5 Reasons Why “Wait and See” Can Hinder Your Child’s Development
When it comes to your child’s development, it’s not uncommon to feel very anxious about the milestones a child is or isn’t meeting and what you need to be doing to help them get there. This can lead to a lot of anxiety on the part of the family. Not surprising, many families hear a “wait and see” approach when discussing with their pediatrician. This comes from a a place of love and support - families have lots to worry about already so taking something lower priority or not yet a concern off their plate is often meant to be less stressful. However, waiting can have detrimental impacts for development in some cases. Moreover, with the recent updates to the CDC guidelines, the “wait” just became much longer as the recommendations were adjusted to when 75% of children have achieved the skill. While your pediatrician is skilled and knowledgeable in child health, he or she doesn’t have the expertise in specific domains of development that a specialist such as a physical, occupational, or speech therapist has. Here are 5 times our pediatric development team discourages a “wait and see” approach.
#1 - It’s affecting feeding
In the early days, there are lots of things to get right. Feeding a baby is critical to continued health - weight gain, hydration, sleep, and a calm alert state necessary to learn. It is also a critical piece to ensuring mom gets enough rest to recover from child birth. So when feeding isn’t going well, a lactation consult or a trained feeding therapist such as an occupational therapist or speech therapist may be critical to evaluate for latch, oral ties, and other feeding issues may be a priority to help resolve things before the situation gets out of hand and starts to affect baby health or mom’s mental health. Milk supply is very responsive to stress so having the right support through this time period can be critical to everyone’s health. Often times as long as baby is gaining weight, there is little additional concern. But moms, if it doesn’t feel right, seek help. Nursing shouldn’t be painful, and colic isn’t a diagnosis—if you’ve heard or experienced either of these things, don’t wait.
#2 - Things are asymmetrical
Children should use both hands equally until they are over the age of 2. So when you see a baby who prefers to use one hand to bat at toys or tends to keep their head to one side, it’s time to seek support. Babies don’t have a lot of strength so spending time in a prolonged position such as time in the NICU or preference to sleep in a swing may land them with a preferred side early on. Other things such as positioning in utero or oral ties can also contribute to one side being tighter than the other so if you notice your little one has a preference, get them seen by a pediatric PT to assess for torticollis sooner than later. Research shows that the earlier treatment is initiated, the quicker the treatment and more likely the full resolution. Moreover, a PT who comes to you can quickly look at your home set up and how you’re feeding as well to give you practical tips for successful resolution to put in place right away.
#3 - Tantrums are too much
As children learn communication skills, they are able to better alert their caregivers to their needs and wants. Alternatively, when children have delayed development in communication, it can often lead to more difficult tantrums and behaviors. Imagine if you were dropped into a foreign country where you couldn’t speak the language—how frustrated you would be. This can increase stress in the household in addition to the child’s stress and wear on both the parent and child bond as well as the relationship between caregivers. Instead of waiting in frustration, getting started with a speech evaluation can provide practical support for your child where they are today. Services in your home such as early intervention or a mobile therapist are often successful because the practical tips can be applied to your routine to help tease out the opportunities for increased communication and decreased frustration from your little one.
#4 - You have goals and so does your child
When school is in session, the focus is almost always on education and educationally-relevant goals. But perhaps your child really wants to learn to play soccer or you would really like to see them be able to improve their articulation to speak more clearly both to you and their friends. Summer can be a great time to attack those goals with a quick intensive when the pressure of school is gone and there is more time to focus on other things. Children often benefit from a short duration of intensive therapies to meet specific goals. So if your child wants to make the soccer team in the fall or you would like to see them be able to thrive in classroom communication, don’t wait. Setting up a summer session specific to their needs may help you reach those goals! As you are searching, ask about timelines—many times clinics who take insurance are under rules to get communication from your physician office and then a response from your insurance. Before you know it, half the summer is gone! You may find a concierge therapist who can come to you and avoid all of that extra time delay to be a better fit for your summer—saving more time for therapy goals and summer fun!
#5 - Things just don’t feel right
Parents often have a strong gut instinct so whether you notice your child isn’t doing things the same as peers or is just doing things different than an older sibling, there is no harm in getting it checked out. As developmental experts, we are advocates for you feeling confident in your child’s development and making it easy to support them with simple tips, tools, and strategies to encourage your child to meet and achieve developmental milestones. While the CDC milestones have been adjusted, normal development has not. Therefore, your local physical, occupational, or speech therapist can assess your child’s development to determine if they’re on track and give you some fun and purposeful ways to work on the next steps to stay there. Just like a proactive well visit to the pediatrician for overall health, your developmental wellness visit can be a critical way to know you’re on track and using the best tricks and tools without overthinking, hours of googling, or feeling like you need a clone to work on all the things with your child. Life is hard enough—these visits can take the guess work out of parenting to help you thrive!
If these sound like things you have questions about or need support on, we are happy to help! Our team can help guide you to the right services for you and your child, and we are happy to bring the services to you in and around the Jacksonville area or virtually for developmental support online too. So skip the hassle of paperwork and red tape, the dreaded trip to yet another office to wait, and the confusion over how to carry over those things at home. All Together Wellness meets you right where you are today. Reach out on our website to get connected and start the process. What are you waiting for?
