SILs comment about baby pointing

[starflowerlove]

My SIL is known for silly comments. However, today when she saw DD she asked if she was pointing yet. When I said DD, who is fourteen months, reaches towards things with her hand, not a finger, she said 'Oh DS was pointing by 11 months.'

DD is very very babbly (got a few words as well as constant babble) social, alert, engaging, HAPPY - all the things I consider important for where she shoudl be at developmentally She uses her arm and hand to reach towards things she wants e.g. water bottle, fruit bowl, and the same style when she wants to show me something - she reaches up, then turns back and checks I'm looking etc.

Isn't this all okay? SIL's made me worried

Whilst "pointing" is a big developmental indicator, the important thing is that your DD is using gestures to focus your attention. Finger/hand/whatever.
Caveat, IANAD.

Bluddy - SIL is very exact, yes

Dilys - thanks for that. Sorry to be ignorant, what does 'Caveat, IANAD' mean?

Ignore your SIL-she will probably get worse!

I Am Not A Doctor

Not pointing is something that you would look for "amongst other things" if you suspected your child had an ASD. From all the other things you have written about your DD i'd say you have nothing at all to worry about.

It sounds fine, honest.

Lack of pointing at 18 months can, in conjunction with other factors (lack of shared attention etc), indicate a possible problem.

She is indicating using a hand gesture. You need to intensively coach her on a single finger gesture to demonstrate to your barking SIL.

Sounds like you sil is just being competitive and you're going for the bait, next week her LO will have a law degree so don't worry too much

Couldn't tell you when ours started pointing, was not aware it was a huge developmental stage. Most people I knew got their knicks in a twist about smiling, sitting up, rolling over, crawling, walking, first words, etc. Neither of mine seem to be suffering from the lack of early pointing evidence.

Glad I posted. Thanks feel bit better now

My DS isn't much of a pointer either. At about 16 months he started taking my hand and taking me around the flat to show me what he wanted. They get their points across in different ways

My LO also uses arm and hand to gesture. I worry that it's not exact pointing, but I hope that a) someone else on another thread was right when they said that it's more or less the same thing, it's about gesturing, trying to make you aware of something b) that it would only be an issue if there were other concerns e.g. lack of communication elsewhere.

That's what I'm thinking, anyway!

Your SIL sounds like a PITA