Harry's fifteen month appointment was today. He is certainly a big kid -- 32 inches and 26 pounds 2 ounces with a 48 cm noggin. This puts him around the 75th percentile across the board, though I think he is actually longer than 32 inches -- for some reason, the measuring made him very angry and I think the nurse just wanted to get it over with.
Our doctor's daughter was born on Harry's first birthday, so she was on leave for his 12 month checkup. She wasn't expected back until January, but because the baby came early, her leave began early, so she came back early, so our appointment with the doctor we saw in September was rescheduled to one with her, which we were happy about. Then yesterday, we got a call that she was going to be out for the day, so we got rescheduled with some other random doctor. Let me just say that had we met with her when interviewing doctors, we would likely have chosen a different practice. I like our pedi because she's pretty laid-back and non-alarmist. Not so this woman.
So, though it bothers me a little, I have tried not to make a big deal about the fact that while Harry has a few words (and uses them a lot), none of them is mama or dada. And it's not because he has come up with some other thing to call us. He doesn't call either of us anything. He know both that the dog is dog and that his name is Buddy (or budzz, as it sounds coming out of Harry's mouth), but neither of us is worthy of a name. Again, it makes me a little sad, but I haven't worried much. Not so this doctor.
Harry has now been officially diagnosed as having a mild speech delay. Not just in their files, but in the forms for daycare. All because he only has seven words at 15 months and because none of them is mama or dada. She also made me fill out the M-CHAT, which seemed a bit aggressive, especially given my answers to her other questions (like that Harry is very affectionate, he gives hugs and kisses, he plays peekaboo, he pushes cars on the floor and says "vroom vroom" (rather than just banging them or spinning the wheels), that while he doesn't imitate words/word-sounds, he does imitate funny sounds). She also wanted to put him on antibiotics because he had some fluid in his ears, even though he is just getting over a cold and hasn't had a fever and while they were a tinge pink they were not at all red. I got her to agree to wait and see -- if he seems to be in pain or develops a fever, we'll call immediately; if not, we'll bring him back in two weeks for a checkup.
Does she seem very aggressive to anyone else? Or am I in denial?
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5 comments:
She sounds aggressive to me. I'd make sure that when you go back in two weeks, you see someone else. I'd cancel the appointment if they try to set you up with her again.
That does seen crazy to me. Not just as a parent but I'm in special Ed...early intervention and autism. Email me if you want. She was doing the standard screening that is now supposed to be part of the 15 mo check up but wasn't really allowing any room for interpretation
We just had our 15 month checkup, too, and yeah, that seems awfully aggressive. LL has somewhere around eight words. Maybe nine. Does "yay!" count as a word? :) He does say Mama and Daddy, but he often mixes them up and he sometimes uses them for people other than us. And he doesn't imitate words or sounds, either. And our doctor was not concerned AT ALL. Mainly because of all the social stuff (playing with people, playing with cars, peekaboo, making eye contact, etc.).
Also, fluid in the ears does NOT automatically mean ear infection. LL has had non-infected fluid in his ears, and they just gave us numbing ear drops to help with the pain. Even if they WERE infected, most doctors don't prescribe antibiotics unless it gets really bad. That's bizarre.
Part of me is kind of saying, well, no harm in keeping an eye on things, better safe than sorry. But yikes, that does seem unnecessarily alarmist.
She sounds crazy aggressive to me! Grace just had her 15 month check-up yesterday and they only asked us if she knew three words. Three is all she knows - and one of them is "uh-oh" so I am not sure it qualifies as a word. They weren't alarmed at all! HOpefully you can see your regular doctor again soon to discuss.
At our 15mos appt I pointed out that my daughter doesn't say mommy. She would occassionally say daddy but only in reference to his things, never to call to him. Her vocab was very limited in my opinion as well (I think I even blogged about it). Two months have passed and I can't believe the difference. I believe they like to see 20 words at 18 mos but as far as I know, they don't have a set number they want to see at 15mos. I agree that the ped sounds aggressive as well.
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