can't sleep really scared now.

[ruty]

sorry to post on SN but things my ds was doing last night have got me really worried now. He's had a gut problem for a while now, he's nearly 8 months old, and he's never been able to support himself on his front, or roll. in every other way he's lovely, great eye contact, laughs, but he has started to thrash his head violently from side to side. He started doing it a bit when he was tired, but last night he did it for about two hours on and off, and he did it even in his baby bouncer. I don't know whats happening to him. I don't know if anyone else has seen this behaviour, but i feel like i'm losing his lovely personality. Its always been a big struggle to get him to drink enough, bfeeds for short times only and hates anything else, don't know if this has anything to do with it.

[ghosty]

ruty, I don't know about the head thrashing but I wouldn't worry about not rolling ... my DD didn't roll until she was 12 months ... and hated being on her front. She is 15 months now and just started walking ....
What does your HV say about your DS' development?

[Titania]

I wouldn't worry about the head thrashing. All of mine did this at this age when they just wanted to get going and were fed up of not being able to. does the gut problem mean that you can't wean him? Or is he just refusing?

[Titania]

however if you are really worried, you should see a doc or the HV

[baka]

Head thrashing in itself isn't a problem, nor is not being able to roll. From your other posts you are obviously woorried about autism- although 8 months is very early to be concerned- and the signs are generally very subtle at 8 months.

Have you asked your paed specifically about autism (if IIRC you are not in the UK so have access to peads fairly easily?)

I went to a conference on autism yesterday. Ros Blackburn was speaking (wow what an amazing person- severely autistic- requires constant supervision- yet can give these incredible intelligent funny talks- amazing) and I thought she gave a really good definition of autism. She said "autism is the inability to single out people as special, separate, unique entities,-different from bits of furniture, different from even the family dog". And tbh I thought that got right to the core of classical kanners autism (I say that on purpose as she says that AS is something different- and although I agree with her definition for classical autism I have no idea whether it would hold for AS as well).

So effectively it doesn't matter how many gut problems your child has, whether they can roll or not, whether they have sensory problems. If they're interested in people they're not autistic. That can be difficult to guage in a young baby but ime I've found that non-autistic babies aren;'t that happy at being left alone for too long - and if they're moaning about being alone, will quieten when someone comes back into the room and talks to them.

What would put your mind at rest though? This is clearly something that has been playing on your mind for quite some time? Can you think of a trigger that has made you worry about autism (if you start looking for signs you'll see them-- you need to take in the whole)

[baka]

or maybe you are in the UK?

Have you thought about going to see someone like Mike Tettenborn in Surrey- he specialises in the gut AND autism so he might be ideal for you. Apparently he is very good- I know a couple of people who have seen him privately. Hopefully he'll be able to put your mind at rest.

[ruty]

thanks for all your posts, and baka i will google Mike Tettenborn and try to get to see him, that sounds v interesting. Tried to get back to sleep for a few hours and managed from 6 till 8. He's not doing it this morning thankfully. Reaason autism or LD preying on my mind is he was babbling all sorts of consonants and sounds at 3 months, and then the gut problem started. By 6 months he'd gone very quiet. But he loves cuddles and laughs etc, so i'm hoping its not. When he falls over, he doesn't put out his hands to catch himself, they stay by his`sides, but maybe he's just unco-ordinated, i don't know. But last night his behaviour was strange, i thought.

[ruty]

re the bfeeding Titiana he hates the hypoallerginic formula he's been given so i have to keep bfeeding to get something into him. But he won't take much water either.

[Saacsmum]

Hi, ruty, we are still going through worries this end of the world also. We havent had the head thrashing though. Could be that he has just discovered a new movement or might be worth getting his ears checked, or check if he is getting new teeth. I have heard that some babes try to relieve symptoms of these by shaking head vigorously. I have only come accross one child who presented with "unusual" behavior as young as 8 months and was autistic. As described by others this child didnt engage with others, met all her physical goals but rocked violently when sitting from very early on accompanied by the moaning described earlier...there were other signs as well but as said when you are worried you start to look for them and convince yourself. Anyway what I am trying to say is this particular baby was way off what other babies were doing in terms of interaction patterns, your baby sounds as though he enjoys interaction. With Saac, it seems to be a pattern that he will stop doing previously learned behaviours for ages and then will present with a whole lot of new ones. Any way I hope this helps. Try not to worry, take all opportunities to voice concerns with paeds etc and gather all the info you can but otherwise try to take one day at a time and remove all preconcieved ideas of how he should be and concentrate on how he is and try to capitilise on what he is doing and encouraging this. Hard I know and half the time I am unable to take my own advice. Hope this makes sense and helps in some way.

[ruty]

thanks saacsmum, he does interact well and i have to hold on to that. will mention it to development paed tho.

[haven]

just a question..why do people advice differ when it come to AS..some people say that AS children don't like to interact with people, but other say that is untrue...
to RUTY...don't mean to worry you...i was just curious...check with you ped...if you are concerned...if anything to give you peace of mind..