When did your baby respond to their name being called?

[crankyotter]

My child is nearly 8 months and does not respond to their name being called.

A Google has highlighted this as a red flag for autism but timelines for when babies should be responding to their name vary from website to website.

When did your baby respond to their name? I'm trying to get an idea of the normal range.

Hi OP :) I posted the same question last year when my DS was 8 months old. This was after reading on bloody babycentre that they should know their name by 5-7 months. That’s absolute nonsense. Often response to name emerges around 6 months but tends to become consistent by a year. The NHS cites it as a 12 month milestone.

My DS started responding to his name at 10 months, consistently by a year and now at 21 months it’s very much established but he will ignore me purposefully if he wants too. He doesn’t have any signs of ASD.

Hope that’s a bit reassuring x

Thanks @ForeverBaffled this is helpful, glad to hear that things worked out for your DS-he was clearly doing things at his own pace.

I tried to find information on the NHS as a starting point but there was no mention of timelines. I then went down an internet rabbit hole and every site seemed to say something slightly different. Baby centre was one of the sites I found!

So according to the NHS it's only a missed milestone if they still aren't responding by 1 year?

Not responding to their name alone is not a sign of autism (they would be many other signs if it was autism), in most cases it is caused by them not hearing properly due to ear infections and the like. It becomes more consistent from 12M onwards, and them responding to their name 50% of the time would be considered good name response. If you overtest them they will learn to ignore you, if you are next to them and call their name they are unlikely to look at you, the same goes if they are busy doing something. Name response can be difficult to measure and hence is not really considered a reliable marker for autism, there are many other more reliable ways to look for autism.

@AladdinMum thank you for your response. I think I have been going a bit OTT with the name calling lately and it does feel like I'm being ignored.

I've noticed quite a few other babies the same age do respond which is what gave me cause for concern. We have called our baby quite a few nick names since birth which may also be confusing so will stick to the real name from now on.