"He should be doing X after Y months."

[mariam440087]

@bigpaul I trust my kids doctor, so I don't get worried about any milestones until they do. Every kid is "ahead" in something and "behind" in something else so it seems like pointless stress.

 

[hunyeraphael]

@bigpaul It’s good to know the averages but wow people can really get worked up over stuff unnecessarily. So ours walked late but talked early and often and is the best at drawing in her class. She’s also shy in loud boisterous situations. I don’t need the socially outgoing early walkers of the world trying to tell me Me and my kid are the weirdos.

 

[riversong1119]

@bigpaul Yeah we have tracked milestones closely. Ive learned not to worry too much because the upper ranges on milestones are usually quite high. Our LO has hit certain ones early and others later and that is normal.

 

[strugglewithin9]

@bigpaul Don’t listen to the internet. My pediatrician has done us well.

 

[amelia838]

@bigpaul Me and my wife both work in an ER, I've done EMS for over a decade now so of course we have all the general health and development background knowledge which I think made us better prepared and less of helicopter parents. I will say it felt much more like "Alright around this age they will do this" and when they would we would still get giddy. We have 3 kids now and continue to still have the excitement every time a new milestone is reached.

 

[joyce65714]

@bigpaul Two things. One, milestones are very rough guidelines and have a lot of variability. So it's not like you know "today they're going to walk." Two, even if you knew the exact date they would start walking it doesn't ruin the magic of it. It's insane how proud us parents get when our little ones do such rudimentary things. But I totally understand why you might think it takes out the magic before actually having kids.

 

[godb4s]

@bigpaul It is amazing how quickly some kids can catch up, or appear to be developing ahead of schedule then be delayed elsewhere. They are all different, I wouldn't stress it unless there are really ongoing delays.

 

[katrina2017]

@bigpaul My wife is driving me a little nuts that our son isn't pointing yet. I'm like, he held his head up at three days, rolled over, crawled, walked, all "ahead of schedule" (he's a year a week from today). He plays catch for crying out loud. Give the kid a break.

 

[dandhj62]

@bigpaul The only one that doctor care is : at 2 y.o. your kid should walk and say a couple of words.

If they still don't talk and/or don't walk at 2.y.o., they may have some troubles/problems/diseases. Not necessarily, but they'll be on the "to watch" list.

The order (walk before talk, talk before walk) isn't important, nor the exact age at which it happen.

 

[thechoiceisyours]

@bigpaul I only read the little pamphlets the doctor gives me.

Why stress yourself out when you can't effect the outcome? My kid will hit his milestones when he does, I can't make them come faster or slower.

 

[bc8486]

@bigpaul Fun Fact: these dates are averages and the milestones aren't binary.

Its not like your kid is suddenly going to say "mama" at 00:01 on the day leading into the correct month. Its a slow process and all milestones are incremental.

E.G - your kid isn't sitting up at 9 months. but can they crawl across the room? on their bellies or hands and knees?

Every kid is different and will hit milestones at different times. but short of any major disability, they'll get there eventually.

Don't stress. Be patient.

Signed, A dad whose kid only started "crawling" at 9 months

 

[melindavazquez0626]

@bigpaul Ya need to chill on all that stuff. It often creates unnecessary stress. It’s not a competition and many parents need to be reminded of that. Work with your MD during appointments to cross things off that list.