advice

*melanie*

im just wondering if there are any parents here who have a had a premature baby?i have a 2 year old son,who was born 3 and half months early,he weighted 1 pound 10 ounses.he is having speech difficulties,and i have read somewhere that this is common in preemies.he is able to say cat,hiya,car,toast...thats all,no mama or dada yet! im taking him to speech therapy,but cant get an appointment for 6 months!! anyone else have this problem and at what age did you see an improvement? thanks!:)

tallaght01

I can't comment on the specifics of your kiddy's case. But does he have a paediatrician who follows him up? He was about a 26weeker by the sounds of it. We always follow up our extreme premmies for a few years in our outpatients clinic. You're right to go to a speech and language therapist if you have concerns, but they're likely to want to know if there's a medical reason for any speech delay.

If I was in your shoes, I'd ask your GP to refer you to a paediatrician. Premature babies very often catch up on their developmental milestones later than their peers for the first few years, but it should be a paediatrician who judges whether the child is within normal limits for an ex-premmie.

Hope it all goes well for you guys. And well done for getting through the initial weeks of ventilation and probably months of tube feeds in one piece

*melanie*

tallaght01 wrote: »

I can't comment on the specifics of your kiddy's case. But does he have a paediatrician who follows him up? He was about a 26weeker by the sounds of it. We always follow up our extreme premmies for a few years in our outpatients clinic. You're right to go to a speech and language therapist if you have concerns, but they're likely to want to know if there's a medical reason for any speech delay.

If I was in your shoes, I'd ask your GP to refer you to a paediatrician. Premature babies very often catch up on their developmental milestones later than their peers for the first few years, but it should be a paediatrician who judges whether the child is within normal limits for an ex-premmie.

Hope it all goes well for you guys. And well done for getting through the initial weeks of ventilation and probably months of tube feeds in one piece

hi, he does have a paediatrician,who on the last visit said everything seemed normal,so when his public health nurse called to the house,it was she that suggested he needed speech therapy.and im only too happy to do this.maybe i will just ask if we could speed things up a bit i guess. and thanks very much for your well wishes!:)

tallaght01

Hi Melanie, it's nothing to do with me, but I reckon your speech therapist will need to know one way or the other if your child's speech is slow for an ex-premmie. Your PH nurse might be judging him against the standards of other kids his age, who will be at least 3 and a half months ahead of him in terms of their milestones. I don't now.

BUT, part of the role of your PH nurse is to identify problems and refer as appropriate. So, in my opinion (and that's all it is) if a PH nurse identifies a problem in the community with development, she should refer you to your paediatrician again.

There's a very good chance the doc will be able to put your mind at ease, and stop you worrying for 6 months. Or if there is a problem, they can examine him for things like tongue ties and the hundreds of other things that can cause delayed speech.

Paediatricians tend to be pretty protective of their ex premmies because of the months spent looking after them, so they will usually be happy enough to slot you in at the end of a clinic if the nurse has concerns.

Let us know how you get on, though.

*melanie*

well the PH nurse did say that there is no need to be treating him as a preemie and that she is judging him as any other child now,so she is looking at him now as he should have already caught up with other kids,which is a nice thought...but far to un-realistic in my opinion.i wouldnt mind if he was only a few weeks preemie but 14 weeks early is huge! to be honest,i dont think she knows what she is talking about!lol i think i will ask my g.p aswell what to do.its hard to get to his paediatrician as the hospital is about 50miles away from me,and i dont drive{too scared!lol}.so i will wait until his next appointment.

tallaght01

See, Melanie, now we're getting into the realm of asking for medical advice :P

I never give it online, and you shouldn't seek it. I could be a plumber by trade who says he's a paediatrician. If you think your kiddy is hyperactive, get him checked over, by a professional who can examine him. There are plenty of people online who'll say "oh yea, he definitely has ADHD" or whatever. And I know it's easy to take opinions of strangers online, who often have a very authoratitive air, when it's not easy to access your own healthcare professionals.

But, in most cases, a 50 mile trip is lot safer than relying on internet advice. Even on boards, where there's a reasonable amont of sensible people around, and with the best will int he world, some of the advice given to people on medical issues would make you squirm :P

So, beware

Hope you get sorted, though.

*melanie*

thanks an all,but i was just asking...of course i wouldnt take what u say as gospel.thats what i started the thread for,was advice...but thanks anyway.

Nevyn

*melanie* I'd hate to see tallaght01 being put in a position where they can no longer post in this forum due to people putting pressure for certain responses from him which this site/forum just can not cater for.

If you disagree with how and with what citrea the PHN assigned to you is using for your baby the I suggest talking to the team of PHN in your area, you can get in touch with them via you local health clinic and maybe ring your child's paediatrician and if it possible for them to talk to the PHN as you are getting conflicting information.

*melanie*

Thaedydal wrote: »

*melanie* I'd hate to see tallaght01 being put in a position where they can no longer post in this forum due to people putting pressure for certain responses from him which this site/forum just can not cater for.

If you disagree with how and with what citrea the PHN assigned to you is using for your baby the I suggest talking to the team of PHN in your area, you can get in touch with them via you local health clinic and maybe ring your child's paediatrician and if it possible for them to talk to the PHN as you are getting conflicting information.

you say
'I'd hate to see tallaght01 being put in a position where they can no longer post in this forum due to people putting pressure for certain responses from him which this site/forum just can not cater for.'
but are you implying that i am putting pressure on tallagh01 for certain answers?i just asked for advise,and he said he cant give any,and thats ok...but i am certantly not pressuring anyone for answers...this is a community right where people are entitled to ask for advise am i right?

littlebug

Melanie,

Is he recently turned 2 or nearer 3? I ask because langauge skills at that age vary hugely and if you take the 3 months into account then I actually wouldn't be terribly worried at all. Lots of kids have few words when they turn two and the fact that yours has some words and good comprehension is a good thing. A friends little boy has just turned two and really has no words at all. She was getting really worried a couple of months ago but her phn said he was fine, not to worry about it, his hearing is fine and he has very good comprehension and normal development in every other way so it'll come.
On the other hand another friends little boy had few words at 2 and was getting very frustrated at not being able to express himself so she brought him (privately ) to a ST. She started off with things like animal sounds.. ie picture of a cow "what does a cow say" etc. His mam would continue this at home with lots of repetition and really emphasising the words with facial expressions etc. It worked really well for him. Both of these were full term babies by the way.

ETA Sorry... I should add... I do think you see see the speech thereapist/ Paed because he was so premature to put your mind at ease but don't worry yourself into the ground about it!

*melanie*

littlebug wrote: »

Melanie,

Is he recently turned 2 or nearer 3? I ask because langauge skills at that age vary hugely and if you take the 3 months into account then I actually wouldn't be terribly worried at all. Lots of kids have few words when they turn two and the fact that yours has some words and good comprehension is a good thing. A friends little boy has just turned two and really has no words at all. She was getting really worried a couple of months ago but her phn said he was fine, not to worry about it, his hearing is fine and he has very good comprehension and normal development in every other way so it'll come.
On the other hand another friends little boy had few words at 2 and was getting very frustrated at not being able to express himself so she brought him (privately ) to a ST. She started off with things like animal sounds.. ie picture of a cow "what does a cow say" etc. His mam would continue this at home with lots of repetition and really emphasising the words with facial expressions etc. It worked really well for him. Both of these were full term babies by the way.

ETA Sorry... I should add... I do think you see see the speech thereapist/ Paed because he was so premature to put your mind at ease but don't worry yourself into the ground about it!

yes,he has just turned 2 in june.so i suppose there is still some time to go...i was more just wondering if it is normal in most preemies as well as being a bit more hyper active than should be.