Hi. I'm a mom to a 1 year old, who was born 5 weeks early. She just had her 1st birthday party, and I'm a little worried that she isn't where she's supposed to be at her age. My friend and I had babies 2 weeks apart, and her daughter is already walking, talking, and doing so many tricks.

Ella is a fast crawler and cruiser, but hasn't managed to take those first steps yet. She's also always in the bottom 10% as far as weight and height. Right now, she's still under 20 pounds. Gasp. She's eats like crazy, and has already taken to cow's milk, but the weight just hasn't normalized yet.

She babbles a lot, but nothing specific. She'll say dada, but to her, everything is dada. The couch, the dog, a glass of water....

She can wave and clap and point at things...

I don't know, I think I'm just putting to much pressure on myself...

She sounds just fine to me. :hug99: My oldest didn't walk until he was 14 months old, and was also a late talker. He's almost 4 now and runs and jumps all over the place and never shuts up. :lol: His younger brother walked and talked earlier.

Kids are all so different, so try not to stress too much. I know it's hard not to compare, but she'll get there. :hug99: And then you'll wish for the time when she couldn't get into everything and didn't talk your ear off. :lol:

I wouldn't worry too much :hug99: like you said, I think part of it is just putting pressure on yourself. As parents, sometimes we just tend to analyze stuff too much sometimes.

Mine (twins) were a little more premature than Ella (10 weeks), but they hit some milestones on target, hit some earlier than the textbook age, and were slower to hit some and even delayed in some areas. But honestly, by age 2, they were caught up in everything but speech (for my daughter). Elliott didn't walk until 15 months, Norah barely talked at age 2. And they've always been small --neither hit 20lbs till their 18 mo checkup (and Norah ate like a horse!)
I know its easier said than done, but try to just enjoy and not worry :hug99:

Hi. I'm a mom to a 1 year old, who was born 5 weeks early. She just had her 1st birthday party, and I'm a little worried that she isn't where she's supposed to be at her age. My friend and I had babies 2 weeks apart, and her daughter is already walking, talking, and doing so many tricks.

Ella is a fast crawler and cruiser, but hasn't managed to take those first steps yet. She's also always in the bottom 10% as far as weight and height. Right now, she's still under 20 pounds. Gasp. She's eats like crazy, and has already taken to cow's milk, but the weight just hasn't normalized yet.

She babbles a lot, but nothing specific. She'll say dada, but to her, everything is dada. The couch, the dog, a glass of water....

She can wave and clap and point at things...

I don't know, I think I'm just putting to much pressure on myself...

Just from what you posted she sounds perfectly normal to me, even for a full term 1 year old.

Janelle was about 6 weeks early. She walked at 8 1/2 months old and talked really early as well. But she never crawled, and she took a long time to really start eating more than just breast milk. At 4 she is on the growth charts for both height and weight for basically the first time in her life, she is 38" tall and 27lbs. Janelle was under 20lbs at 2 years old. She might not ever truly catch up, she might just be meant to be a small baby/person, someone has to be in the 10th percentile, that's why it's a curve, if she is growing steadily there is nothing to worry about!

For what it's worth, my nephew didn't walk till 18 months old, and by the time he was 2 him and my daughter were developmentally (in gross motor skills at least) at the same spot, and she is 6 months older than him. Every kid just has their own time line!

That sounds exactly like Joe. He was also 5 weeks early. He was below the bottom of the weight chart for the longest time and he wasn't walking at a year. He was also a late talker. He's turning 5 next month and he's still only around the 10th percentile in weight, but he's totally caught up.

If you're worried, talk to your ped, but she sounds just fine.