Hello,
I'm worried about my very young son Ethan, who is 5 months old. My husband is beginning to become concerned, but is probably worried more about me, as my mood is going up and down by the hour based on how my son is currently behaving. I'm obsessively searching the Internet for early warning signs and early treatment options...but almost none of the material pertains to one so young as my son so I'm feeling rather stuck for now. The more I read and the older Ethan gets, though, the more convinced I am that something is wrong. My heart aches, and I really need some support.
Ethan is capable of engaging in interaction for minutes at a time, and he's advanced in terms of motor skills (sits up unaided already, etc.) However, he's showing some signs which worry me very much. I'm most worried about not being able to keep his attention without extra effort, and the way he's "crawling" early with his legs but pushing his face against the floor while making noises. I'm also worried about the way he scratches things and puts his thumb against things, twisting his hand around as he does so.
Other things: 1.) Often it's hard to get or keep his attention unless I am making silly faces or sounds, or eating, talking on the phone, or brushing my teeth; 2) He is doing lots of things that seems to be stimulating his sense of touch to a strange degree: pushing his thumb against something and rotating his wrist around it or popping his knuckle back and forth, crawling with his legs while pushing his face against the floor and making noises, "hitting" things alot and pushing off against things with his legs, including me sometimes while breastfeeding; 3) He rarely is still...constantly in motion; 4) He is totally attracted to "things" of all kinds: books, cameras, toothbrushes, etc. If I am holding him he will often lean over and reach out his arms towards something several feet away. Everyone is commenting how smart he must be as he is so engaged with the word at 5 months old...but I'm scared; 5) He's not making any consonant sounds, he does little "talking" to me but lots towards "things", he's not a good sleeper (lots of short naps), he had a "week suck" when he was born, and his head is in the 25th percentile.
I'm trying to stay away from the Internet, but I just can't. I think I have bookmarked every page out there having to do with causes and symptoms, and have now moved on to treatment...though no one's talking about 5-month olds. If he has any kind of developmental issue, I want to get him help ASAP. On the bright side, at least I'll have found it early. I don't think I would have noticed much odd had I not been I was keeping my eye out for it because I had been worried about the stress I was under during my pregnancy, the influenza shot I had, and the filling I lost while pregnant. I know there's a lot of quackery out there regarding autism, but I'm still worried.
I'd love to hear from parents whose kids once did what my son's doing (and hear whether they went on to have development issues or not) and others who have similar concerns, advice, or information.
Thanks in advance.