16 Appointments...Long-winded

In the month of July, Colt has 16 appointments for various things. Crazy, isn't it? We have 8 in-home early intervention visits, 2 eye visits, 1 eye doctor visit, 1 high-risk follow-up NICU visit, 1 pediatrician visit and 4 physical therapy visits. We have to start physical therapy weekly now. I am a little sad about that, because I thought we were going to be discharged from PT- instead we have to start therapy. He has thus far only been evaluated monthly but he's at the beginning stages of what might be a developmental delay so we need to nip it in the butt.

You have to be 30% behind in a category (ie. gross motor) before they call it a true developmental delay. He isn't really behind that much yet, but she recommended starting therapy because I am so freaked out about basically everything. So it will be good on the one hand, to address it so that hopefully it never actually becomes a delay. His head control is behind for his adjusted age, but she said it may be due to his hatred for tummy time. I don't force him to do it, even though I probably should have. So it may be my fault that he's behind. I only made him do it for a few minutes a day. But now we're going to pump it up to 10-15 minutes at a time, several times a day or as much as he'll tolerate well. He really has started trying hard within the last week, so it's a very good sign that he is trying. They would be very concerned if he wasn't even aware that he should be able to hold the head up. She checked all of his muscles and he has full use of them, so he just needs to work them more.

He can do the pull to sit, but then flops forward. She said this isn't as concerning as it would be if his head fell backward. She was very optimistic on his progress in all other areas. He's rolling with ease, moves all arms and legs evenly, has full range of motion, no lingering infant reflexes, etc. We watch all of the warning signs every month and he's sailed through them all, but the head control is beginning to lag so we'll just suck it up and work hard to get him on track. I feel bad for having to push him so hard, but I know this is what is best for him in the long run.

This video shows why tummy time doesn't accomplish much. He's too busy trying to crawl with his legs, and too busy eating his hand with his arms. So now I have to put him on a wedge, hold his butt down and spend some time holding his arms under his shoulders to force him to do the work. Poor kid! But we're determined for progess.