9m dd not sitting independantly yet - concern?

[greenmom17]

My dd just turned 9m yesterday, and I'm concerned about a few things. She can sit on her own, but will easily fall over - and not try to catch herself at all. She falls straight back and onto her face if we don't catch her.

She has learned to sort of bend herself in half - leaning forward, and swing her legs around to get onto her tummy. She can raise herself up on hands and knees and rock back in forth. She can support her weight for a bit when standing.

She's also hard to hold - she's floppy, doesn't hold on, and I really need both hands to hold her securely. Also when she's laying down, and we pull her hands to a sitting position it seems like her shoulder sockets pop out a bit?!

Would you be concerned?

She's also had excema and congestion with milk, symptoms cleared with soy. Not sure if it's related.

[tzs]

hopefully you'll get something from btdt moms but my only experience was a boy in my 2 year-old class who had had low muscle tone and general floppiness from birth.

i would check with your ped and maybe call early intervention/birth-3 for a consult. they can assign you to a physical therapist if needed. they really worked wonders with the kid i knew.

[2boyzmama]

Yeah...I'd call your early intervention program in your area (birth to three it's sometimes called). It sounds like your little one may have some mild hypotonia, which means low muscle or "floppiness". Hypotonia is often benign, and just means the baby will be a bit behind in some gross and fine motor skills. Early intervention can help (for free!)

Do you do well baby checks? What did the ped say at th 6 month? Did you do a 9 month? If you don't normally do them, you might consider doing one now to ask about this. Like I said, hypotonia is often benign, but on occasion it can be a sign of another issue, so it's worth getting it checked out.

She doesn't sound that far behind, but you noting the floppiness would be enough for me to want to get it checked.

[greenmom17]

Thank you both. I'll make an appt. for her 9m checkup to look into this. I did some research online last night and it looks like her lateral reflexes have not emerged yet (usually happens 3-8m).

She's sitting next to me on the family room floor and just fell over backwards - never tried to catch herself. I did, of course.

Does the excema/congestion with the milk have any correlation?

thanks again

[MeredithK]

I don't have any advice, but I just wanted to say that my 9 month 11 day old isn't that great of a sitter. I definitely don't leave him to sit up on his own. He falls back pretty easily. He isn't anywhere near crawling or holding himself up, either. Just rolls around. We went for our 9 month visit and the doctor wasn't concerned with any of this.

But, those were our only issues...no floppiness here. Good luck with the appointment!

[boobs4milk]

call your local health dept and ask them how to contact early intervention. it could be that she just doesn't want to sit, but better to have her looked at. good luck!