Hi,
Now that we had Anthonny home, we did start to have some serious problems.
It's always difficult with a first child because:-
1) It's all new and you don't know what is / isn't normal behaviour
2) There is no parenting manual
3) Everyone else is an expert .. and insists on telling you ... that you are doing it all wrong.
So you get all the helpful hints like ...
Let him cry himself to sleep .. turn the radio up .. you're not giving him enough milk, ...you're too soft with him. Oh my little Johnny is much better at that ... Isn't he crawling yet??? Oh isn't he shy ...
Now to be fair we had a lot of good advice and support from various friends and familiy - which is really important.
But it does knock your self confidence when other kids seem to be doing better .. one part is ashamed that you aren't a great parent .. and the other is ashamed that you haven't produced a budding Beckham or Blair ... maybe not the best examples ..... but you get the idea.
Anyway as I remember there were some things that maybe pointed to Dyspraxia:-
1) He didn't sleep through for one single night - until he was 12 months old
2) He was a very anxious baby ... and would liiterally make himself sick in his cot if there was no-one in the bedroom with him when he was going to sleep or - if no-one arrived within 2 minutes of him waking up
3) A very fussy eater
4) He had very sensitive hearing and would wake up at the slightest noise
5) Had one favourite Dummy / pacifier - and wouldn't be comforted by any other new dummies.. In the end it began to disintegrate .. and we were afraid he'd swallow it .. so we had to chop it up and throw it away.
6) He didn't walk until 14months old ... but Unusually based on what we’ve read - he did crawl
http://www.growingkids.co.uk/ClumsyChildrenDyspraxia.html
At this stage ... we knew things weren't quite right
But the advice was always the same .. Don't worry .. he'll grow out of it.
Hmmm .. In a way it's true ... but was still tough to experience at the time.
Next post - things became more pronounced in the Toddler phase.
Cheers
Post your comments below.
Des
The story of my eldest son Anthony who was diagnosed with Dyspraxia at the age of 4. He's now 25 with a lovely two year old daughter of his own (she does not have dyspraxia). A chance to fast forward through key stages of a dyspraxic child's development. Although all children are unique it is something I would have appreciated 20 years ago. I hope it helps you.
3 comments:
My son never crawled, he just sat there watching the world go by... this particular post is great because it shows how hard it is for new parents with all that info coming from the outside.
Thanks Carla, it is great to share experiences. All the best Des
My son never crawled either really, he tried a commando attempt, but in the end, he sat around until he started walking at 16months.
We had screaming at night and restless sleeps too :(
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