Autism in babies…

I have an autistic son and an autistic daughter. Son screamed pretty constantly for the first three years. I raised concerns in his red book when her was six weeks old that something was wrong. He slept between two and four hours in 24. If he napped for ten minutes during the day you could guarantee he wouldn't sleep at all overnight. He was dx at 2 and a half and has never slept through the night and he's almost thirty.
Daughter was dx the week of her second birthday. She was nothing like ds, I told myself I wouldn't look for autism but I was worried at 4 months because she was too quiet and too solemn, very worried at 8 months as she made no efforts to get her needs met and knew she was autistic by her first birthday and she was referred to a paediatrician at 13 months and referred for a multi disciplinary assessment at seventeen months.

I have two NT children - one was super easy/chilled and one was pretty hard work. And a ND child who was somewhere in the middle - generally jolly and a good sleeper but needed to be held and fed a lot.

We were wondering when dd was 9 months. She was a demon baby. Wickedly smart, but barely slept and screamed if everything wasn’t perfect.

I can look back in retrospect and it’s so obvious all the things that were related to her autism.

Thanks for that study, wrongsideofthepennines - it is interesting. My ASD son definitely did the unusual crawling method of one leg on one knee but kind of dragging his other leg. And now has the distinctive ASD walk / gait.

I don’t know - my second child was extremely extremely hard work. Almost impossible. Your second description. And she’s NT.

Babies can’t display many behaviours because of their limited body control. And lack of Language.

This is really interesting. My son (now 14, ASD and ADHD) was such a delightful baby. Like yours, he slept and ate well, reached all milestones early. Was walking well by 11 months. Speaking in complex sentences by 18 months. We just assumed he was smart (and he is - diagnosed as gifted either a v high IQ). He wasn't diagnosed until 5 for ADHD and 7 for ASD. His social communication difficulties are a lot more apparent now at age 14. But I have a lot of friends with autistic children whose babies were really challenging - lots of allergies, colicky, unsettled babies or just didn't need to sleep. They tended to be diagnosed earlier than my son and now have more challenges with this autism (though this is totally anecdotal).

DD1 screamed all night long from 12 hours old until 12 weeks old. She would only stop if she was continually slapped hard and rhythmically on the back.
When she was 4 months old, I used to sit her in a bouncy chair with toys over the top of it at 3 am.
She was late to meet milestones. No reaction to being left in a room.

Not quite the same thing in terms of extremes of milestones but I stumbled across this article a couple of weeks back about different patterns of movement in babies that went on to be diagnosed with autism. They compared videos of babies rolling, crawling, walking etc and noticed atypical patterns in autistic children. It was really interesting to note that there were physical signs there much, much earlier than the social signs.

It's now quite an old article and I would be interested to know if there was further research done to determine if it could be diagnosed earlier or if it was too small a study to warrant anuthing further but I found it quite interesting: https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.95.23.13982#:~:text=Autistic%20Children%20May%20Show%20Deviations,forearms%20rather%20than%20his%20hands.

Yep, loads of signs were there - DC 1 autistic - totally passive, easiest baby ever. Wouldn't stand, walk or crawl. Learnt to count, read etc at a very early age.

DC2 - ADHD - total opposite, very demanding and very sociable. Constantly had to be held and engaged with people. Loved food, huge appetite but couldn't focus long enough to get enough into him, either milk or at the solids stage. Was nearly failure to thrive at the newborn stage because of this. Weeks of constant hunger screaming but bored after a few minutes - rinse and repeated all freaking day long!

So yes, signs were there from the beginning, even in the womb - first barely ever moved. Second had me in a lot of pain from constant kicking downwards!

Of course you can only see it retrospectively when all the dots join up.

My eldest is awaiting assessment for autism and ADHD. She was an early talker, full sentences by 18 months and an incredible memory for facts and long words.

I suspect that I am autistic and am waiting for an assessment and so am quite alert to DD (18mo) milestones and behaviours and will seek out a diagnosis for her as soon as I notice anything in particular.
She was a very calm baby, only cried for specific things like food or if extremely tired, but I wouldn't say she was passive. She also didn't have a very irritating cry, it wasn't an unpleasant sound, and I have noise sensitivity.

She hit her milestones bang crawling at 7mo and walking at 13.
However she is a little slow with talking, she understands everything said to her but mostly communicates by pointing and gestures still. She also clearly has some sensory issues.

She was also very easygoing about nursery apparently she didn't cry at all there until about 3 months in when another child hit her. She recently stayed at my mother's for a few days whilst we were on holidays and she behaved like an angel there, slept better than at home.

It's still too early to tell anything. Some behaviours are normal for toddlers but resemble behaviors in autistic children.
But this thread is interesting.

It is interesting.

I know a baby like this. 13 months. Doesn’t talk, at all. Doesn’t babble. No waving, no pointing, no clapping. No social smiles. If you say his name he does not turn around - yes he can hear fine as he turns round to the TV on his terms. Very interested in items that spin, zips, remote controls. Meets all physical milestones. Does this sound like ASD to anyone?

Same as @Spitalfieldrose! Both mine never slept, and when I say never, I mean 15 min cat naps only being held. Literally would not be put down. People didn't believe me. It was horrendous. We didn't sleep for about 3 years, they started doing longer stretches of 2/3 hours, thank god. We only had a second because we'd figured the second baby couldn't possibly be as bad a sleeper as the first...we were wrong - she was far, far worse. I was desperate for advice and then I discovered the term 'high needs baby' which did help slightly.

They were both delayed (but only slightly) in terms of major milestones. Biggest flag was my eldest refusing to feed himself til he was almost 2 and would not be toilet trained until 5-6. Both still not dry at night now and are always unsettled sleepers. I was always told y the HV and GP it must be something I was doing wrong

ASD runs in their dad's family so I did always have a feeling, but literally nobody would listen to me. Once they started school, they both behaved perfectly because rules/routines suited them, and academically they could scrape by, so nothing was ever flagged up.

They both now have a diagnosis of HFA and need referrals to SALT.

My oldest was an incredibly high needs baby - recognised as such by the health professionals BEFORE 6 weeks of age. He was part of a programme of cranial sacral therapy they were offering to young babies who were "angry". He has very severe ADHD and a diagnosis of ASD. Late to talk but other milestones were within average
My second was definitely easier but has more severe ASD and ADHD to a lesser degree. Milestones met as expected except he crawled at 5 months!
Youngest actually slept, not much obviously but as he gets older (15 now) traits are becoming more apparent.

Strangely when people tell me about their early achieving infant it always gets my spider senses pricking. Children that hit milestones early be they physical or intellectual sometimes mean just that - that they hit that milestone early and will average out soon or that its indicative of "an issue". Its rarely the indication of a genius, sadly

Mine didnt cry when he was a newborn for about 2 weeks. Not even when changing his nappy. nothing. And he would just sit in his bouncy chair, quite content....

I thought it strange at the time and have since wondered if it was an early sign.

This is of interest to me as my HV has suggested my baby has ASD based on observing him bouncing in his rocker once. She said the need to self stimulate to the extent it almost falls over and makes a racket means he could be autistic. I said that made no sense to me and was a baby being a baby.

Interesting theory OP. I wonder what the research says?

Anecdotally, most of the autistic children I know have very spiky profiles. Nobody ever seems to sit ‘in the middle’ of any trait. For example, one might be completely tone deaf whilst another has perfect pitch. Or one might have hypotonia whereas another has overly-tight muscles. Some autistic children I know never stop speaking whereas others are situationally mute. I guess this links in with your theory.

My DS was an extremely fussy, unsettled, high needs baby. He’s 5 now and doesn’t have ASD.

Ps. I knew between 6-8 months there was some neurodiversity present when DC would refuse to make eye contact with me and look into the middle distance when I'd try to interact with them.

Mine was the second one- a literal leech! I love him to bits and he's a bit better now but he needed constant touch/contact as a baby and constant stimulation. He smashed his milestones. We've had a recent assessment for ASD and he didn't pass the ADOS because he's so ahead of others. They didn't care about how highly strung he is at home and how much we have to ensure everything is just right for him at home after school or the meltdowns we have to endure. They've asked us to come back in the futures if anything changes. Bastards. That's 3 years wasted. I'm a Psychologist who works in the field and I can't believe how bad our assessment experience was.

My DD14 was a nightmare baby, didn't sleep day or night, very unsettled, cried non stop, couldn't put her down, very difficult. She didn't sleep through the night until she was 3.

My DS12 never woke for a night feed, never cried, the most laid back, placid baby and child you could wish for.

Neither are autistic or have any SEN.

DS was a perfectly average baby, met all milestones at an average age ie walked the day before he turned 1, speech patterns were perfectly normal then at 2yrs his speech regressed massively and i started to notice other behaviours that suggested he was Autistic. He is diagnosed with a whole host of things including ASD.

DD crawled at 4mths, walked at 8mths and was having full blown conversations at 11mths. She is NT

DD was delayed in everything apart from speech, the most chilled baby ive ever met and she has been refered for an asd diagnoses.