About Stevie

I wrote this as a reply to a friend's blog post regarding their little girl. Blogger told me I had exceeded the comment limit. :) So, I'm posting it here, changing the name of the child to protect privacy.

I don't consider Stevie as "special needs" (and hopefully won't) but this kind of regression isn't good, especially now that I've realized the source.

From comment:

Wow. We're going through something similar with Stevie, though we're starting to get worried. (Warning... long comment ahead.)

Before I say anything more (and end up frightening you), I personally knew a child who didn't start walking or even standing until 18 mos. She did both in quick succession and never had a problem with walking from that point on. Her mother worried a little but not much once she realized her daughter was still within normal developmental limits and didn't show signs of any other delay.

Now, our current situation with Stevie.

He didn't really ever crawl. He also learned to scoot on his bottom and used that as his primary means of getting around. About the one year mark for him, it looked like he was having some trouble but he could stand and even walk around holding onto something. My favorite memories of that time are watching him walk along holding onto the handlebars of a four-wheeled "bike" we have. And he would climb on the couch and crawl on occasion, though he didn't really like it, and would walk a few steps if someone held his hands. He also cried a lot and was more sensitive than any of our other kids (excepting Rachel and Sarah).

Sometime around 18 months, he still wasn't walking by himself. He also wasn't climbing up on the couch as much. He didn't even try riding the "bike" anymore. I tried getting him to walk by holding my hands and he would refuse, demanding I pick him up and carry him around (talking isn't a problem for him).

This kind of worried me, but Rachel was also delayed in walking and she didn't stand up on her own until she was about 18 months, didn't start walking on her own until about 2, and boys take longer so I thought maybe Stevie was just taking his own time on this.

A month ago I realized Stevie wasn't standing up anymore. He wasn't even using props and when I watched him try once, it was clear he'd lost muscle tone in his legs and hips.

I've also discovered that he's been having trouble with digestion. He's always been prone to infections of all sorts (I was pregnant with him during the foreclosure... a time when I had my hands full making sure everything Rob and I had worked for didn't fall apart... didn't take care of even the basics that I usually remember during my other recent pregnancies). Lately, he's been having trouble with reflux, bad enough that up until about a month ago (when we started treating it), it would wake him up at night. I'm guessing that his trouble with digestion and his lack of muscle tone are related, because I'm learning it's not just his legs that are effected. The only reason I haven't noticed his loss of muscle tone in his arms and trunk is because he really loves examining things and has forced himself to keep using his arms and remain sitting so that he can keep exploring. If his body is having trouble assimilating his food, then it would make sense that he would start to regress.

Stevie also still has a tendency to be very sensitive about... anything. :) He cries a lot as well and demands to be picked up instead of getting places on his own. I now see that he didn't want to use his muscles because he didn't feel the strength to use them was there. In my research, I found that crawling on all fours is how babies exercise their leg muscles. So, scooting on his bottom is a way for Stevie to get around using less muscle.

I don't want to scare you. I'm just surprised at the similarities and will be watching to see Aurora's progress. Also, I will start posting about Stevie on There and Back Again. We've started doing some stuff at home based on what we learned with Rachel and what we've learned about digestion, minus the speech therapy since he really doesn't need it.

Like I said, I don't want to scare you. If you feel there's nothing wrong, go with it. My experience with Rachel, Sarah, and now Stevie has shown me that mother's intuition is more correct than I thought.

Now, for the post proper. In the past month, we've starting using slippery elm and marshmallow root gruel (it tastes a lot better than it sounds... all the kids love it except for Rachel but it's expensive enough that we strictly treat it as medicine and give it only when necessary). The slippery elm/marshmallow root gruel has taken away the near constant diaper rashes Stevie used to get. It has also taken away his night reflux and seems to be helping more with digestion in general. However, he still has a delicate stomach. Too much laughter will give him the hiccups and whenever he gets the hiccups he gets very distressed, like he's about to throw up. So, unfortunately for his brother, no rough play... for now.

As for tinctures, we've been giving him a number of Dr. Christopher products. We've been using the Complete Tissue Formula in conjunction with Kid-e-Calc (apple cider vinegar based so that also helps with digestion) and, most importantly, Kid-e-Mins. Kid-e-Mins is like a child's version of VitalHerbs, a nutritional supplement very similar to the Superfood Rob and I take. It's a faster way of getting him the nutrients he needs than juicing (though I do that whenever I can as well... carrot juice mostly... especially since we've had a little trouble recently acquiring the Kid-e-Mins) and therefore makes his supplementation a lot more reliable.

As for exercise, I've been refusing to pick him up and carry him where he wants to go. If he wants to sit with me on the couch, I encourage him to climb up and sit next to me. Also, if he wants to be picked up, I tell him he has to stand first. Also, time in the high chair and any other sitting device has been severely restricted. He is never in a swing, only stays in his high chair long enough to eat and I have also been avoiding car seats and strollers whenever possible. If it were possible (and it just might be at some future point) I would replace the stroller with a sling as the sling encourages muscle movement, especially regarding balance.

The result in a month? He's tried crawling for the first time in about 3-4 months. His balance has improved to the point where I don't need to firmly hold his chest when he stands, though he still holds my arms for balance. He even takes a few steps. :)

I'm reading a book called Pediatric Physical Therapy by Jan S. Tecklin to see if I can find anything else that will help.

I'll post again in a couple of weeks about his progress and any changes/additions I make to his program. So far it's very encouraging watching things come back "online". :)

Update: I've noticed Stevie gets weaker when I use whole wheat flour. It's probably because it's so difficult to digest. So, we're using sprouted wheat with him this week. We'll see how that does him. We may end up having to do a sprouted grain diet like we did with Rachel and Sarah. Not too thrilled about that from a convenience aspect but it'll make it easier for all of us to focus more on a whole grain diet.