What to do if your child is slow to respond

In life, we often hear many parents say that their children are slow to react. If the baby is severely slow to react, it does not rule out the possibility that it is related to symptoms of mental retardation. Children with mental retardation may exhibit abnormal crying, sleep disorders, and even incoordination and dull expressions due to certain stimuli.

Symptoms of intellectual disability in children

1. Abnormal crying: If the baby cannot react immediately when subjected to external stimuli, but takes a long time to cry, or needs many stimulations before crying, it is a sign of developmental delay. And if the baby's cry is high-pitched and weak, it is abnormal. Some babies don’t like to cry, but being too quiet is also an abnormal state.

2. Poor sucking ability: The baby's sucking ability is reflected in the chewing ability and swallowing ability. If your baby learns how to chew food very late, has difficulty swallowing solid objects, or even retches, it is a sign of intellectual retardation.

3. Sleep: Parents also need to pay close attention to their baby’s sleep. If your baby sleeps for a long time every day and has difficulty waking up no matter how you call him, he may have intellectual disabilities.

4. Incoordination of movements: If the baby’s limbs are still not coordinated like normal people after 100 days, then the cause of intellectual retardation needs to be considered. For example, it is difficult to straighten the head, it is difficult to turn the head, and the eyes keep turning inward or outward.

5. Dull expression: Usually, babies with intellectual disabilities will not smile until they are over 100 days old, and their faces have no expression and look very dull. Moreover, they cannot smile naturally even when they are six months old.

6. Playing with hands: If the baby is still staring at or playing with fingers after six months, you should consider the possibility of intellectual retardation.

7. Slow reaction: Slow reaction means that babies over six months old still have difficulty concentrating, cannot observe objects moving in front of them, have difficulty facing the place where sounds are made, and even have difficulty turning over and sitting up without help from others.

8. Drooling: If your baby still drools frequently and grinds his teeth after waking up when he is seven to nine months old, it is a sign of intellectual retardation.

9. Unable to pick up things: If a nine-month-old baby still has not learned to use his hands to pick up things and has difficulty standing on his own even with the help of his parents, you should consider the possibility of intellectual retardation.