Reddit mentions of Baby Music Shake Dancing Ball Toy, BPA Free Bouncing Sensory Developmental Ball for Boys and Girls

Wow - i didn't realize my reply would be so long, but i'm bored and work and to be honest, it was a little cathartic to write it all out....I don't mean to be intrusive or nosy or seem like i know everything, because that's not the case at all...i just think maybe by sharing our story it might be a little less scary for someone else!

Good luck!! It sounds like you're going through the EXACT scenario that we went through. We initially called early intervention at 10m because she was behind in gross motor (late rolling, not sitting up, barely crawling, not playing with toys in both hands, not babbling, feeding issues, etc). We ended up not going with EI because of their bullshit hoops we needed to jump through, so we started at a private place and we saw an IMMEDIATE change. She caught up so fast and that little push was just what she needed to help move past so many of her struggles...some of which i didn't even know were struggles until they were pointed out to me. Our PT is seriously an angel. Here are some things they told us from day 1. Disclaimer: I am NOT a doctor or therapist and i'm not saying you should do these things, but now looking back they seem so obvious to me and i wish i would have known much earlier in the game to help her catch up:

• lots and lots and lots of tummy time. spend and much time on the floor as possible
  
  
• get rid of any bouncers, walkers, bumbos, sit up seats, exersaucers, or anything that props the baby up. The toy does all the work so the core gets lazy. Obviously this is difficult if you have more than one kid or need to put the baby down and the floor is not optimal, so these things can be used but no more than 15 minutes per day or in 5 minute intervals. But baby wearing is much more recommended.
  
  
• Practice sitting up using the Boppy (the nursing U shaped one, not the infant lounger) with a toy in front, ideally something tall at shoulder/eye level so they can look straight ahead. Sit the baby on the floor and wrap the Boppy around their hips for stability.
  
  
• Practice sitting up by putting a push-walker or something in front of them that they can sort of lean forward on. This helps with keeping their butt/hips on the ground and using their hands instead of using their legs as sort of "kickstands". This helps with falling protection...it helps them realize their hands can be used with sitting up and they will learn to catch themselves if they lean to one side or the other. Our little one forgot she had hands and would use her face to break her fall.
  
  
• When you're holding the baby on your hip (assuming they have some core stability and can hold their head up), hold them from the bottom instead of around their waist. This forces them to use their core to sit up and balance instead of you holding them up. This one was huge because we also have a 2.5 year old so we hold her constantly and i would have done this from day 1 if i had known. Something so simple has such a major impact on development.
  
  
• The PT had us buy one of these to help strengthen her shoulder girdles. You kind of prop the baby up in a sitting position and have them hold this and it shakes as they're holding it. This helped with the rolling because she was stronger and could push herself past that point where she would get stuck on her side.
  
  
• I would say 90% of her therapy has been using a yoga ball and we do a lot of work at home with it. Basically you sit the baby on her butt on top of the ball and hold their hips and slightly roll the ball side to side and front to back where they're leaning and have to catch themselves and pull themselves back into a straight sitting position. We do this for as long as she can stand it and it was incredible to see her progress.
  
  
  A couple other things that I brought up during our eval that were concerning to me that you may want to look out for is babbling and eating solids. Our daughter wasn't babbling at all, unless in her carseat or high chair, so there was an obvious speech delay. It turns out (as i mentioned already) that it was because of the diaphragm issue, so it's gotten MUCH better now that she's engaging her core and much more mobile. We were told this was normal for preemies and that as the core got stronger, the speech would increase and it was 100% true. She's 15 months actual/13 months adjusted now and she's starting to say words. But this is something we're keeping a close eye on at the moment.
  
  Feeding - this was a big one because we started solids around 7 months actual and we had a lot of trouble with it. In hindsight, we probably should have waited a little longer, but it was more experimentation than anything. We started purees at first but noticed that the reflux increased with some things so we thought maybe a food allergy or too much acid or something, so i kept a close watch on what we gave her. It turns out it wasn't an allergy at all, but she was just eating too fast so it would come up as soon as she got back on the floor. Partly because she wasn't sitting and had a full belly and was constantly on her stomach so it was just getting pushed up...and partly because she was eating too fast and got a lot of air and would burp and spit up.
  
  Once we moved onto more solid pieces (puffs, yogurt bites, etc) she would start out eating fine and after about 10 minutes or so she would gag or choke and it would get worse the longer she would eat. It was scary because there were a few times where we had to flip her upside down and bang on her to get the food out of her throat. So i was ready to address that ASAP. Turns out the issue was nothing related to swallowing or anything...but because she was tired. Because she's sitting up in the chair, feeding herself, chewing, breathing, swallowing all at the same time, her core was working overtime and after 10 minutes or so, she would get lazy and stop chewing and then she would choke. Her eating improved ten fold as soon as she started sitting up. So we were told to feed her in shorter intervals, more times throughout the day and just experiment with textures and use our instincts. And were also told to take an infant CPR class just in case.
  
  So where we're at now, we are 3 months into therapy (we were 1x per week for 8 weeks and now we're bi-weekly) and she is exactly where she should be at 13 months adjusted. She's very close to walking independently (she's doing it along furniture and with a walker) and as soon as she gets to that point, we will likely graduate out of PT. She is eating anything and everything and is gaining weight like crazy and is now fully on whole milk. She went from 12m clothes to 2T/24m within a month and is now wearing size 6 diapers. To put it in perspective, my 2.5 year old is in size 6 diapers and in 3T clothes!