one zooming everywhere the other just a rolly polly

Hey y'all! The twins are almost 9 mo ... Where does time go!!! Anyway Adalynn is zooming everywhere and getting into everything, sitting up on her own, Jackson on the other hand is rolling everywhere, tries to sit up on his own but just can't get there. Adalynn started sitting up and fully crawling about 3 weeks ago. Everything we try to do to help Jackson doesn't seem to he'll and then he seems to just get frustrated .... Any advice??

I know they're going to develop at different stages but I feel bad for my.little man and I am starting to get a little concerned. I will say a lot of times I'll go to sit him down and he'll buck at that and just want to stand.

 

Ya know, Alice didn't even sit up until she was almost 10 months old. I was worried about that. However, between 10 months and 12 months, she sat up, learned how to crawl, realized she didn't like crawling, learned how to walk and then run. All while Royce was army crawling and sitting up unassisted and pulling up on stuff. He didn't walk until he was almost 14 months.

I know you want to compare them, I wanted to compare my two. The real question is, if there was only one, would you be worried about his/her development?

 

Bex, probably not, lol! Its hard to not compare when you have twins though, lol! And he honestly wants to walk! As I said he's always wanting to stand, I put him in the walker and he's like speed lightning!

Adalynn is full knees and hand crawling and has started getting flat footed and on her hands with her butt up in tge air, she has no clue what to do after that though, lol. She's pulling up on everything, just wanting to go. This morning she followed me down the hallway and.into the nursery while I got Jackson dressed, it cracked me up. And Jackson is scootching while in the sitting position and he'll try to pull up some if he's near something he can pull up on but if he topples over he'll just roll around, try to sit up and then get mad he can't and when I try to help sometimes he'll take it but other times it seems like it makes him even more frustrated.

We do have their 9 mo check up coming up so I'll talk to the doc even for nothing more than to ease my concern

 

They sound like a lot of twins - they don't develop at the same pace and that's fine. Vanessa was crawling a month or 2 before Max and he didn't really crawl, he started that army style crawling, then he started to pull up and walk within a month. They both started walking on the same day at 12 months and a half, Max started in the morning and Vanessa wanted to get some attention also so she started walking that afternoon too .

I will say to you: ENJOY this stage while they are still not moving - or at least Jackson is not moving, because those days are numbered, and once both of them are crawling/walking/running - it will never be the same . Ah, and by the way, once they started pulling up, my kids started climbing on couches, chairs, tables, consoles so yeah... We found Max on the glass kitchen table trying to reach the chandelier before he was able to walk - we had no idea he was able to climb on the chair at that point, nevertheless the table. Needless to say, we put a rope around the chairs and to this day, our chairs are still tied with a rope and we only take it off when we eat . My kids are 2 and 8 months.

So don't worry about Jackson, he's just conserving his energy to put it to good use a few months down the road , at least that's what we used to say about Max once we realized he was more active than Vanessa even if she was reaching these milestones first.

 

One of my twins, Alex, didn't learn to sit up on his own until after he was crawling. He just wanted to be on the move so badly! Mine were usually about a month apart with the learning of the stuff.

 

Mine have pretty much been together so far, but I'm sure they won't always be - it is hard not to compare! Mine both have the art of "crawling" backwards. If I put them on their tummy, they are never in the same place I sit them!

I say just keeping working with him - he'll get it when he's ready to!

 

Monica, that's exactly what my DH jokingly says about him. And if he starts walking first I can TOTALLY see Adalynn doing it later that day, even at 9 mo she can't be out done at anything by her brother! Lol!

 

With our first babies we're always tempted to push them on to the next stage of development. It's really important for kids to be able to move slowly through each stage at their own pace as there's so much going on, before walking they are learning spatial awareness, depth perception, caution, balance... you probably don't need to help him get going, he'll do it anyway, just offer lots of cuddles and sympathetic noises at his frustrations. He'll get where he's going in his own time, don't worry!!! Here's a great article on this topic, I have found these ideas really helpful
http://www.regardingbaby.org/2010/09/20/no-tummy-time-necessary/
Take or leave it (of course!!) but my advice would be to ditch the walker for him, some kids love them because of the freedom and perspective it brings but it puts them physically beyond where they actually are developmentally, it's frustrating then for them to be reduced to just crawling or wriggling or shuffling round when they're not in it. If he's allowed to just do it his own way he'll get there with far less accidents than if he gets the physical side of walking going before he gets the spatial awareness etc going. Personally I find those things a bit of a scary invention.

 

Wow that article left me speechless.

I have some concerns with her logic.
Most concerning is she that she assumes that laying a baby on his or her back is the natural position. In fact before 1994, most people laid their babies on there stomach or side. This is when the the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) issued the recommendation that babies sleep on their backs or sides to reduce the risk of SIDS.

The fact that we are seeing more developmental delays since the initiation of this campain is indication that tummy time is important for motor development. Here is an article from Pediatric Physical Therapy.Stomach muscles are the core of all our movements, that is why tummy time is important.

Please consider the source before taking advice on any subject. The author of 'no tummy time necessary' has a Masters in Education, NOT in physical therapy or kinesiology.


IMHO, most minor early delays are not a prediction of the child's future success or even physical abilities however, they can be extremely frustrating for the child. This frustration makes care giving difficult since they are often fussy. I think all twin moms would agree that whatever we can do to reduce the fussing, especially when we can 'help' by providing the child the opportunity to learn to be independent. (doing it for them is not helping)
More food for thought: cognitive learning is tied to gross motor skills. It is no coincidence that most kids really start talking (babbling) after they walk.

I have studied kinesiology in humans and other animals but have no knowledge in early child development. My son was about 1 months behind in his physical development after adjusted age (2 months behind DD). I had PT take a look at him. They came once a month and did an assessment and gave me some exercises/positions. Not because i thought we were facing a huge crisis but because I knew they could show me the best way to help him.

They showed me how he should move his body to roll over (from the hips.. who would have thought that!), and how he should go from crawl to sit, and sit to crawl. By moving one leg or one shoulder i provided him the opportunity to learn how to use his body to create the action he wanted and reduce his frustration.

Every kid learns differently but building the muscle they need to preform the action is critical. some kids like my DD will do that even if you tried to stop her but others benefit from a little help. PT is about building those muscles and learning the patterns of movement that create the action.

Just a note most PTs do not like the seats that support kids in a sit before they are able to sit on their own. in those seats most babies will use their backs to support themselves rather than their stomachs (and we are back to the importance of those core muscles!) I did use the bouncy seats occasionally when I just needed a break.

I am not saying your son needs PT but just to put it in the back of your head. Talk to your Dr.

Also, If I remember correctly, your LOs were preemie?
Many states (i know NC and GA do) have a program with a free assessment for preemies until they are 3 or 4 years old. You only have to sign up. they come to your house! The program is designed to catch developmental problems early. They refer you to the right professional if they see a concern, however, they usually handle minor pt stuff within the program (at no charge). Might be worth checking on.

Don't worry. Enjoy every stage (as different as they are). These will be my only two babies, so i figure DD is my first baby to walk, DS my last (I cried the day he took his first step.. no more babies, my babies are now toddlers).

 

Sophie has always been a little bit behind Livie in terms of gross motor skills. She was a few weeks later in rolling over, several weeks later in crawling, and Livie has been walking for 6 weeks now and Sophie is still at least a week or two away. All of that said, Sophie has still hit all of those milestones earlier than Vivi did. So I think that helps put things in perspective for me. In addition, when you look at the lesser bragged about milestones, Sophie does those earlier than Livie. For example, she could move an object from one hand to the other earlier, she babbles more, she "dances", and is already trying to use a spoon with some limited (and messy) success.

I guess my point is that while it is really easy to compare our twins, it is also important to consider their individual accomplishments. That is not to say that you shouldn't bring up any concerns you have with the pedi. But until you do, I wouldn't stress about them hitting milestones at different times. Who knows? Maybe he will be the first to say mama!

 

I had one traditional crawler and one that only crawled backwards. Both of them managed to move where they wanted to be, but by pretty different means - fun to watch too! This was a clear early lesson in individuality for us.

 

I could have written this post almost 5 years ago!
My son was behind my daughter in every physical milestone. She sat up first, she crawled first and she was walking before he was even crawling. My son had the art of being able to get around just using his arms and not his legs, which concerned me. I did call EI (early intervention) for that reason because I thought there might be something up with him not using his legs to get around. As it turned out, when EI finally came for the home visit, he was crawling (I think he started around 11 months or so and was walking by 14 months). They still did the evaluation and he checked out as meeting his milestones, so it was good.