9.5 month old son twists/flaps hands

[purewater]

Hi all

My son has since a young age turned his little hands when excited or upset. He still does it, mainly when he's in his high chair and can see dinner coming his way. Or when he's upset and wants to be picked up.

Apart from crawling, he's bang on with his milestones. Has terrific eye contact, very smiley and lovely around people, and babbles continuously.

I guess I'm asking if it's normal for him to be hand turning/flapping at this age or should I be worried?

[Jenn1982]

Have you thought about sign language for communication until he can talk?

[StitchingMoss]

Totally normal IME purewater, lots of my friends kids did this when younger and have no developmental problems .

[wotabouttheworkers]

When I was a baby my parents called me The Penguin because I flapped my hands in similar circumstances. He cannot tell you he is pleased or excited so he is showing you instead!

[purewater]

Thanks all - thats v reassuring. I sort of know It's nothing but it's easy to start overlooking. Not sure why I'd want to think of sign language as a form of communication though....

[TheLaineyWayIsEssex]

My ds is also 9.5 months and has been doing this for a couple of months. We call it a freakout lol. He also gets his feet involved if he is extra excited and is normally couple with an open mouth. Too cute imo.
So in my experience it is totally normal

[4madboys]

VERY normal, my dd is also 9mths and does the same, especially when she is excited :)

she cant crawl yet, either, well she can but only backwards and round in circles

my other 4 did it also, so i think it is fairly standard baby behaviour :)

[andthisisme]

We used to call it "motorbike hands".

[survivingsummer]

My DS was famous for it at our baby group - he looked like he was going to take off when he got really excited! He still flaps his hands and shakes when he gets excited now and he's 7 years old

[emmyloo2]

Oh yes my 9.5 month old flaps his hands like nothing else!!!! He looks like a bird! He also kicks his legs at the same time. Always when he is excited. I assumed this was normal.....just his way of expressing his excitement. He is quite an active little thing so he is either flapping his hands or kicking his feet about 90% off the day....

[mumatron]

Yep, my dd2 does this. It looks like she's trying conduct an orchestra when she gets excited.

I thinks the poster above was suggesting baby signing instead of regular sign language. I had a try at with dc1 and it does work but I never really felt the need to keep it up tbh.

Google it for me info, I can't do links on my phone sorry.

[Arrogantcat]

What do you imagine could be wrong with him anyway? Don't most babies and young toddlers flap their hands when they're excited?

[purewater]

Arrogantcat, I don't know if most babies and young toddlers flap their hands when excited. THat's what I wanted to know. I'd read somewhere that it could be a red flag for ASD.

[Rhymenoseros]

my 13 yo DS still does it, and did it since birth. he has dyspraxia but i have no idea if the two are connected- some say yes some say no.

[slippy]

It can be a red flag for dyspraxia/ASD from what I have read but very unlikely to be a concern in isolation, especially given that his other milestones are bang on.

[purewater]

I'm ashamed to say I've never heard of dyspraxia. I try not to google. What is it? Should I now worry about that?

[Rhymenoseros]

its a delay in co-ordination, I am not for one minute suggesting your baby has it but the most reliable website i have found about it is www.dyspraxiafoundation.org.uk/index.php

[LucidaLupin]

"Not sure why I'd want to think of sign language as a form of communication though...."

Because babies are usually intellectually capable of clear communication, in very basic form, before they are physically capable of speaking. Developmentally they are in many (most?) cases able to recognise things, name them, request them, comment on what they see around them and so on some time before they have developed the muscle strength and dexterity needed to actually form words.

So if they learn baby sign language, they can "talk" to you much earlier on, which is a very positive thing, IMO. My DS loved watching a baby-signing DVD and learnt loads of signs that way, and it just gave us that extra window of communication before he started talking. (And didn't hold him back at all - once he could say the words, the signs just fell away.)

There are baby-signing classes all over the place, as well as the DVDs,and I think Jenn1982 was just suggesting that as your DS obviously uses gestures to communicate anyway, then it might be something he would take to and you could both get a lot out of, in the interim period before his speech develops.

[MissCKitty]

My 8 mnth DD does this too, when she is excited or if she wants to be picked up. I have never thought it was anything but normal behaviour. In fact i love it when she does it. It seems to be her way of expressing joy or happiness.

[NiecieTheTerminator]

My DS has dyspraxia and AS and didn't noticeably hand flap any more than completely normal DS2 at that age. The hand flapping only became a problem much later on (age 3+) when other children had stopped doing it but he carried on.

Hand flapping is normal at 9mths

[purewater]

thanks all, really appreciate the responses

[StarlightMcKenzie]

DS used to run a marathon with his legs, whilst lying on his back, and his arms would go too, from a very young age. He also had good eye contact and smiles etc.

He was dx with Classic Autism at 2.8. I can see clearly now that he was stimming.

DD never did it and she doesn't have autism.

I'm not suggesting your lo does have ASD, but nor would I rule it out.

[purewater]

Starlight - are you suggesting that since your son had good eye contact and smiles (which I would have known are classic red ASD flags), his movements with his legs and arms were the only possible indicators? I have read your post this way, as if there was no issue with his babble or speech or anything else? That it was just this that was, in reflection, a sign? I think it's perhaps important to distinguish this - because having now done a lot of reading, it is quite common in a lot of babies and children without leading to ASD

[emmyloo2]

Is the running legs and hand flapping a sign of autism at a baby of 10 months? I assumed it was normal....my DS does both but has very good eye contact, smiling, babbles constantly etc...

Now I am confused and/or worried.

[purewater]

Yes, Emmyloo, I'm confused too. I have the same sort of response to Starlight's post, which is why I've questioned it. In my experience, your baby sounds totally normal. I do feel frustrated when talk of personal experience around ASD red flags is banded around very easily - I think there needs to be a lot of care. That's why I've asked Starlight to be more specific, as I don't feel her original post is helpful to anyone on this thread, if you want the truth