1. Not grabbing:
My twins were born at 34 weeks and are 4.5 months old now. The weekly updates that I get from baby center suggest taht from 3 months plus itself a baby can grab something that you put in front of them. But my baby 1 can only recently hold something only right in front and then keep in mouth but does not try to grab from a little far too. The baby 2 does not even care if we keep something close to her eyes. Is this normal? Is there anything I can do to help them?

2. Holds breath
My baby 1 screams for everything like hunger , discomfort etc. and he starts with holding his breath and also turns blue for sometime. We try to blow air into his mouth and so but only after sometime he starts the scream. We are very tensed when he holds the breath. The ped. didnt have many comments on this, but is there anything I can do?

3. Stranger Anxiety?
My baby boy at 4.5 months seems to know the difference between people at home and outsiders. He cries after a min. when outsiders hold him. We didnt take them out much until 4 months. but is there anything we can do now, as I dont want him to be like that. He sometimes just seems to know by touch.

4. Height
My babies were born at 34 weeks at 17.75 inches height. During the 4th month appt, they were measuring around 24-25 inches. I see that they are shorter than other babies of their age. Is there anything we can do about it or just wait? The ped.s simply say their percentile and say they are growing so its ok. and they say they are not like premies but I can see the difference. Any suggestions?

Thank you.
Hetal replied. 1.at first babies milestones vary indvdually,,even though born together its not necc for them to follow the things together,,which i think is quite understood...and often amng baby 1 and baby 2, one of the baby excels milestones early,,because of some unknown reasons,,its quite a common thing seen in twins,triplets or more no of babies in same womb ! it all dpnds on during the pregnancy which baby was able to maximum nutrnts for its development from body,,even though in same environment,,and how far they were able to absorb those nutrnts...all you can do is : practice waving a toy from left to right,back and forth,,it will help him catch his attention,,thats all you can do as of now.. and yeah, take the toy that is black,or red or base colourr (avoid glittery things though)....this will grab his attn at once,,make it a playtime,,talk to him as much as you can..nothin soothes baby thn mothers voice..and it wil further help him to develop coordnatn with hands and eyes..if at all you are in US, baby gym are available,,which has toys hanging over the baby,,helps them to develop coordnatn with hands and eyes...its for babies from 2months and onwards.give it a try...

2.holding breath,,turning blue is sign of many reasons : 1.baby having heart problem,,considerng that your baby is 3months,,its quite rare to consider this as a possblty unless otherrwise while crying or turning blue his temp rises to 100 or above,,he coughs, and faints after such a shrill cry...
2.baby is hungry,,try to latch him.
3.some babies know it well that when they cry out loud, they get attn..even though 3months,,many babies get the idea and are just demanding,,so when he starts crying,,all you have to do is, talk to him with eye contact with 10-15cms close to your face,,show your expression that are calm and not panicky..this will soothe him ! also, changing diaper, sometimes beddng sheets,his clothes,rubbing his back up and down or giving a gentle pat,,some good music or you singing some song,,feeding and just wantd to be picked up triggers baby to cry...
4. holding a breath and crying out loud, and then turning blue, means that its getting hard for baby to cry now,,and that he cant bear crying nemore..just calm him with the things i mntioned above or relax him with light massage,,talks, some good soothing music,,since you are already babycenter member,,if you are paid member of babycenter, i recmnd you to watch the live videos on soothing babies..they are really good.your gettn panicky and start pumping air, will make him violent,,,

3.stranger anxiety ---- all you can do is, start taking him to places where there are lots of people around..however, viral infections and the season doesnt recmmnd it so avoid going to places where there are lots of kids, as of now ! kids are more prone to viral infection and there fore the chances of thr spreading virals is more than that of adults...adults know how to cough and sneeze and cover thr mouths,,while kids often dont,,,which makes your baby more prone to infections,,so take him to places wherre there are lots of adult people,,and best thing i would do is call friends at home,,often,,or visit them,,,have get togethers,,socialize more,,make sure to know about thr health first,,to avoid your baby from ne infections...since you are havng weekly updates m sure you must be knowng that stranger anxiety starts from now to until 2 years of life,,dpnding on how you expose your children to people...whnever, someone picks up your baby,,and if your baby cries,,see if your being absent works..sometimes with presence of mothers and father,,,babies dont want to be carried by others !! just be some 10metrs away,,but if he continues to cry,,take the charge ! dont let your baby cry out when it comes to stranger anxiety,,he needs you and you have to be there,,until he is able to stay alone with stranger.and keep trying,,talk to them,,say hello to your friend before your baby,so that your baby sees that you know this person,,smile and talk, and give hugs to your friends,,so that your baby knows okay if my mom is ok, i should be fine,,but this will work after 6months,,and not now..your baby is right now too young to understand the expressns,,unless otherwise they are made in close contact holding the baby !

4.about hght nothin much can be done.the hght,wght,body makeup, fat levels,head circumfernce all is decided in mother womb the day she has concvd...and it has nothing to do wth altogether development,,yes unless its a critical issues,,and if so, your baby might have been already diagnisd during the birth..sometimes esp when babies are born preterm, thr overall growth tends to be like premies, however, its actually temprary growth %.and they tend to change or excel later on dpnding on how they are growng...the low grwth % doesnt mean that babies are not growing well,,but wat matters is that they are following the same/constant growth % thru out their 1st year of life.which means that if your baby has % of lets say 25%thn its expectd that he doesnt go below it,,or excels it or goes with the same % thru out the year.
if at all your babies are perfectly healthy, thr hght is because of thr genetical makeup that might be from you or your dh or neone in your family..if they are not healthy and lets say having ne problems associated with bones or calcium,,thn therre is a reason why they are shorter or less hght..but all that is the later part of story,,unless otherwise your dr sees a negative growth or if you have complaints regarding thr stiffness in limbs, or legs during in activities,weak/fragile bones,signs of lack of calcium and so on..., he will not feel it right to get them tested..which i personally will also agree with !! just give them a test,,put the fingerr in thr palm,and see how good they are in holding your finger..try to pull it and make it a lil tug of war !! if you feel your baby is showing discomfort in holding your finger, or doesnt grip well, ask your dr about it.
so not much we can do,otherr than this,,,,give your babies comforting environments, start exposing them to people, or tv noise or lots of talks going around,,give them good massages to calmthem,,,and it should help your baby to have a postive overall growth !

hope this suffcs...