Wondering if 13 month old son is autistic

[mammyof2x]

And this is absolutely no problem if he is, I would go to the ends of the earth for my children but I am starting to wonder.

He was born not breathing properly and spent some time on oxygen, from very young he was a “difficult” baby through no fault of his own. Severe reflux, CMPA, didn’t sleep, lots of hospital admissions due to bad chest infections.

He sat up at 9 months, crawled at 11 months and he’s 13 months now and doesn’t cruise around sofas or furniture at all but it’s not just that, he shakes his head constantly, he flaps his hands a lot, gets up on his knees and bounces for a long time and I cannot put the hoover on without him screaming and having a meltdown, if any loud noises start suddenly he covers his ears and screams and sobs until one of us can calm him down. He only says mama and dada. He doesn’t wave or point no matter how we try and teach him.

I have inattentive ADHD and autism runs in my family.

Would you say these behaviours are normal in some 1 year olds?

My DD was crawling at 7 months, pulling herself up at 9 months and walking at a year, at 18 months you could have a conversation with her. She was a very calm baby.

DS shouts, screams and whinges a lot, even in his sleep.

Any advice? Thanks!

I only have one son but he sounds exactly like yours as a baby/until 18 months. I worried endlessly about autism. He would hum constantly that i was told was vocal stimming. He hand flapped and was very unsettled/hated noises, being startled, cried and whinged and had tantrums.a LOT ! He didn't make any noises other than the humming whinging until about 15 months. He is now 4 and the most amazing little boy. So so chatty and funny and cheeky. He has such a funny little personality. When I worried about autism I worried I would never be able to chat with him, communicate or have a "typical childhood". All the worrying was completely for nothing. He still shakes with anxiety at the sounds of handdryers and any loud noises and cries. He still.hates a lot of sensory type things so he may have autism.but I am no l9nger worried. So hard to say with your son and it seems like every other person has the same concerns so either we have pathologised normal behaviours or there is a massive rise of autism. I know you said you aren't worried so that's good because I wasted so much time on this. I hope you get to experience a lovely childhood with your son too x

Hi, my daughter had all of the behaviours you describe at the same age. She’s nearly 3 and is extremely chatty, though I appreciate girls developers differently to boys especially when we’re talking about autism. I was also worried about the same thing due to family history.

I won’t say don’t worry it’s nothing because you can’t know. But I can say from my experience my concerns were unfounded, she was just that kind of baby.

Thanks to both of you, so helpful and reassuring. We don’t half worry about these kids of ours don’t we as Mums! ♥️