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Zuzu

Female
4 years

When and why did Neera start to feel concerned about Zuzu's health and development?

I distinctly remember leaving a message for my pediatrician after Zuzu's 8 month appointment because I had forgotten to mention that she wasn't babbling. She's my second child so I knew that the expression of noise was very different than babbling. My pediatrician said to "wait and see" and that maybe her bilingual environment contributed to some form of 'normal delay.' I took her advice and kept an eye on it. I got most concerned when Zuzu was 15 months old. A family member wondered why her face was asymmetrical and that tipped me over to decide to go to a neurologist. I was already aware - and concerned - that she was behind with walking and talking, and this seemed like yet another issue (incidentally, I didn't notice the asymmetry myself!) To be honest, I had somehow convinced myself that she probably had an issue but that the issue wasn't serious. After all, there are a thousand reasons why a child would be talking late and I figured it was mild. My mind didn't put all the symptoms together b/c I guess I was in denial about the bigger picture - it's hard to see that there's something wrong with your child. Eventually, by 18 months, I finally 'saw' that all these small concerns might actually add up to something more important that I had been missing.

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