Development delay?

Hope - posted on 05/10/2012 ( 1 mom has responded )

I have 2 children myself so I'm not new to any of this, and I also have experience with children from birth all the way up to teenagers. I'm curious if I'm reading too much into a child's delays. I completely agree, and understand that all babies/children are, and develop, differently. However, here is my situation: I baby sit a child who is 10 months old, and seems to have some (in my mind) concerning developmental issues. The child is still primarily nursed and I get bottles of breast milk for the child to be fed throughout the day. The child took about a month to master drinking from a bottle (I started watching the child at 3 months), was just started on baby food a month ago. I had to "pry" open the child's mouth to get any inside the mouth, yet only half of what I had on the spoon made it's way into the mouth. To this day, this child STILL pushes out food with their tongue, swallowing very little, and what is swallowed, the child gags on. It takes me about 30-40 minutes to get half of a Gerber stage 1 container of food into the child's mouth. And you know how small they are!!! The child refuses to open their mouth, literally clamps his jaw and mouth shut, turns away from me, and within the last week has begun pushing it away. Whenever I mention anything to the mother, she brushes it off, “It must be because s/he’s teething” or “S/He must be tired”. The mother claims the baby, “eat great for her!” This baby doesn’t put anything in it’s mouth, where as most babies open their mouths for any and everything, this baby does not-AT ALL!! Anything that is picked up, the baby plays with it for a bit and drops it.

S/He is also severely anti-social, s/he cries and screams when anyone besides myself or it’s mother or father even look at him/her, let alone try to talk, play, or have any interaction. (This baby has always been this way). This baby is just starting to do the army crawl, now (at 10 months), cannot sit up by himself, he will stay sitting up for a little bit if I prop him/her, has very taut limbs-dressing and undressing is a screaming mess-the baby cannot flexibly raise it’s arms above it’s head, when the arms are forced, it’s hard to do, and the baby cries and cries. The baby will not stand flat footed, only on it’s tip toes. I do use physical therapy exercises that I used with one of my children. I have a feeling that there is something *off* with this child, yet I am not in a position to say anything. I have gently steered her in the direction that some of these issues are present and suggested she mention it to the baby’s pediatrician, yet the mother “totally forgets about it”. Just curious on your thoughts/opinions??