I have been going to D’s every Monday, Wednesday and Friday to help out (she is on leave, her H works at home, and H & I are retired - we are all pretty much hermits at this point). My H comes with me a lot. GD has silent reflux & cries when put on her back, so she doesn’t sleep well by herself. D is up a lot with her, and she is really tired. GD is 8 weeks today, so hopefully she will outgrow it in a month or two. She has had some colic spells recently, too. She wants to be held all the time. (She is a lot like her mom was!) D is having trouble dealing with everything - she worries too much. I go over to let her sleep (and eat), and I lend a sympathetic ear. She told me she didn’t think parenting would be easy, but she didn’t know it was so hard. Yup, and just wait! But it’s worth it, and my GD is the sweetest little thing.
GD throws up quite a bit. The doctor is going to change her probiotic. D1 used to vomit a lot too. They have GD in Snoo when she is sleeping. The Snoo keeps track of when GD is sleeping or fussing (awake).
One of my GDs is a barfy baby and likely has GERD. The pediatric gastroenterologist recommended some behavior changes to help with throwing up.
The changes she recommended were:
- feed the baby more slowly. Stop feeding after every 2 ounces/50ml, wait at least 3-5 minutes before resuming
- burp after every ounce
- hold the baby in an upright position for at least 20 minutes after every feed. (You can hold them in your arms, but you can also use a bouncer or a swing to keep them sitting up.)
She also suggested changing her formula to an easy-to-digest formulation that had its amino acids partially broken down.
My younger D was visiting from out of town over the weekend. (I’m currently staying with older D to help with infant care since D is working a lot of evening, weekend and overnight shifts.) We three all had a pleasant afternoon visit to the local botanical gardens. Poor Daddy had both twins by himself for 2 hours. Both had major meltdowns lasting over 90 minutes each while we were gone. He was totally exhausted when we got home.
D has tried all of the suggestions, other than the formula (she is bottle feeding, but it’s exclusively breast milk - and she did cut out all dairy). She took GD to the pediatrician for a well check today, and the doctor noticed right off the bat that GD was swallowing fluids that were coming up. She got her an appointment next week with a pediatric gastroenterologist. Fortunately, weight gain isn’t an issue - she was 6 pounds 10 oz at birth & is 10 pounds 14 oz at 8 weeks.
Congratulations, @Jugulator20, as you and your family welcome your sweet granddaughter. 
Enjoy!
@Bromfield2, That was a very good catch by the pediatrician and the treatment period should be shorter because of this. D discovered that GD had an extra fold in one of her chubby thighs which led to the same diagnosis and treatment. Unfortunately, by the time it was discovered, the harness had to be worn much longer. And then, because GD slept on her back so long, her head flattened and she also needed the helmet. Fast forward. GD was running at one, riding a scooter and Strider at eighteen months, and runs and plays with her big brother. D is a physician, and very practical, but was also a bit upset by all of this. It’s all in the past now.
@kelsmom ~ What a blessing you are! I hope your sweet GD is doing better soon! Confession… We still hold GD often during afternoon naps because we love to do it. We did it with GS, too. No regrets.
GS is four now! We had a fun party. We gave him a new scooter. He immediately told his little sister that she could have his old scooter. 
Those new tiny scooters are so cute! We gave GD a micro-mini for her second birthday and she flies around on it. Needs a lot of outdoor exercise and it’s a great way to use up some of that pent up winter energy.
I promised myself that I would be WAY more involved with my grandchildren than either of our parents (several states away) were, who saw them a couple times a year. We were willing and did travel in any form to see our kids and grandchild. That came to a screeching halt on March 7, 2020. I have now become that person with covid era. I could see how that becomes normal after one year now. Just give up, out of sight, facetime good enough, etc. After our vaccination completion (and kids ones), I am hoping to return to my original plans!
I’ve been babysitting my younger granddaughter since she was 5.5 months old and next weekend she’ll be 10 months old. It is a sweet gig, though I am exhausted a lot! Well, anyway two different days around 11:30, she began throwing up, serially. I texted the kids and they came upstairs. The first time the doctor phoned in a Zofran Rx , gave her Pedialyte and after a bit, she was better. Then lo, another day same thing. She was throwing up so much. She was cool rather than feverish and lethargic. The common thing seemed to be oats for breakfast. They will be consulting an allergist but the ped thinks she has FPIES or Food Protein Induced Enterocolitis Syndrome due to the oatmeal. Luckily children tend to outgrow it by 3 years. They tried chicken this week and we were all holding our breath and she was fine. I hate this for them.
We saw our super cute 21 month old granddaughter yesterday. It had been 2 months since our last visit. In that time she changed from a baby to a little person. She is so much fun! Granddaughter #2 is due in four weeks.
I stayed over at D1’s place for the first time since the baby was born because I am vaccinated. This weekend I did the early morning feeding (5-6am), so D1 and SIL could sleep in. I very much enjoyed it because the house was so quiet. It was just me and my granddaughter. After I fed her (and multiple poops and spit up), she fell asleep on my shoulder. We just lied on a sofa for hours until her parents woke up.
Late talker - suggestions, reassurance, valid concern?
Our 1 1/2 yr old grandchild does not talk, other than a very rare “no” with a head shake. The parents appear unconcerned, but that’s typical. They’re not proactive about anything regarding the child’s development and wait for the pediatrician to bring up any concerns. The doctor mentioned speech therapy at the last check up, but the parents have not looked into it. Even our slower to speak child was saying a couple dozen words at the same age, despite big sister often taking over the conversation, so it’s hard not to compare.
Lately, we’ve been babysitting two to three times a week for five to nine hours per visit, so there’s a lot of interaction. Our grandchild loves books and we spend more time reading together than doing any other activity. There’s no question that hearing is excellent. Requests to bring us something are complied with, unless some attractive distraction interferes. Communication is mainly by head shaking, pointing, waving away an unwanted food or item, growling, laughing and fussing.
When babysitting we talk about anything that might be of interest - the colors of toys, pictures on the wall, airplanes overhead, food being served, flowers blooming, etc. We ask short questions to try to elicit a reply, but get nothing verbal only finger pointing, head shaking and smiles.
Would you say anything to the parents? Or wait to see if their pediatrician brings it up at the next check-up? Is there anything else we should try to encourage speaking?
The baby’s mom was putting together two and three word sentences using well over 100 words at the same age. It’s hard to not worry.
My daughter was a chatterbox and had a lot of words at 18 months, but my boys didn’t. Both boys ended up doing better in school than my daughter. I remember at their 18 month check-ups the pediatrician said they should have 6 words at 18 months. My GD didn’t have a lot of words at 18 months, but knew a lot of signs and could communicate well. Now at 20 months she has quite a few words, but mostly just the first syllable.
It’s possible that everything is absolutely fine, but if the parents haven’t brought it up to their pediatrician, I would encourage them to do so.
My D didn’t talk at 18 months except for a few words which really puzzled us because she obviously knew everything we were saying. She enjoyed being read to also. She too pointed and used basically sign language. I finally read in a book to quit responding to her. I realized I carried her around a lot and she didn’t have to use words because I did a great job of giving her what she needed without her having to ask. So next time she pointed at a cup for milk for example I just ignored her and pretended I couldn’t tell what she wanted. Within two or three days she was speaking in full sentences.
I agree with @gouf78. When my kids used to point, I would ask them to tell me what they wanted. I read if you make it easy for them not to speak(getting everything they need before they ask for it) then there is no incentive for them to speak.
If the pediatrician already suggested speech therapy then I would remind the parents to look into it.
Thanks, y’all. We’ll work on asking more questions and not jumping to anticipate needs and wants. I’ll wait until after the next pediatrician appointment to ask about speech therapy.
The only reason I was given for not looking into it was Covid. That seemed odd since the parents did a 180 on their outlook last year, bought into some conspiracy stuff and started going out to eat and doing other things that we find too risky. Maybe I can find some tele-visit speech therapy options.
@silpat you didn’t mention if the grandchild is a boy or a girl.
GD is very verbal, and early - but she still is not pooping in the potty (she turns 3 in early May). A friend’s grandson is 4 and not showing any signs of wanting to be potty trained, but he has a 2 YO brother that will probably train and then he will too.
GS is action - he is 14 months behind GS, with early July birthday when he turns 2. GS is making sounds with his mouth and a lot of imitating. DD is ‘working’ with him some. He may eventually have speech therapy (DD had articulation and speech morphology, later - pediatrician was looking for stuff happening between age 3 and 4). GS is not that interested in books either - it will hold his attention only a short time.
It turns out our Pediatrician and her MD husband did end up using a speech therapist with their daughter, after a period where they thought they could handle.
The school system here will evaluate and work with kids as young as 3 1/2. We had DD1 in private speech 2X a week, and with the pictures the speech therapist had, I could go over with her at home. We later had her evaluated by the school and she needed help with ‘speech morphology’ - a picture of a dog and a picture of a group of dogs had dog only said by DD. She had weekly sessions individually, so again I could work with her on the materials between sessions.
I would go by what Pediatrician says and thinks as primary input.
I am going to dig out DD’s speech therapy stuff. She can look at it with her son.
@Silpat Not that I think your grandchild needs speech therapy, but do know, there are therapist that are doing televisits. My DIL’s sister is a speech therapist in DC, working with primarily autistic toddlers and preschoolers. During the pandemic, she continued with her clients online and has been very happy with the outcome.
My daughter who is 3 year younger than my son, was not talking much at 2; her speech was mostly grunts and finger pointing. We did start therapy with her; I truly don’t remember for how long. Let’s just say buy the age of 4 we couldn’t shut her up! The joke use to be, we paid for her to talk this much! She did have auditory processing issues, but you would never know it; she used her other senses to get by. Like many parents, we compared her to our son who was speaking sentences at 18 months, and potty trained himself at 20 months.
Our pediatrician had a line we use often; it was said when I addressed a concerning about my son sucking his thumb at the age of two. He said, “He will not walk down the aisle at his wedding sucking his thumb, nor will his bride still be wearing a diaper.” Each child develops at their own speed, but that doesn’t mean one should overlook development they feel is lacking. It is a fine line as grandparents; I know my daughter would not take my suggestions as helpful; she would see them as criticism.
I’m afraid any suggestions made by us would also be taken as criticism. We may just try to focus on what we can do when babysitting instead.
I like the pediatrician’s line and wish I’d been told that when our kids were little, and maybe reminded during the teen years, too, about other developmental stages.
Thanks again. I appreciate all advice.
You’re really doing a great job supporting your grandchild. Your little one is blessed to have your loving care.
My sister-in-law is a retired speech-language pathologist. She shared this link:
https://kidshealth.org/en/parents/special-ed-support.html