is my 14 month old DS "behind"?

[maisiedotes]

I hate to even use the term "behind" but I have been noticing other babies his age being further along than him.  He is not self-feeding at all... not even picking up cheerios in his fingers to eat them.  (he does pick them up and throw them on the floor, however).  He can't handle anything chunky.. I tried him on chunky applesauce and he barfed.  I think his gag reflex is pretty strong. He will not drink from a sippy cup himself and only rarely if I am holding it.  He is not talking at all.. he makes lots of noises but mostly screeching and grunting.  No actual words like "mama". He is not walking on his own... he will walk on his tiptoes if we have him hold our fingers. 

I have heard that sometimes boys are a little bit behind girls.. do I need to be concerned?  With DD, the pediatrician mentioned speech delay when she was 2 and I was not at all concerned, and lo and behold she was talking up a storm a week later, but I am a little concerned about DS.  Any thoughts or similar experiences? Thanks so much.

[belltree]

Some kids need more time with the chewing. My son isn't great there either and spits out a lot of things that are too chunky. He's 13months old. Does he take anything in his mouth?

Mine doesn't like sippy cups, but he drinks from a cup. My childdevelopment books says, that most kids drink from a cup by themselves when 18months old. Before that usually kids help with the bottle/sippy cup/breasts by holding it with both their hands.

Some kids are late walkers, anything up to 18months is considered normal. Is he cruising? Walking on tippy toes is also normal in the beginning, he tightens his muscels so hard.

Same with the talking, some kids already know 3 words at that age (30% of boys), but others need more time. Is he communicating with you? Pointing at things? Saying mama and papa comes later often (we are still waiting, too). 70% of kids do this at 14/15months, but with some you have to wait until 20 months...

It is hard to not compare all the time. Every child is different, and I always have to look at the tables again, when meeting other moms that tell me about their latest milestones and achievements of their kids. I also like the WHO Milestone growth charts, they show you a range of what's normal. That said, if you are truely worried, I'd talk to our pediatrician about my concerns. Sometimes a child needs a bit of extra help along the way.

[mamamolly1]

I'm not expert, but it sounds like your child is still in the normal ranges at this stage.

My son Charlie didn't start walking until 17 months.  I was a little worried about this at 15 month appt., but my ped says she doesn't even begin to worry about that milestone until 18 months.  At 20 months, he walks and runs like a pro.  At his 18 month appt., I was concerned that he only had a very few words (maybe 5 or so-- and at 13 months really didn't have any).  She said let's wait until 21 months, because she finds that a lot of boys take off in that 18-21 month period in speech (if it seems like receptive langauge is fine, which it is), and again, he's added a ton of words in the past month or two.

We haven't had those specific food issues (both my boys are "good eaters"), though I've had some friends who've struggled with that a lot.  Most of their kids just outgrew it, though a few had some occupational therapy to help with texture issues, etc. I did find, though, that Charlie really didn't like any kind of chunky purees or things with lumped.  But when I skipped from purees straight on to little bits of solid food cut up (or big things he could gnaw on) he did just fine.  I think he didn't like the texture.  So, that's something to maybe try.

[JudiAU]

Sounds like DS at around that age. Wouldn't touch a piece of food until 14/15 m, didn't speak a word until around then 17m walked even later. At 3.5 he is a huge healthy eater (although still loves to fed), has the largest vocabulary you can imagine, etc.

I think your child is in range.

[marge234]

I find zerotothree.org to be a really helpful, positive resource for development information.  It has a lot of ideas for activities and explains what's going on with kids at different ages.   If you're concerned, it doesn't hurt to contact your local early intervention office for an assessment.  

Here's a link for developmental milestones.

http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/actearly/milestones/milestones-1yr.html

Take care