@springwillow Sitting is a 6th month milestone. Usually if a child isn’t meeting that 2 months after the milestone timeline, you’d want an evaluation for early intervention. A milestone means 90% of kids that age are showing that skill. So at 6 months if he’s not sitting, you could go ahead and get the evaluation process started (since it can take a while) or you can wait. I don’t think it’s strange it was recommended to you and I don’t think it hurts to see if you qualify for free services. I also don’t think it’s weird if you’d like to wait and readdress at 8 months. Just know that before starting to introduce purées and solid foods, he needs to be sitting independently at least for short spurts so that is something to consider.
@springwillow A nurse is not a doctor. Take medical advice given by a nurse with a grain of salt; it can be right but it can also be unfounded opinion.
@rafael_ A nurse practitioner is different than an RN with significantly more training. Also in a family medicine setting nurse practitioners and doctors are equally qualified.
@secretsnack That’s not true. Family medicine doctors do 4 years of medical school plus 3 years of rigorous residency training (working upto 80 hour weeks with no other commitments)
NPs do 2 years after nursing degree(which is obviously very different from med school because it’s a different type of job) . These 2 years can be online while they do their normal nursing jobs and often with only 500 clinical hours (just shadowing unlike residency where you actually take care of patients )
I don’t know if you are an NP yourself but people need to realize the credentials of a person they are seeing . And it’s not correct to say that they have the same training
@secretsnack They are absolutely not equally qualified. There are vast differences in knowledge and training, with possible disastrous consequences. Check out a sub like r/noctor for more information. State legislatures are rolling back strictures on mid-level scope of practice at every turn so that health care conglomerates that buy up small practices can staff them with only one MD and a bunch of NPs, and then bill patients and insurance the same. Meanwhile, data and lawsuits are piling up about the harm this is causing to patients. You will find this discussed in every doctor related subreddit or, as I'm an attorney and have friends who do medical tort law, this is also a common discussion amongst attorneys.
@secretsnack The fascinating inconsistency here is that everyone came to this thread to reassure OP that an NPs advice is not accurate in all cases. Yet here is an attack on someone pointing out that an NPs advice is not accurate in all cases.
@secretsnack I’m aware. Nurse practitioners don’t require medical school. It takes over a decade of education and training to become a physician and half that for a NP, so I don’t hold them to the same rigor, even within family medicine. My anecdotal experience with NPs has been lackluster, which certainly colors my opinion, but it doesn’t make what I said less true. You should always run questionable medical advice by someone more qualified than the person that gave it.
@rflo87 As a therapist myself, this is not how Early intervention PT companies work. Early intervention is a state run program and there are not "cuts" for referrals or anything like that...
@springwillow I recommend taking your LO to a chiropractor that specializes in babies. It can change everything for baby in the best way. Usually when a newborn just needs an adjustment pediatricians will be quick to say they need physical therapy which isn’t necessary.
@annie9824 I learned this in my newborn classes from a pediatric chiropractor guest speaker as well as my midwives. You can look up the benefits of newborn chiropractic care and there are endless sources to support this. A chiropractic adjustment helps align babies rapidly growing spine that usually is compacted at birth from being curled up, causing a plethora of health and mood issues.
@springwillow I feel like it can't hurt! Our baby is almost three months now. Our pediatrician recommended PT at her two week visit actually for her torticollis. We had to call so many to find one that could get her in before, like, six months old because they were so booked out. We had her scheduled by the time of her two month appointment, and by then her pediatrician had diagnosed her with hypotonia (floppy, neck control on par with a newborn), which the PT has been able to work on too now. She's only been in PT for about two weeks but they teach us exercises to do at home too. Two weeks ago she couldn't lift her head at all. This morning she held it up for nearly two minutes straight! It really can't hurt and early intervention is so important.
@springwillow my child didn't sit unassisted until 7 months, after she started crawling. i do know that some doctors will refer you out to pt as early as possible for early intervention, so that it's easier to get them their milestones, and faster to graduate the programs. my daughter has been in feeding therapy since she was 5 months old, at 10 months she's eating at a 12 month level. they still want us coming back, but i don't feel like we need to. some specialised therapists like this will keep you in longer to make sure you don't regress, but it can be kind of hard with babies because they're always doing something different.
i wouldn't worry about your child needing pt, i would wait until 8 months if your child still isn't sitting unassisted by then. babies do things on their own time, and not always in order either.
