To be this worried about autism with 11 mo? Keeping me up at night

[Okeeffe]

My DS is 11 months old. He can sit up, stand up, crawl and cruise but he can't walk. He can climb up stairs too.

He doesn't wave, clap or point. He doesn't imitate sounds or gestures.

He babbles a bit, says dadada and gagaga but not mama. He will only speak on his own accord and won't repeat words back to us.

He mainly just wants to stand up on things, but when he does play he loves turning the pages on books and walking round and round his music table. Doesn't do much else. He puts literally everything in his mouth! On other toys he might just sit and fiddle with the labels.

He doesn't often headbang, but when occasionally when near mirrors/radiators he leans back and hits his head against them gently

He bites us a lot, and pulls our hair.

He is a very smiley happy boy, laughs a lot, plays peekaboo, follows a point and will chase/be chased.

Loves the bath and paddling pool, splashes around and stands up lots.

Will play in garden and on beach, tries to eat sand/grass but seems happy. When in new places he won't look at me at all, too distracted.

Answers to his name sometimes, but sometimes won't. Generally makes good eye contact but sometimes actively looks away and ignores.

Eats well, feeds himself baby led weaning sort of meals, used to take a spoon from us but now refuses. Will try most things. Sometimes during meals he will randomly start hysterically crying and we don't know why.

Cries when falls over but even when he's barely fallen or has caught himself, hysterics and will need a cuddle and to be picked up to calm down.

Sleeps fairly well, will cry for a few minutes when put down for naps but then will just go to sleep.

Not interested in TV or nursery rhymes. Does like when I rub his belly "round and round the garden" loves being thrown in air/put upside down. Loves being tickled. Will play peekaboo behind curtains, initiated himself and will also giggle when we do it too him.

Not very cuddly, doesn't like to sit still

Health visitor has got me panicked about a few things. Can anyone put my mind at ease

One last question for anyone still reading.. he does babble dadada and bababa but he says them in a very throaty, growly way most of the time. He growls most his sounds actually and squeals/yells lots. Lots of grunts and groans too. I've never heard baby babble before, is this normal? I'm not sure what it's expected to sound like!

Okeefe, my 3 DSes all had some speech delay. Boys are often further behind girls in speech, but sometimes ahead on physical milestones. Mine vocalised late and didn’t do the typical musical sounding ‘ba ba ba.’ DS1 and DS3 are completely neurotypical, however.

DS2 (who has ASD) didn’t talk either and was very obviously off the normal developmental track by age 2. Our HV didn’t pick it up, though. They’re not that good at recognising flags. They have a list of things to look for, which for ASD isn’t really relevant until 15 months old to be honest. They don’t always realise some flags are more important than others. Even if the HV is concerned at 12 months it’s a long process to be seen by someone who can diagnose. (DX) The HV has a checklist, and it’s a pretty blunt instrument.

I’d spend the next month or so interacting with your DS before the 12 month review. See if you can join in with what he’s interested in, rather than trying to get him to respond to something you think he should be interested in. Get down on the floor with him and comment on what he’s doing in very simple language. For example, water play is good if he likes it, just a washing up bowl with warm water and some plastic cups. If he splashes, say ‘splash!’ look at him and smile. Then maybe you splash and say ‘splash!’ again. Just simple words, join in with what he likes to do.

Hi op, firstly I'm not an expert but it sounds very typical behaviour and I know it's easier said than done but I wouldn't be concerned.
I have two toddler boys.

Our DS behaved similarly and rarely pointed at things. However he did have significant hearing issues that we had no idea about. I thought he just wasn't interested when I pointed things out etc but the poor boy couldn't hear us properly.

He passed his newborn hearing tests fine but developed glue ear and I remember at about the age of one thinking he seemed very selective in terms of his response and kept trying to get close to the tv whenever it was on. The health Visitor arranged a hearing test at the hospital and I was shocked when they said his hearing was extremely poor in both sides and he also had glue ear so what he was hearing was muffled because his ears were bulging with fluid. Then the ear infections came one after the other. For about a year he had permanent infections in both sides on strong antibiotics until he had grommets fitted to drain the middle ear and then his hearing/learning greatly improved.

I'm not saying it's the case but if you think it's a possibility maybe ask them to refer you.

As bunnyplops says, getting his hearing checked before anything else is a good idea.

Also as a pp mentioned, try to do lots of one word commentary. There's lots of good stuff on YouTube etc to follow. But I was guilty of firing off full blown sentences and "can you say xyz" which probably didn't help.

It's much easier for them to understand simple one word commentary. If he's looking at a car just say "car". Sounds very simple and I don't mean to be patronising however it felt really odd and robotic at first but really helped. Then when they repeat "car" clearly and know what it is you can add other words like "blue car" or "big car". Also have you done any sensory play?

Things like coloured rice, pasta, play dough etc There's lots of ideas on Instagram and tons of pages with sensory play set ups that are great ways of gaining interest and talking. The imagination tree and Mothercould on Instagram is an excellent source of simple play ideas and have found them and lots of other sensory play accounts massively helpful.

You sound like an amazing mum, doing everything you can. Easier said than done but please try not to stress and enjoy your lovely boy.

My ds has asd. He pointed, waved etc around the right time but by 3 his difficulties were obvious. Equally, I am sure there are plenty of mums whose kids didn't point / clap on time who turned out to be NT. I am also sure there are many parents of kids with asd who can look back in hindsight and see red flags. Equally I imagine there are lots of parents who worried about red flags when they were babies and their child is NT. It's simply to early to tell at 11 months whether a child has asd.

It’s worth googling infant reflexes not going dormant.

Hi, i know this post is a few months old but I'm wondering how your getting on now?

We had our 1 year review today and the health visitor has gave the same impression to us. Your description of your little boy is identical to where my little boy is now.
I'm very worried.
Thank you x

[quote Okeeffe]@mumwon He gets excited when we go into his room in the morning. Smiles, babbles, grabs at us through the bars if we kneel at the side of the cot and when we put our arms down towards him he lifts his arms up to be picked up. He does sometimes act shy but giggly, looking away from my eyes but smiling. Does this sound typical? Or another flag maybe?[/quote]
This sounds so non-autistic. Please don't worry!
There's also no problems trying to introduce some of the things you are worried about him not doing, so for example when he plays peepo, also wave at him etc.

@Okeeffe how's your little boy getting on now? x

@rachelrainbow @Okeeffe he both, sounds exactly like my 11MO. Do either of you have an update? X

Hi @Okeeffe can I ask how your LO is doing now?