What should I expect w/ this adjusted age thing?

hollerjeepgirl

I know it helps with milestones but I have other questions. DS is 8 weeks old, which is 2 weeks old adjusted age. Does this mean that when the bump tells me he's 8 weeks old, he's really going to do the things it says babies do for 2 weeks old?? He sleeps A LOT too, which is fine with me because I want him to finish developing. Do preemies start waking up a lot more? He stayed awake longer in the NICU than he does at home but I'm thinking it was because he was still hungry or needed to be changed and they told me not to bother him, just to let him rest. DH thinks adjusted age is a bunch of cr@p and that each baby is different so when he doesn't do things other babies "should" be it's because he doesn't feel like it yet (lol)

I just don't know what to expect with it. I know doubling birth weight is a milestone, at least I think it is. Just looking for clarification. TIA!

laragabrielle

Hi--

I have always used my baby's adjusted age when reading about milestones and tracking her development.  Our pediatrician does as well.  To me it makes complete sense because milestones are largely based on neurological development and when a "six month old," for example, is discussed in a development book, the underlying assumption is that that baby's brain has been in formation for 40 weeks plus 6 months.  We need to give our preemies those extra weeks that are assumed on behalf of full term little ones.  I have found that my baby tends to do things between her actual and adjusted ages--the social stuff is closer to her actual age since she has been "out" and interacting for longer and the gross motor stuff, for instance, is closer to her adjusted age because her body needs a certain degree of strength and certain neurological connections need to be in place. 

Your husband is right that there is a lot of variety among babies, but I'd definitely use adjusted age as your baseline.  I'd have gone batty and gotten stressed if I had expected my little one to do everything at her actual age!

 Hope this helps. 

 

Sweets2005

hollerjeepgirl:

 DS is 8 weeks old, which is 2 weeks old adjusted age. Does this mean that when the bump tells me he's 8 weeks old, he's really going to do the things it says babies do for 2 weeks old??

 Yep! Most likely he will be more close to his adjusted age in his development. I always went by my twins' adjusted age because they were always exactly 2 months behind in everything. Adjusted age is not crap, I mean when your son turns 30 you won't say yea but his adjusted age is only 29 years and 10 months! lol But you son will probably be a tad "behind" until around 18 months or so.

 

hollerjeepgirl

Great! Thank you ladies. I guess I want to know what to expect. He was in the NICU for 47 days so this is the first week home with us getting used to each other. He gets instantly calm when we hold him and pay attention to him and is starting to make eye contact, he just doesn't hold things yet

kar5162

It really just depends.  Some kids do things at their actual age, some at their adjusted, some behind and some inbetween.  The adjustment gets less important as they get older.  Term babies do things in a range though too.   I know a term baby who was sitting at 5 months, crawling at just over 6 months and walking just before 10 months - that's early!  Others sit at 7 months, crawl at 11 months and walk at 6 months and are perfectly normal.  Clearly preemies can fall on the same spectrum of timing too.

DS has been well ahead of actual on social for quite a while but is quite behind on gross motor.  Congrats on having an at home baby!

sucrets4

Yes, each baby is different and will accomplish things at different times, but he should take your LO's adjusted age into consideration.  Just because she was born early doesn't mean she should be expected to fall into the expected range of milestones for that age.  When she was outside, having to breathe and digest and do EVERYTHING on her own, she still should have been inside and just focusing on growing.

DD was 33w5d and has fallen in between her actual and adjusted for milestones.  I had a gut feeling she'd be slow in the beginning and then speed up, and I was right.  In general, try not to compare your baby to others.  Just enjoy him!