AIBU? 8 month old - autism.

[MumofHennHals]

My baby is 8 months old corrected (he was born prematurely at 34 weeks so is 9.5months from birthday ) and there is a few things that I've noticed are considerably different to my eldest.

He seems to be the silent assassin, we've named him. He can crawl, pull himself up and walk along the sofa already- but he barely makes a vocal noise! - he's very silent when it comes to babbling, he has babbled- and he makes a few babble noises a day, but the rest of time he is completely silent.

I try to lay him down to talk to him or sit in his chair, but he just rolls over and is on the move or he is trying to escape his high chair!

• he does respond to name ( if he's not busy )
• he smiles and will make eye contact

He also smacks everything, will bash toys on toys or smack his hand on anything and everything, is this typical exploring of a baby or is this considered repetitive hand movement / stimming?

Any advice would be grateful, or similar experiences where baby was silent but then couldn't be shut up later in life 😂.

I'm not worried about autism it's just crossing my mind, as I know he's brilliant and thriving no matter who he is and we will give him the best childhood and life regardless.

It's more, if this is the case- is there anything that can be recommended to help him develop these skills? or any support I can seek? Or is he simply
too young?

My child was six months old when I noticed motor skill differences. By two he was behind in all areas and non verbal. I spoke at length with the health visitor at his two year review and this sparked a lot of intervention. He now is under SALT, portage, neurologist, ECHP in progress and on the waiting list for an autism assessment.

He has been diagnosed as non speaking, globally delayed in all areas. Which is his greatest issue. His autism though likely isn't causing him as much issues as his delay.

I would note down all your concerns. And when it comes to your health two year visit mention them. If this is not getting you the help you may need if you go to the GP and explain they might take it further.

Your son might have a spiky development profile and develop more in other areas first. 8 months is too young to assess autism. I would focus instead on his milestones.

You are doing a great job by noticing these changes, if you are worried definitely talk about it. I noticed that friends and family were very dismissive of my worries and still have that belief that he will grow out of it. It's massively unhelpful but if this happens to you don't give them too much head space! X

Hi,
I was just wondering how is your baby doing since you posted. Your child sounds exactly like mine. My baby was born 7 weeks early and is now 7 months corrected.

At that age things change quite quickly. Worth getting his hearing checked if he is not responding to sounds or speaking as much as expected. I supposedly didn’t speak for the first two years of my life but now barely stop talking! I had a problem with my ears and had to have the wax syringed out! Not on the spectrum.

Thanks for your response. She responds to sounds and her name. She babbles a bit and makes sounds here and there. She is just a very quiet baby in terms of being vocal.
She is hitting all the other milestones- crawling, sitting unsupported, rolling both directions, eye contact, smiling, laughing, looks when hears a noise,responds to her name,raises arms to be lifted, interacts with people and loves playing with her brother, imitates when you fake cough. We are just worried about her being very quiet and not that vocal for corrected age of 7 months.

My 19 year old son often sneaks up on me silently (difficult as he's 19st) I'm often turning round and he's just there..scaring the life out of me. He's autistic