And plus these are our first kids so we're learning everything right along with them.
We did Little Gym classes for 6 months, and one of the things they had us do to help with crawling was put a small ball under their belly (or a pool noodle) so they get used to having their bellies off the ground. We also shook bells and rolled balls and stuff that would interest them just out of their reach trying to tempt them to come after it. So there's some things you can try at home. :)
Einstein didn't talk until he was 3 and didn't read until he was 7. I think Georgia will turn out just fine.
Ugh, the milestone comparisons are the WORST. There's always going to be SOMETHING they aren't doing, and then we panic. Blah. I also panicked about Callum's mobility as he was a late crawler (10 months--though some babies never crawl) and didn't show any interest in cruising or pulling up at all til close to a year. And frankly he never really cruised, and didn't pull up much. I thought he was going to be a late walker because he had demonstrated very little interest in it--and then one day at 12.5 months he just started walking, without ever really having cruised. I was stunned! But I remember so clearly how worried I was when he wasn't matching up on the charts. So frustrating! This time around I'm not so worried about the charts but I've found that I remember when Callum did certain things and start to panic if Annika doesn't do them in the same time frame. You can't win. Sigh.
Go with the flow baby girl ... she is gorgeous and happy and you guys are wonderful with her
I loved watching her roll and twist her way across the floor - you certainly can't say she's not mobile !!
And the way she chatters ... wish you could share that with your blog readers LOL
I freak about everything. Eisley is basically on track so far, but everytime I hear someone that's like oh, my baby was crawling at 4 months, even though I know that's early I'm like wait, but why isn't MY baby crawling all the time already? She's almost six months, shouldn't she if that baby did. It's hard as mamas, we beat ourselves up about silly things because, well, we can! You're a fantastic mama and G is a beautiful and smart little girl. <3
She's just so precious, Aly. Happy New Year love…hope 2014 brings your so much happiness.
So many people fuss about milestones. It honestly isn't worth it. Each kid learns things at different times. From what my Mum tells me about me as a baby, I was very similar to Georgia. I wasn't mobile for a very long time, and didn't start walking until 18 months...but I talked and talked and talked. I was far ahead of the other kids in chatting, reading and drawing, but forget walking. Unlike my brother, who was up on his feet and running around before he was one, but took ages to speak properly. In other words - everyone is different!
I know how you feel. And I know you already know it, but I really do. I stopped reading them most of the time but should have unsubscribed, because my heart broke a little more each month.
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