What does development delay mean and what to do

The delay in neuropsychomotor development happens when the baby does not start to sit, crawl, walk or speak, at a predetermined stage, like other babies of the same age. This term is used by the pediatrician, physiotherapist, psychomotricist or occupational therapist when it is observed that the child has not yet reached certain development parameters expected for each phase.

Any baby can have some kind of delay in their development, even if the woman has had a healthy pregnancy, a birth without complications, and the baby is apparently healthy. However, the most common is that this developmental delay affects children who have had complications during pregnancy, childbirth or after birth.

Developmental Delay Signs and Symptoms

Some signs and symptoms that may indicate that there is some delay in development are:

• Hypotonia: weak muscles and sagging posture; Difficulty holding the head at 3 months; Cannot sit alone at 6 months; Do not start crawling before 9 months; Do not walk alone before 15 months; Not able to eat alone at 18 months; Do not speak more than 2 words to form a sentence at 28 months; Do not control pee and poop completely after 5 years.

When the baby is premature, the corrected age up to 2 years old must be calculated to assess these parameters of motor development. This means that the baby should be born at 40 weeks, so if you were born ahead of time, you should calculate when the baby would be 3 months old, if he was born on the expected date of delivery.

For example: A premature baby, who is born at 30 weeks, despite completing 1 month 4 weeks after birth, actually should still be considered a baby at 34 weeks of gestation. This indicates that 12 weeks after his birth he is still not able to hold his head, because in fact his corrected age points out that he still does not have the 3 months of a baby that was born at the right time.

For the diagnosis, a medical evaluation is necessary, and it is important to know data such as: how was the pregnancy, delivery, the baby's first days, if there is any genetic alteration and for that, blood tests can be performed, or image such as electroencephalogram and computed tomography to observe brain changes that may be present, especially if cerebral palsy or epilepsy is suspected.

How to stimulate development

The child with developmental delay must undergo physiotherapy, psychomotricity and occupational therapy sessions every week until reaching the goals that can be sitting, walking, eating alone, being able to maintain their personal hygiene. During consultations, various exercises are performed, in a playful manner, to help strengthen the muscles, correct posture, stimulate vision, and treat reflexes and blockages, in addition to contractures and deformities.

Exercises that help stimulate baby's development

Check out the video below for some exercises that can stimulate the baby:

This is a time-consuming treatment that should last for months or years until the child reaches the parameters he can develop. It is known that genetic syndromes have their own characteristics, and that a child with cerebral palsy may not be able to walk alone, and therefore each assessment must be individual, in order to be able to assess what the baby has and what its development potential is and so outline treatment goals.

The sooner the baby starts treatment, the better and faster the results will come, especially when the treatment is started before the 1st year of life.

Possible causes of developmental delay

The delay in neuropsychomotor development can be caused due to changes that may have happened:

• In the act of conception; During pregnancy, malnutrition, diseases such as rubella, trauma; At the time of delivery; Genetic changes such as Down syndrome; After birth, such as diseases, trauma, malnutrition, head trauma; Other environmental or behavioral factors, such as malnutrition.

The baby who is born prematurely has a greater risk of delayed development, and the more premature he is born, the greater this risk.

Children diagnosed with cerebral palsy are at increased risk of developmental delay, but not every child with developmental delay has cerebral palsy.