Head control

Have a wee four month old boy. He is an amazing little guy and the best thing that has ever happened to me and my husband.

He is social, smilely, talking (ga, goo, ma, moo etc). He holds toys, puts them in his mouth, holds things up to look at them. Reaches out to the side to get toys (not rolling tho). He can lift his entire pelvis off the ground to kick toys above him on the play gym and get half his foot in his mouth. =)

What he doesn't seem to have is great head control. Up on my shoulder it seems okay, however when he is held "sitting" on my lap after a feed it still bobbles around quite a bit and if you move him at all quickly it wobbles heaps. He can only just lift it off the ground on tummy time (of which he has a LOT of tummy time to help) When he is pulled to sitting by his arms it still has a wee bit of lag.

Have seen my doctor and a paediatrican about it who have both said it is probably related to his big head (98th percentile) which is a familial thing both me and my husband had it too. He had a head ultrasound for this which was completely normal. They say he has normal tone and development other than the head control, and at this stage they will just watch it and if it hasn't improved by 5 months look into it more.

I am a first time mum (who does tend to worry too much!!) but am just wondering if anyone's bubbas were like this? And should I be worrying? All the books suggest they should have head control by now.

TIA

The 98th%ile makes sense to me, Lily had a small head and had great head control by 6-8 weeks.

No advice sorry.

That sounds normal to me, however I would not be pulling him up to sitting by his arms- it is really bad for their backs and arms, and you can stuff up the way the muscles work.

Just to clarify, I'm not concerned with sitting as a milestone. I just meant that when he is held upright like when I burp him in a sitting position on my lap that his head control is not great.

Re the pull to sitting I have been told by the paediatrician that this a good exercise for my son to help strengthen his core and neck muscles. Also have been shown this exercise by my local plunket in the moving and munching course..

I suppose I'm just hoping to hear that there are other mum's out there that have had bubbas who have been slow to gain head control and that I'm worrying needlessly I suppose.

Thanks to those that have posted so far

Also was he prem or on time?

A lot of babies have head lag when pulled up by the arms from laying down at 4 months, until their muscles strengthen and they don't have head lag and it doesn't flop forwards/ backwards/ side to side.. In fact i haven't come across a baby can hold their head up when pulled from laying down on their back. at 4 moths old. If you do this exercise you need someone else to support their head and guide it up. So it is done correctly.

The book by Robyn Crowe and Gill Connell "Moving to learn" may be helpful with excerises to do to encourage upper body strength page 103 may be helpful. i recommend this to all parents it's a fanastic book and NZ too.( I'm an ECE teacher who works with babies.)

hope that helps!

Edited by LJsmum

Aww! Claim it as mum

Umm, can't think of anything else, I know Plunket recommend lots of tummy time but my girl hated it so lots of time on the floor, even on his back and just put things around him that he has to turn and move his head to look at can be helpful too.

He's probably just on the slower end of normal head control, but it's always a worry when it's your own bubs!

DS is 4 months old as well, and his head control is so-so. Sometimes it's great, then it flops, lol! He HATED tummy time, so I'd do some (even though as soon as I lay him down he'd plonk his head down and suck his hand, no lifting his head!) but after every feed I put my foot on the couch, knee in the air and "sit" him on my knee so he is level with my face. That's helped a lot with his head control I think.

that's awesome! Flying like superman is such a dad thing ah? My Dh did that when our boys were similar age, flying them around the house so cute! As you said great for neck/head control.