He fail his hearing tests... and this tippy toe thing

[daisy luv]

So my 9 mo old... 7 month adjusted, has his initial hearing test done. We have had a lot of health scares with this baby recently and I just could not walk into another doctor's office... which looks to have been a mistake. I didn't really expect them to be that bad. He couldn't hear sound that was audibly painful to my husband. Volume had absolutely no effect. Tone or rather pitch did... David, my dh described the first pitch he responded to as one that sounded like a referee's whistle. He said that Simon laughed when he heard it as though he had never heard it before. I found a play whistle here in the house and could instantly see what he was talking about. He thought it was the funniest thing ever... but if you moved it around he couldn't tell where the sound was coming from.

Like I said, this is the first appointment I didn't attend and it was the Audiologist's first day in this office and she was unfamiliar with the equiptment so she wasn't able to do an adequate and complete test on him, but what she did do was enough to frighten his father... and that says a lot. I am so agrivated! They set his next appointment for October 19th. I'm going to check our insurance and get him in elsewhere as soon as I can. His dad is calling the doctor and going to see if he can do some switching around... since a month in the life of a 9 month old baby... is a long time! He is babbling, that is a positive sign, right? We are not amongst many specialist so I'm grasping at straws to find another ENT... we may have to drive several hours.

This has me worried. He has also started this tippy toe thing. He's been trying to crawl. Brother has it down... Simon has been trying really hard for several weeks. He was rocking on all fours, and seemed to be right on the verge. All of the sudden in the last 2 days he has stopped and gone to his hands and tippy toes with his bottom in the air... and is failing miserably of course. I'm trying to bend him back down onto his knees and fold his toes flat when they start to tippy... but he is not going for it. Any suggestions? Should I leave him be? Think he will come around?

[Supercalafragilistic]

The fact that he is babbling is a VERY good sign! That means, that although he can't hear a lot, he is hearing some sounds and trying to imitate them.

Iwould definately try to get him in somewhere else sooner, though.
As for the tippytoe thing...I have no clue. :(

[WendyDixie]

I a not an expert but I would assume that him babbling is a good thing. Ari did this funny tip toe thing when she was learning to walk but I am not sur ethat is what he is doing.

[Ringlette]

I'm sorry you didn't get very good news today.:( I would definitely try to get him in somewhere else sooner. A month does seem like a long time. Although, I don't know what they do for hearing loss. I hope you can get some answers soon!

As for the tippy toe thing, I really don't know. One thing I did to help my girls learn to crawl, was to put a towel under their bellies and walk above them as I helped them move forward. I also had them rock on their bellies on a ball, so taht their hands and knees touched the ground. It was a special kind of really squishy ball, taht you have to inflate yoruself. I don't think I would worry too much right now though. They are only 7 months adjusted, and that's still fairly young to be crawling. My girls started crawling around 7 months, and they were considered early on most milestones. Maybe he's just frustrated with not being able to crawl and is trying out something different. Just keep encouraging him to crawl the right way, and he will get it pretty soon!

[Smidget]

oh hunny, i'm sorry that you got news you didn't want to hear...i definately agree that you find somewhere else to take him sooner. i don't know about the toe thing either, but i have seen kids crawl on their hands and feet rather than hands and knees...maybe he'll be one of those.

[Duck]

I'm so sorry about the appointment not going so well, but the fact that he's babbling is a good sign. As for the tippy toe thing (as wcdiaz25 said) is what the boys did when they were first learning to stand on their own / walk. I hope you can get a sooner appointment :crossed

[Super Goo]

I have to agree with everyone else about the babbling. Unfortuantely preemies are more prone to hearing loss :(

Grace did the tiptoe thing too, but she didn't even roll over until she was 8 months old :roll

[Pop Tart]

Daisy, I can't say much more than already has been said except that you're a fantastic mama :heart

[daisy luv]

Ok... so we called the ped and she skipped over that test and got him in for some type of brain wave test that is much more thorough. They'll sedate him and attach electrodes. It's scheduled for Oct 2nd... but we're gonna try to pull some more strings and get him into Children's Hospital in Little Rock... that's where we'll get referred after this test anyway according to my neighbor who is a speech therapist and owns a couple of the clinics here in town. She said just skip through the BS and go there if we could. She said the same thing... babbling is great, but we don't want to screw with any more of the developmental months.

I'm gonna try the towel thing with the crawling... that sounds like a good idea. David said he saw him crawl a few feet last night... I'm not convinced. All I see is the tippy toe shuffle. But we are going to get him in with an OT once a week anyway so we can keep up as much as possible until we figure this hearing thing out. I don't want him to fall behind his bro anymore than he has too. Not that it matters to me... I just think it will be hard on him. I already see him get frustrated that he isn't able to keep up. And maybe she will be able to teach he and I to do some things that will be just "his" thing, so he will feel like he has some uniquities... (is that a word) I'm sure they don't think that deep, but I do believe there is some part of him that needs some individuality and I need some assistance helping him figure it out. It might take some different toys with more lights and pullies than bells and wistles, lol!

[Mingle Bells]

Glad you got that appointment set up. I hope you can get in sooner at Childrens. I would try not to worry too much about the tippey toe thing right now. Some babies never crawl. They go right to walking. He might just be one of those.

[Free Bird]

I am sorry about the hearing test but it sounds like you are on your way to getting that issue addressed. I agree with Min on the tip toe thing. My oldest son never crawled, he just go tup and walked at 8 mo, then you have my 12 y/o son who only rolled everywhere he had to go. He made no attempts to crawl until he was 1, the ped wasn't concerned at the time, now I can't get him to sit still. Maddy used to do the tip toe thing to get around instead of crawling. She's 5 now and has no residual issues from it other than talkin gback but I don't think they're related. :shrug

If you're really concerned ask the OT at his next appt. Keep us posted. You are doing a great job Momma. :hug

[my2cutetwins]

Babbling is good. I am glad that you are being so proactive. No matter what the results are you will know that you are doing everything you can. Dd and ds were 10 weeks early. We gave ds crawling lessons. Much like described by pp. He was almost walking before he crawled. Dd crawled before she could sit up. Dd has had several hearing test. The tech makes all the difference. We have requested the techs we want now. She does much better with the playful, female tech than the more serious, older tech. Good luck, keep us posted.