(I've also posted this in Tips section - thought I might get more responses if I post it here too)

I took my DS to his pediatrician yesterday and he tells me my DS's motor development could be better….. He said that he should be playing with his feet at this age (or at least his knees).

I didn’t think to ask him this so thought you might be able to help:

Do you think the cloth nappy prevents him from lifting his legs as it’s so bulky? When he’s naked or in a disposable it’s so much easier to lift his feet to his mouth. Maybe the cloth nappy prevents him from doing this! Just wanted to hear your experiences before I book him to see a physio (which we’ve been recommended to do).

I guess I wasn't aware that feet grabbing was a necessary milestone in child development? I guess I would tend to think some babies are feet grabbers and some aren't. I've known babies who wore disposables that didn't really ever show an interest in that. Maybe you could give your little one lots of nakie time to allow him to kick around (I know mine LOVES to kick as hard as he can at nappy changes!) and strengthen those legs...but otherwise I personally wouldn't think there is a reason for concern. But that's just my two cents.

I also didn't think it was an actual milestone, like crawling isn't an actual milestone, some babies crawl some just get up and walk one day.
I wouldn't worry too much and i haven't heard of any other mums saying that cloth nappies have given them any trouble.
Maybe try more nappy off time and see if this makes any difference. I personally wouldn't worry too much though. My DD started eating her feet about 7 months but lost interest quickly as she is crawling and getting into things. Is your bubs crawling around a lot??

edited to add - as your bubs was 10 weeks prem maybe he just needs a little extra time to catch up. This would only make him REAL age about 7.5 months wouldn't it??

This message was edited by saldal on Tuesday, 28 June 2005 @ 10:10 PM

My bub has never been really interested in his feet - and he's nearly 10 months old and was an early crawler, cruiser and now almost toddler

I agree that he needs more time being premmie...mine was 8 weeks premmie so you have to adjust for things like that.

and no....I wouldn't blame cloth nappies

We started Amber off in disposables and didn't change to cloth until she was 9 months. She was already slow with her gross motor skills at 9 months and showed no signs of crawling. She didn't crawl until 15 months in the end. So in our case I knew that she was just slow because she was slow, not because of the nappies she wore.

In the times that we briefly used posies like during holidays I didn't see any improvement.

Nothing wrong with her brain though :-)

Rachael