15 Month Old Has Low Muscle Tone

J., you're doing the right thing by consulting and getting an assessment w/ ECI. My son had some physical and speech limitations that I noticed at 1yr. and Brighton (ECI in San Antonio) came in and evaluated him and immediately started him on occupational and speech therapy. He has since moved onto speech therapy at the public school that he will be attending next fall and has not needed occupational therapy for over a year. He is doing great and hardly anyone notices words that he doesn't fully enunciate. He sounds like any other American w/ lazy speech. Only his daddy, therapist, and I know recognize the difference. You will receive valuable help from ECI whether your child has an actual diagnosis or not. Take advantage of it. The therapists will tell you how to work w/ him on your own time and they will also provide emotional, support to all your family. All the therapists who came into our home became like family. Their concern extends to all members of the family as they recognize that family dynamics affect the progress of your child.
Good luck and remember that action lessens worry.
L.

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Hi! My daughter at 8 months was not wanting to lay on her stomach or even getting on knees to crawl, seems like she wasn't meeting her milestones after 6 months. During that time she got a staph infection and was hospitalized, when she was on her back I noticed that her eyes would look one way & then come back straight at me, it would happen once in awhile but enough to have me wondering what was going on with her. After she got better I noticed she wasn't sitting up like 6 months or over would & had no strength in her legs, like you said a rag doll is what she felt like. I took her to her 8 month check up and the ped. recommended that I consult with Easter Seals an early intervention program for infants up to three years old. They came out to my house and the the cognative and strength testing on her, they noticed she had very low muscle tone in her legs and begin from there for 1 year. It was tough not seeing my baby progress like other children but I had to know for myself and of course her wellbeing. During a visit they could see the concern in my face and recommended that I have an MRI done on her and I did, everything came back normal, Thank God!! I slowly started seeing progress with the therapist but mostly with me on our own. The therapist could see that my little girl was able to do things but just was being lazy an wanted to do it at her pace. Needless to say after all my worrying and testing I have a healthy 3 year old and you probably wouldn't believe all of the stress and worry I went through with her but it was all worth it. Their was never a diagnosis for what she was going through just a healthy baby going at her own pace. Hope this helps! Also, reading on the inernet does not help at all, your mind will go crazy and you'll find yourself thinking the worse, leave it all in gods hands and do what you feel is right for your child, it is true every child is different and grows differently. Have a blessed daY!

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When my twins were little, one of them had a 'ragdoll' like feel when I picked him up. I could always tell which baby I had in my arms, even if it was dark and I couldn't see him. As he got a little older, he still had that same feeling, and he was late to walk. (they were born at full term) He was 18 months before he started walking. Now he is 14 and he does have problems with weak ankles. He sees a podiatrist and has shoe inserts that really help. Without them, he trips and falls easily. But for the most part he is healthy just like his brother.

As far as the speech thing goes, you are wayyy to early to start worrying about a speech problem. It sounds like he is doing just fine in that department. Just continue teaching him and watching him grow.

Follow the advice of your pediatrician and the ECI person.

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Hi J..

I know how you feel. I've been there too...actually I'm still there. Getting involved with ECI is absolutely a necessity. There are all kinds of therapy available for your son. He’ll be evaluated for the need of Physical Therapy, Occupational Therapy, and Speech Therapy and he’ll probably qualify for all of it. I would advise you to investigate the facilities in your area for HIPPO Therapy. Hippo Therapy is great for Low Muscle Tone and I know your son would greatly benefit from it. HIPPO is horseback riding. He would be fitted with a 2-handle belt and put on the back of a horse that’s led by a leader with a side walker on each side to support him. HIPPO is great for trunk control as well as other gross motor development. Look into it. Ask your PT and your Pediatrician about facilities who offer it. My son has greatly benefited from it and he loves it. He actually rode in the annual “Rodeo” in October.

We never like to hear that something is “wrong” with our children. This is a big deal and I feel your pain. Just know that although it seems like your world is caving in, LMT is not as bad as it sounds and it can be rehabilitated. You are doing the right thing by getting the help for him early on.

God Bless You all.

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I have a son with special needs and his diagnosis came around age one, but we knew something was wrong starting around 4 months old. I won't give you our entire saga because it sounds like your child's situation is quite different (his speech sounds pretty close to "on track", for instance). Low muscle tone is something you will want to get help with from both occupational and physical therapists. ECI helped us and were really great, so I hope your son qualifies and you get the services he needs. Often times the low muscle tone can affect eating and speech (we have muscles in our face, after all!) so he may qualify for speech therapy even though he's "talking" and babbling on his own.
My gut instinct tells me you may want to look around for a new pediatrician as well. Even if your son does not have long-term muscle problems, he certainly needs help for now, and this doctor telling you "not to worry" isn't facilitating you in finding ways to help your child's development. The earlier you start helping a child who needs help, the faster they typically respond. This is not about worry or looking at all the things it could be, this is about taking what you know about your son and helping him the way he is right now to do the things he needs to do . He may need a year to learn to walk or he may start walking tomorrow, but you need to know you did everything you could to help him .
There are lots of levels of feeling parents can go through when they have a kid who's different. ECI can share local support groups with you if you need them.
Let me know if I can help or just listen. Don't give up, your care will really benefit your son's development.

My daughter was 18 months when she walked. I had ECI come to the house every week for 5 months. She did not have low muscle tone but I had the same fears you do. I do not have any advice but I want to tell you she is 4 years old and is no different than any other kid. Some things just came slower to her when she was younger. I hope this makes you feel better. I think the hardest part was watching all the other kids her age do things she could not. She sat up late, never did crawl...but no one would know that now! Good luck!

You may seek the advice of a physical therapist or a developmental pediatrician. The internet is a scary place. Raising children is a scary job and as moms we worry. You are normal. Trust me, I am a basket case, my kid has autism and i worry too much. Good luck. Both of my boths (one with autism and one neurotypical) both were late walkers. If you used those walkers or an exersaucer a lot as an infant, it can also delay walking. Deep breath.... physical therapy will help find an answer and get him treated.

J.,
I just wanted to chime in and say that I have been in that place of complete worry and fear for the worse... and although the internet can be scary, it has been a great source of information and support for me. Neither of the twins have low muscle tone, but they are 19 mos and still not talking... no words... they will start seeing an ECI rep this coming Monday, so I'm looking forward to learning how to help them along. The oldest of the 2 was in PT for torticollis until he was walking at 13 mos... it becomes a part of your daily routine; the exercises or whatever the pt suggests you do... but if you stick with it, you too will see great results. Just remember that you are a great mom for noticing the problem and getting him help to address it... he is so young that I'm sure you will see great improvement. I would suggest looking for some sort of online support group to ask questions and get feedback from other moms. It's hard when you feel like you are the only one, I know. Also, as you think of them, write down any questions you may have for the therapist or whomever you will see. Then, after they are written down, try not to let them worry you until you are able to get them answered... it's not always that easy, but it really helped me when my mind was racing over the unknown.
Best wishes to you and your little guy,
S.
Katy, TX

J.,

P.S. -- I sent you a private message before I read the other public messages and wanted to reinforce the idea that , with attentive speech therapy, it's never too early to start working with your son. Some of the others say they're not worried but, in hindsight, I can see where I saw the signs and was worried but didn't act and that it did negatively affect my daughter's development - if I had moved earlier to act, I could have avoioded such an intense period of therapy and kept my job, etc.

What ECI does is to assess the child's needs and then they *train you*, the parent, to address his needs. This is the critical part to realize as they only come for an hour or so a week whereas *you* are with the child constantly. As I said, I quit my job (single parent, no child support) and I spent a very intense year and half levelling my daughter and dealing with the physical issues before feeling that she had finally made it over the hump - I know that the sooner you start, the more likely your son will have developmental success, and for myself, I didn't want her to carry any 'scars' into her childhood or have any further or additional developmental delays.

Good luck and blessings to both of you!

L.

Hi J.,

I have a special needs daughter who is now 8 and doing awesome. You're doing the right thing by bringing in ECI---they can really be such a great resource and ask them as many questions as you have. Who is your ECI provider. Brighton was ours and I have to say they are awesome!

This may be a long term thing but then again it may not. Don't worry, it will be okay. Work closely with your Pedi. & any other specialist needed, including ECI.

I know it is overwhelming, but it will be okay.

Good luck,
D.

Well i don't know much about the low muscle tone. I just know that children are different. Some start to walk at 7 mnths and others as late as 18 mnths. Usually Pediatricians start to worry if it goes beyond 18mnths. As for speech some some babies know how to say certain words one day and the next they say it differently the next. I have a 16 mnth old girl and she started to walk last month. She says mama and dada and bye and hi but sometimes her hi sounds like di. she also used to know how to say thank you and peek-a-boo but now she can't say thank you and peek-a-boo sounds completely different. For some its hard to concentrate on both speech and learning to walk. It gets tricky for them. Don't worry too much hey.

Good luck with the follow up appointments

J.,

Don't be so concerned about his speech. My son is 2 yrs old and still has a minimal amount of words that he says. He talks baby talk, but who knows what he's saying. He has been set up to be seen by a speech delay therapist, but it seems like since his last doctor visit when she asked about his vocabulary, he's picked up on his talking.

When my son was about 4 months, we purchased a jumperoo at Babies-r-us and he loved jumping in that thing so much that his legs got muscular and shapely. I don't know if you have anything like that for your son, but maybe it's something to consider to help him build up his muscle on his legs. It's just a suggestion.

I hope all works out well with everything.

Texas Mom,
E.

As far as talking, my youngest didn't speak clearly until he was almost 3 1/2 year old! I think the younger kids in a family are lazy with speak because everybody wants to please the baby. So everyone tends to coddle them by just getting the item they are pointing at instead of making them ask for it. Make him say the word of the item he wants, if he points at juice have him try to say it. Muscle tone is a different issue. They need the right kind of exercise just like adults. Ask the PT what to do. If they are not forthcoming w/ info then do it yourself. Find seats that make him sit up and balance his head. that is the biggest hurdle to walking. God gave us these big melons perched on top of a toothpick. Good luck to you.

You don't say how large he was when he was born. My middle nephew was rather large and seemed to have a difficult time developing adequate muscle tone to keep up with his size. He was actually closer to 20 months before he started walking. Now, at 7, he is the athlete in the family. Remember that 18 mos is still within normal range for walking. It sounds like he has roughly the amount of words a pedi is looking for at the 15 month well visit. Is he focusing on any particular skills right now? Babies really can't multitask when they are working on a major milestone. For example, when my twins decided to focus on walking, their word acquisition dropped to almost nothing. By that I mean they kept the words they had (all 3 of them), but didn't add any.

It looks like you have gotten a lot of good advice, so I'll be brief. My husband does pediatric orthotics (bracing) and that might be helpful in supporting his feet and ankles. He would have to be evaluated for the best solution, but he could help decide what he needs for shoes and extra support if necessary. We are both physical therapists, too so I understand where you are coming from. His office is in The Woodlands and it is called Hope for Kids. His work number is: ###-###-####. Let me know if you have any questions. :)

I am curious how you got to ECI. Was it recommended by his physician, did you look into it yourself?

My little one has low muscle tone in his trunk (13 months old). This resulted in him maintaining a military crawl, dragging his belly across the ground and not getting up on hands and knees, not being able to sit up on his own, and delayed speech. At his 1 year check up, his ped talked with me about having him evaluated to see if there were exercises I could do with him to catch him up. She said she wasn't worried at that point, but it might be helpful.

He has had a few physical therapy sessions (4 total so far) and yhe PT gave me some exercises to do with him at home. I have seen tremendous improvement! He is also starting to speak more and finally said "mama" this past weekend (sweetest sound I ever heard!). He has been saying dada for a while, but no m sounds.

The low muscle tone in his trunk is apparently associated with some delay in speech(which surprised me at first, but made sense once they explained breath control, etc.). He will be meeting with a speech therapist starting next week.

I was not and still am not too worried, but I wanted to nip any problems in the bud so I wouldn't have need to worry and my son wouldn't need to struggle down the line.

My suggestion to you is to get specific information from the therapist (what shoes, where to get them, what exercises you can do with him at home) and to look into some sessions with a professional--through ECI or not. My pediatrician gave me some great places to try in the Houston-area and I am happy to share if you need/would like.

Good luck, and don't go searching around randomly on the internet--it is a truly scary place! If you are given a diagnosis, then by all means search out the info from reputable sites. Let your therapist be your guide on this.

I agree with the others on the speech. I have a 21 month old and he still isn't too interested in saying words correctly. He will talk in his own due time.

J.,
I have been through that with one of my 5 children. Do not worry this too will pass. I never read the internet especially for health related things due to causing unnecessary fear and concern.

My daughter went through ECI, all therapies (physical, speech, occupational) at the age of 18 months. She was not walking well at that time and if she did walk she constantly looked like a drunk on legs! Falling for no apparent reason.....We have all kinds of tests done on her and seen every kind of doctor known to man. All they could come up with was low muscle tone.

The low muscle tone affects every aspect of your body from head to toe. Her eyes would bounce, but not very often, she had extreme acid reflux due to the muscle of the stomach not being "worked out" because of the low tone. Her walking was delayed. Her speech was delayed. They did eye and hearing tests, MRI's, we saw neurologists, they wanted her to go to a psychologists! I thought she can't even talk, what would she say or do there!?!?! It was crazy.....

After intense therapy at Texas Children's she still has what I call "kinks" we are working out. She turned 4 in August. She is much better now, but it takes a lot of time and patience. You have to commit to working with this as if it is a job that must get done. I just wanted to make sure she would catch up with other children by the time she started school. They will be clumsy and it intensifies when they go through a growth spurt, but then will even out as they "readjust" again.

I do not know if this helps at all, but you are more than welcome to email me personally at:

____@____.com

Muscles do tone up with time, so please do not worry!! Like I said before this too will pass!

M.

I have never had to deal with the "ragdoll" feeling, but he is fine with his speech. My nephew was almost 3 before he started talking. He started late, and my neice started early (she wasn't even 2). My nephew is about to turn 5 and he's just now talking well enough for me to understand what he is saying. However, my neice who is about to be 4 can talk my ear off.

Hi J.. My son was with ECI for almost a year for low muscle tone. They did stregnthing exercises with him like just giving him resistince when he goes too pull up you pull away.. and now i have a special needs daughter and they have worked wonders with her. She still cant pull too stand or push too sit but the fact that she can even sit to begin with is great. SHe wasnt able to do that until whe was almost 10 mths old. Just be patient and work with him as much as you can with the exercises that they recomend. O and my daughter is in the striderite hightops shoes.. and they HELP soo much!!...not sure if i gave any good advice but i hope this helps a little

J.

I have a 23 month old little boy; when he was 14mo old I took him into his pediatrician and he was diagnosed with hypotonia a.k.a low muscle tone. We orginally thought that he was just moving at his own pace bc he was a big boy (tall and upper end of weight scale) but I finally went to the dr bc something just wasn't adding up. After the pediatrician diagnosed him, he suggested we meet with a pediatric neurologist and a child development specialist. We met with a neurologist at TX Childrens and have had multiple tests run. EEG, two MRI's, hearing, sight and vision tests as well as genetics testing. Everything came back indicating that our son was just fine and to this point there is no none cause for why he has low muscle tone. Per recommendations of the child dev specialist we began physical, occupational, and speech therapy when my son was 15 months old. We go to therapy each week and my son has made progress. Has it been slow - yes, but it's progress and it's great to see. I think my son's case is a more "advanced" if you will, as he is now almost crawling and his vocabulary consists of "mama" sometimes. He makes lots of sounds. His eating habits I thought were quite picky; however I learned that bc the muscles in his face were not as strong as they should be, it would make eating solids difficult. Sounds like common sense but I just couldn't imagine the depths of his situation. He has always loved crunchy things, but soft or gooey got horrible reactions. The child dev specialist also advised of programs such as ECI and other programs but said she's seen the most progress with taking children to therapies. I know this is alot of information and I don't know if it helps or not, but I'm someone out there in a pretty close situation so if I can help at all, I'm more than happy to (you can email me directly at ____@____.com). A positive note - my pediatrician had said that he had a family of four boys, each one had low muscle tone as a child and now they are all hockey players. This is not "forever" for our children, they just need some extra help. Other than the low muscle tone, my angel boy is an incredibly sweet, happy, giggling little boy that is my whole heart.

Get him an attractive push toy that he would have to stand up to hold on to and push around. That always encouraged mine to try. He will only be able to do a little at a time until he builds up some muscle. But, keep encouraging him to do so.

Anytime that there is anything "wrong" with our little ones we have a tendancy to panick. At this point there is no reason. When the therepist return they will give you excercizes that you can do with your little one to help builing up muscle tone. If they don't then ask for a therepist that will. Don't be afraid to stand up for your and your son's rights.
http://www.shareyourstory.org/webx/.ef57a9f
The above website offers some encouragement as well as some honest truths about what you will face in your journey, It is a site a lot like this that is just a bunch of moms supporting each other. I wish you and your little guy lots of luck and I know that he will be zipping around in no time!

It doesn't sound like speech is the issue. My daughter didn't start speaking until she was about 20 months old. What it sounds like your son needs is physical and occupational therapies to work on gross and fine motor skills.

Do you have a jumper. Like a jumperoo? I think that helped my son build muscles. You need to make sure your son isn't too tall for one though. Some have height adjustments and some don't.