Preemie Milestones

[gilder40]

Hi ladies! I know you are supposed to use your baby's adjusted age when looking at developmental milestones. Did you find that your baby hit those milestones fairly aligned with their adjusted age? Or did they do some stuff more in line with their actual age?

My little one is 9 weeks old, but she was born 5 weeks early. So should she be doing the things that a 4-week old baby is doing?

Thanks!

[wicked22]

I had a 32 weeker and at 9 months actual he's right on track for adjusted 7 months and doing more than few extras. As they get older they will start hitting more milestones closer to there actual age rather than adjusted age.

[jense927]

Yeah there are ranges for milestones even for term babies so I think the best thing to do is think of their adjusted age for milestones and if they hit them before then its a bonus! MY DS has been a bit behind developmentally so I definitely go by his adjusted age or he'd be way off.

[motownthrowdown]

Ditto everything that's been said. My doctors have also said to use the adjusted age for one year per month of prematurity. My daughter was 3 months early so I will adjust for 3 years.

[theycallmekveld]

Definitely depends. My son was a micropreemie and has some severe delays so he won't catch up until a lot later. But I know several preemies who stayed pretty on track with the adjusted milestones. Our PT says the most important thing is progress overall.

[minae01]

It totally depends on the baby, as the other ladies have said. It'll probably be a mixture of both - certain milestones she'll hit for her actual age, others she'll hit closer to her adjusted age.

DS1 was born at 32w3d and hit milestones at or around his adjusted age. For example, he didn't sit on his own until 8 months (6 adj.), didn't crawl until 10 (8 adj.) and didn't walk until 16 months (14 adj.). He's 2.5 years old now and we don't bother adjusting anymore.

DS2 is a 36 weeker and has done everything according to his actual age.

[magalinah]

DS was born almost 6 weeks early. He is kind of in between his adjusted age and actual. He's beyond the milestones for a 2.5 month old (adjusted), but hasn't only met a couple 4 month old milestones (actual) .

I think it's easy to get caught up worrying about what your kid "should" be doing, but like others have said, as long as they're making progress that's all that really matters.

[meladorie]

I didn't want to start a whole new thread but along these lines - anyone know the guideline for starting solids? Liam is 6 months actual, 4 corrected. No health issues and the pedi is lenient about solids and says start anytime. But I know lots of guidelines say 6 months. So do I go by 6 months actial or corrected?

[jense927]

Yeah we started around 6 months actual and 4 adjusted. Although he has been developmentally behind he was not when it came to eating. I would follow his lead he will let you know if he is ready! DS took to it right away and had no issues so we went with it. He also got his teeth on schedule with actual age. Good luck!

[wicked22]

meladorie my peid said if I wanted to try cereal or purees at 4 months actual I could. I waited a little bit and tried a few times here and there closer to five months but little man wants to feed himself so its been slow going even at ten months and it doesn't help that it took forever to get his first tooth. He was 8 weeks early so about 2 months adjusted.