“Your baby is not yet walking at 9 months? Nawa o, mine walked at 6 months.”
“Your baby is not sitting at 6 months? Hmmm, mine sat at 2 months.”
OK. So what should I do with this piece of information oh thee parent of a ‘fast child’? Should I flip out a shiny award for your baby, or should I race to the hospital with mine because he’s not crawling at 4 months?
So my mom called me on the phone one evening sounding very pressed and bothered. What happened? She was just coming from a friend’s house whose daughter gave birth 2 weeks after I had my son. According to her, the little 3 month old baby girl could flip over, pull herself up into a sitting position, and even somersault (my mom is dramatic like that). She demanded to know what my son could do since people he’s older than are now somersaulting.
Ha, I told her my son hadn’t learnt such advanced tricks o. He hadn’t flipped over, neither had he started sitting without support. She said it’s my fault. “I na-apaghari ya ka akwa, suba nwa odu ka o nodu ana ka ibe ya.”(You carry him around like an egg, place him down let him sit like his mates).
My mom would just call randomly “to find out how many teeth he has now”, because teeth don full his mates mouth. Or to know if he had started walking and running, instead of crawling around. Omo, the pressure was real!
I don’t have any thing against fast babies; my daughter was actually fast, she started walking at 7 months. All I want to point out is that babies are different. There’s a wide range of when your baby should meet a certain milestone. So don’t put pressure on yourself or your baby because your friend’s baby is faster than normal. We’ve seen questions in this group which show that moms are expecting too much from their babies.
If you’re ever worried about your child’s development, you should see a pediatrician for an evaluation. We have also invited a pediatrician to talk to us about ‘Developmental Milestones’. Watch out for that.
In the meantime, tell us your experiences with baby milestones. Was your baby faster, slower, or right on time? Have you ever been worried about your child’s growth and development? Were you put under pressure by people’s comments? Grandmas, Grandpas, friends, etc. Tell us
