If your child has Autism, what were they like as a baby ?

[Elmo311]

Hi everyone,

I hope you don't mind me asking you all this question!
I'm just wondering because my daughter is almost 10 months old, she's got allergies and a few other things going on, but the reason why I'm asking is because she-

• Doesn't laugh - she has occasionally giggled for one second but then that's it. She smiles a lot though and has great eye contact.

• She is very quiet and serious. People always comment that 'she's such a good baby!' Because she's so quiet.

• She doesn't crawl yet, or show any interest in it. (I know all babies are different)

• She does not babble.

She has started to clap and wave, which is so cute to see!

The main reason I ask is that it has been mentioned by our paediatrician/ SALT / Dietitan, that she could have a global delay or Autism.
Obviously I know that she is very young, and there's no way she could be diagnosed at this point. I'm just curious to know if anyone else's baby presented the same!

I'm more 'tuned in' to these things because there is only 10 months between her and her brother, who never stops laughing and met all milestones as they came. So if I didn't have him I may not have been aware that she's a little different!

Love her to bits though, but I do wish she'd laugh!

Interested to hear from anyone!

Thanks 😊

[DefConOne]

My DD was nothing like this at all but it's such a wide spectrum. We though ADHD as she was a poor sleeper and always on the go. No communication problems and hitting all milestones. They are all so different though. Hopefully someone else can advise. Have you tried the Mumsnet SN boards? Lots of helpful people there.

[Elmo311]

@DefConOne Hi, thanks for your response!
I guess that time will tell (hopefully). I have tried the SN board but no one responded :(

Don't know where else to ask!

[Babydevelopment1]

My daughter has autism, she never waved, clapped or pointed. Her eye contact was awful. She was always content to play by herself and never tried to engage anyone in her play. She did have babbling but by 13 months she lost all her sounds and was literally mute. She was never interested in children she’d never look at them or seek to play. Looking back there were so many red flags but I didn’t see any of them.
She’s 4.5 now and is still non-verbal but she is making great progress, with therapy and work she had become much more engaging and is currently being potty trained. She’s going to school now in September and uses a communication device.
I’m not saying your child has autism, it is such a wide spectrum and please don’t dwell on it just enjoy your baby. I thought autism was like the end of the world for us but it’s not, our little girl has just progressed at her own pace and is doing great.

[Arhumuk]

@DefConOne if she was hitting all her milestones what developmental impairment prompted an assessment for autism?

Just asking as I'm curious asi thought it's a pervasive disorder?

[DefConOne]

Arhumuk she was always very strong willed and 'spirited'. Didn't respond to discipline and ran away from us a lot. Very good imagination and loved playing with others but on her own terms. Would need down on her own from her friends at nursery. Sensory issues from very young age, very distracted, poor sleeper, loud noises resulted in melt downs.

All fell apart first term in primary but we got blamed as poor parents until perfectly behaved child number two started school. Wandering around class room when every one else working, melt downs if someone else touched her while sitting on the carpet, throwing things round the class room and screaming. Teachers didn't understand because she is so articulate so thought she was choosing to behave that way. School were useless so I went to the GP when she was 6 convinced it was ADHD. Diagnosed with ASD (would have been Aspergers under old criteria) at age of 8.

She has PDA (pathological demand avoidance) profile of ASD. Now in year 7 and finally found a school that understands.

[tostaky]

Such a great story Defcom - O am glad to hear she is happy in Y7!
She sounds just like my Y6 boy who has a diagnosis of ADHD but professional keep commenting that he doesnt look "ADHD"!
Unfortunately we are still seen as bad parents at school despite two very well behaved younger siblings... DS1 is so bright they cant understand the bad choices and behaviours

[Arhumuk]

@DefConOne thanks for the response. Interesting because I've read so much but actual accounts occassionallyseem to contradict what's out there as information.

So what about pointing. Was she pointing before or at 18 months to request and share thing? It seems that this is supposed ti indicate autism if not present by the 18 month mark.

Also motor skills any indication of delay uneven gait or poor balance which is usually associated with aspergers. Or poor fine skills like holding a pen by 3.

Hope you don't mind me asking just trying to educate myself so much BS online.

[Bee2828]

My son is 8 and has autism.

I didn’t notice at the time as a baby but there was subtle signs.

He was a dream baby. He never cried, never wanted picking up, slept through the night (this has changed now 🤣), he never made eye contact and would be fascinated by lights.

It was like he was in his own little world.

But he was an extremely happy and giggly child (still is). He would laugh at absolutely anything! Even now he still doesn’t take things seriously!

He didn’t clap, wave or point until about 18 months til 2.

What you are explaining sounds very much like my daughter who does have not have autism. She smiled but never laughed. She was an extremely serious ‘miserable’ baby. You wouldn’t think it now though. She’s 4 and such a giggler. I do believe she was just busy talking the world in. She’s also absorbed everything around her whereas my son wouldn’t take any notice to what’s around him. She didn’t crawl until a year old. She wasn’t much of a babbler either but she’s doing great at 4 and has settled into school wonderfully despite being late meeting some of her milestones.

It’s a good sign your daughter is waving, pointing etc and making good eye contact!

[Bombleton]

@Bee2828

My son is 8 and has autism.

I didn’t notice at the time as a baby but there was subtle signs.

He was a dream baby. He never cried, never wanted picking up, slept through the night (this has changed now 🤣), he never made eye contact and would be fascinated by lights.

It was like he was in his own little world.

But he was an extremely happy and giggly child (still is). He would laugh at absolutely anything! Even now he still doesn’t take things seriously!

He didn’t clap, wave or point until about 18 months til 2.

What you are explaining sounds very much like my daughter who does have not have autism. She smiled but never laughed. She was an extremely serious ‘miserable’ baby. You wouldn’t think it now though. She’s 4 and such a giggler. I do believe she was just busy talking the world in. She’s also absorbed everything around her whereas my son wouldn’t take any notice to what’s around him. She didn’t crawl until a year old. She wasn’t much of a babbler either but she’s doing great at 4 and has settled into school wonderfully despite being late meeting some of her milestones.

It’s a good sign your daughter is waving, pointing etc and making good eye contact!

You have described both my son and daughter! My son is 4yo and received his diagnosis in May.

My daughter is 8.5 and although much more interactive and engaged than my son was, I still have some niggling concerns.

Things like she doesn't babble much if at all, not much reciprocal communication, if I talk to her she looks at me and sometime smiles, but not much. She will play on her own in the sense that she just mouths toys. If I get up to go she whinges but she doesn't reach for me. She is very much more of an observer than a doer. No imitation. Not much sharing of humour.

Were there any similarities like this to your daughter?

[Blues1]

@Elmo311

Hi everyone,

I hope you don't mind me asking you all this question!
I'm just wondering because my daughter is almost 10 months old, she's got allergies and a few other things going on, but the reason why I'm asking is because she-

• Doesn't laugh - she has occasionally giggled for one second but then that's it. She smiles a lot though and has great eye contact.

• She is very quiet and serious. People always comment that 'she's such a good baby!' Because she's so quiet.

• She doesn't crawl yet, or show any interest in it. (I know all babies are different)

• She does not babble.

She has started to clap and wave, which is so cute to see!

The main reason I ask is that it has been mentioned by our paediatrician/ SALT / Dietitan, that she could have a global delay or Autism.
Obviously I know that she is very young, and there's no way she could be diagnosed at this point. I'm just curious to know if anyone else's baby presented the same!

I'm more 'tuned in' to these things because there is only 10 months between her and her brother, who never stops laughing and met all milestones as they came. So if I didn't have him I may not have been aware that she's a little different!

Love her to bits though, but I do wish she'd laugh!

Interested to hear from anyone!

Thanks 😊

Hi, can I ask how your LO is doing now 18 months on?

[ttrrii]

@Elmo311 How is your little one doing now?

[Elmo311]

@Blues1 @ttrrii
Oh wow, I totally forgot I'd posted about her- and how times flies!

She laughs, plays with her brother but screams at other children, is obsessed with pink and has a tantrum when we try to get her changed out of pink clothes!
She is still very much speech delayed - we haven't seen a SLT since January so I've been chasing that...

Anyway, I'll get to the bit you actually care about 😅

We saw a developmental paediatrician in July, they assessed her for 2 hours and told us that they suspect she has SCD - Social Communication Disorder (basically mild Autism)
We still need further assessment from her pre school and SLT.

I'm not actually sure how they plan to help her / us. As this is pretty new to me.

It's also nice to be able to tell people "see, I knew something was up" after 2.5 years of "she's fine..."

[Bambinalina]

@Elmo311
jumping on an old trail of question and answers, hoping that you may see this and spare time to answer me.
I am in a similar situation - DS2 is 11m, doesn’t engage in play or games, doesn’t imitate or copy facial expressions or sounds, doesn’t wave or point.
Can I ask you what was the route you took to reach assessment?
we’ve seen the Health Visitor at 9m for developmental assessment and he scored low. We are seeing out GP tomorrow but I have a suspicion the gp will say it’s too early to assess him and j won’t pay much attention.
Did you go private for an assessment at 18m?
thanks you for your answer in advance

[Littlesoul123]

How is she

[Fruitynug]

@Bambinalina how is your little one now?

[Elmo311]

Wow...time really does fly!

We are still on the pathway- the developmental paediatrician seems to think my daughter has SCD (used to just be classed as 'mild' autism, but now has its own umbrella) But due to Covid etc everything's been delayed.

My daughter crawled at 12 months and walked at 17 months. She has a speech delay (range of a 2.5yr old) she has some other things going on to (which I won't go into as I don't know enough yet, so not sure if it's relevant).

Otherwise she is happy, her speech is improving all the time and we have help with this.
We are delaying her start to school due to her speech and delays.

I've been worrying about her this whole time, and will probably continue to!

I will try to update this thread periodically throughout the years to let you know how she gets on :).

[Jules912]

My DD was what would be described as a high needs baby. Didn't sleep unless held, very strong willed, clung to me at baby groups. She did meet most milestones at about the expected point.
It was only when she fell apart in year2 other people suggested it and we're now awaiting diagnosis. But looking back I can see the signs were always there. Fortunately she's my second and DS is a model pupil so didn't get any parent blaming from the school.

[Jules912]

Oops missed this was an old thread.

[Bambinalina]

Hello all,
it’s is an old thread, but it is in a way comforting that I can see others on the same journey of enquiring and exploring if our children may have developmental problems. My DS2 is now 20m and although we are on a journey with health visitor and pedestrian development assessments, I feel a bit more optimistic. He is walked at 14m, on the second day of starting full time at a lovely childminder. He has a speech delay, virtually no words yet, but his comprehension seems to the there, and since being in a social environment with kids his age and older, has certainly helped with his development and general containment.

I am told that it is too early for him to be referred for SLT, and that the waiting list for SLP is over 2years.

@Elmo311, it is great to hear that your dad is doing well even if they’re is a suspicion of SCD. She might fully catch up on her speech by her school years.

Wishing all of you best in the parenting journey of needy a more tricky than typical children xx

[RiverRock22]

Hi @Elmo311 my little girl is very like you have described! How did she engage with family when she was younger?

How have you been getting on with SALT? We're at the joint attention games/high repetition stage, really hoping for some progress soon.

[Littlesoul123]

How was she milestone wise? Crawling walking clapping pointing etc? @Jules912

[Jules912]

Milestones all seemed fine. Communication came out the low end of normal at the 2 year review but nothing to cause concern. Nursery did comment how she liked to boss everyone around.

[mthrofflwr]

@BBombleton how is ur girl now??