Adjusted Age versus Actual Age

I'm going to take a minute and discuss adjusted age versus actual age. N and B are two months old as of yesterday. However, they were born at 35 weeks. That means that for the first 5 weeks of their life they really should have been growing in my tummy still. It is amazing how babies grow and develop and whether they do it inside the belly or outside there is a pretty specific pattern that they follow. They start breathing at certain weeks and start learning to suck and swallow at certain weeks. Brain development happens in certain stages as well (look up Wonder Weeks, it is fascinating!)

Adjusted age takes in to account that your babies were born early. N and B are considered 2 months old, but developmentally they are barely at 1 month old. This is so hard because it is difficult not to look at other 2 month olds and worry that your babies are somehow behind and for others to not look at your babies and worry about them being behind. It is also difficult because for an extra 5 weeks you are stuck in the newborn phase of eating every 2 hours.

Yesterday I took N and B to the Dr. for their 2 month check up. Our pediatrician always gives you a checklist that lists everything your baby should be doing at that time. On our 2 month old check list I could only check 2 of the boxes and I knew we had barely even started doing those two things. Even though I knew from research and the NICU Drs that this would happen, it was so hard not to be concerned (especially when your firstborn hit all the milestones early). Luckily our pediatrician is awesome and told me that we would go by their adjusted age to look at where they were at developmentally and that they are right on track. Thankfully, our Dr. said that usually babies who are born early catch up by 1 or 2 years old. He used an example of how if I was to walk into a preschool and look at a class or 2 or 3 year olds more than likely I couldn't pick out who had been born early and who was right on time. It is just going to take some understanding and patience as they develop.

So if you look at my little preemie babies who were sent into this world earlier than they should have been and they seem a little behind the "normal" child, that's because they are. And that's okay. They had to spend some time learning to breath and eat. And they will grow and develop at the rate that is right for them and this momma will just have to be patient and try her best to not look or listen to those around her and what they are doing.