[carolinec]

we had a down's baby over the summer, right from birth. She was 6 days old when placed and 12 weeks when she left to be adopted. A was tiny, and had several heart defects, but none that you would know of. She ate great! had no low tone issues,and gained weight steadily. Early intervention was involved, but didn't need to do much with her. She was just above her age, for developmental abilities when she left us. She was vietnamese, so her down's features weren't that evident visually. See what his issues are when he comes to you and get involved early, with services for him. I think as with every child, there are similarities to children with this diagnosis, but no 2 children develop the same. Alot depends on environment, and services provided when very young, and continued. A was adopted out of state, but we have contact with her new parents and her heart defects, once thought that she would require surgery within her first 6 months, 2 defects have repaired themselves,and the valve surgeries have been put off until she is about 18 months old, if not longer. They are no longer as big of an issue they thought they were. She is 7 months old now, and developmentally, right on target, so have hope. Your little one could do just fine. Give them lots of attention, and make games out of playing to work tiny muscles and expect him to do fine. Treat him no differently than you would a "normal" infant, and if there are issues, you will deal with them and get past them. Just take it slow and you'll be ok.