My husband and I were spoiled with Patrick in so many ways. He wasn't a colicky baby, he took always good naps and learned -on his own- to sleep through the night by the time he was 3 months. Despite that it took me some weeks to figure out the breastfeeding part, once we got it going it was easy and I enjoyed it very much. He was very personable, and very, very smiley. Very smiley. He learned early to play with rattles and other baby toys. He learned to sit without support by the time he was 5 1/2 months old.
But by the time he was 3 months, I noticed something wasn't right with his eyes. It seemed like they wouldn't "follow" his head movements smoothly. Sometimes it was more noticeable than others, and in fact, some people wouldn't even notice it at all. I told my husband and some family members, expecting to hear "oh you are right, you should take him to the doctor" but all I heard was "mmm no, I don't see anything wrong". I didn't want to look like a crazy mother, and to be honest, at that point I had no other reasons to worry about him. He was otherwise healthy and happy, so I figured I could wait a bit longer to see how it developed.
As he was growing and getting a better control of his head movements, seemed like the eyes were getting better, but after few months, something didn't feel right. Along with the eyes issue, Patrick wasn't rolling and didn't show any desire to crawl. Some kids are late on that and it's fine, but it was the mommy instinct that said "just take him to the doctor to get him check out" and so by the time he was 8 months, I did.
The Pediatrician scared me to death. She was able to notice on him the eye issue, and told me that it was something she had never seen before. To make matters worst, Patrick's head circumference was very small. Ever since he was born the head measured below the 1% at every appointment. Given that the head kept growing steady through the months, it never raised a red flag, but rather it was just more of "let's keep an eye on it, in case it stops growing, or we notice something else". It always grew, little by little, but grew, and we never noticed "something else"... until then.
The pediatrician asked me to contact a neurologist as an"urgent" matter. She specifically said that if I didn't get an appointment within the next couple of weeks, to give her a call, so she would personally call the neurologist to explain the situation and ask him to squeeze in a moment to see my son. Neurologist? Urgent? I had no idea what to think or how to feel, so I just basically went on to operate like a robot. I spent one week calling all the neurologists in the area, and reaching the Pediatrician back to let her know that not one had an open spot that soon. Then a week later, she called me to say she had gotten me an appointment.
So we were about to confirm that indeed something wasn't right with Patrick's eye movements. Had I not listened to my mother instincts, it would have taken longer to address the problem. When we saw the neurologist, then the developmental pediatrics, the ophthalmologist, and later the therapist, I was told by each of them how great it was that I spot it on that soon, and that we took action sooner rather than later.
I believe that no one in this world knows babies better than their mothers. We, as mothers, may look for advice from books, experienced friends, web forums, our own mothers, the doctors... and that's fine. But in the end, we are the ones that decide what advice we take or don't, simply because we can feel what's best for them. Not the doctors, not the friends, not the family, not even the father. I have felt my son sooner than anyone else, I hadn't even met him yet, but I loved him since he was in my belly. Every awaken moment since he was born I'm looking after him, playing with him, teaching him things... He interacts with me more than with anyone else, so why shouldn't I listen to that feeling that says "everything is OK" or, in this case, "there is something wrong"? Trust your instincts.
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| Patrick, 4 months old. |
As he was growing and getting a better control of his head movements, seemed like the eyes were getting better, but after few months, something didn't feel right. Along with the eyes issue, Patrick wasn't rolling and didn't show any desire to crawl. Some kids are late on that and it's fine, but it was the mommy instinct that said "just take him to the doctor to get him check out" and so by the time he was 8 months, I did.
Patrick - 8mos old. Notice the delay in his eyes with relation to his head movements.
The pediatrician asked me to contact a neurologist as an"urgent" matter. She specifically said that if I didn't get an appointment within the next couple of weeks, to give her a call, so she would personally call the neurologist to explain the situation and ask him to squeeze in a moment to see my son. Neurologist? Urgent? I had no idea what to think or how to feel, so I just basically went on to operate like a robot. I spent one week calling all the neurologists in the area, and reaching the Pediatrician back to let her know that not one had an open spot that soon. Then a week later, she called me to say she had gotten me an appointment.
So we were about to confirm that indeed something wasn't right with Patrick's eye movements. Had I not listened to my mother instincts, it would have taken longer to address the problem. When we saw the neurologist, then the developmental pediatrics, the ophthalmologist, and later the therapist, I was told by each of them how great it was that I spot it on that soon, and that we took action sooner rather than later.
I believe that no one in this world knows babies better than their mothers. We, as mothers, may look for advice from books, experienced friends, web forums, our own mothers, the doctors... and that's fine. But in the end, we are the ones that decide what advice we take or don't, simply because we can feel what's best for them. Not the doctors, not the friends, not the family, not even the father. I have felt my son sooner than anyone else, I hadn't even met him yet, but I loved him since he was in my belly. Every awaken moment since he was born I'm looking after him, playing with him, teaching him things... He interacts with me more than with anyone else, so why shouldn't I listen to that feeling that says "everything is OK" or, in this case, "there is something wrong"? Trust your instincts.
Well done! I experienced the same thing. Everyone kept telling me my son was just little and everything was fine. I was finally able to get people to see the things that I was seeing. We're still in the diagnosing phase... but I applaud you for trusting your instincts!
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