Parents of children with Autism - Please

[EssJayyCee]

Did your children show signs of autism as a baby?
If so what were they?

I know they say it's too early to tell at a young age but I'm curious to know if there were signs early on.

I work in a nursery and I've seen a few children with Autism- all different so I know a few signs of it.
My 6 month old has me wondering about her as she seems different to most other 6 month olds.

I look forward to hearing your responses.

Thanks x

If maybe ask in the SN Section. You might get a few more replies

What do you mean she seems different? Babies are weird little things - they do some pretty strange stuff whilst learning what their bodies can do.

For me the answer is yes. My son didn’t have any reciprocal behaviour. He didn’t respond to us in the same way that other babies did. He didn’t settle if we held him. He didn’t make eye contact when I fed him.

He was diagnosed at 3. He has what would have been considered aspergers previously.

It is unpopular here, as most people will say you can’t tell until older, but I think in some cases you can. Or maybe I’m just obsessive and could have been wrong!

Hospital paediatricians picked up on my son being very different [prem, diagnosed with kanners autism] from day 1.
He was like a rag-doll even allowing for birth at 35 weeks. [hypotonic]
His hands stayed open.
He did not respond to noise and cares.
He had crossed over toes.
He did not cry or let his needs be known [noted by nurses caring for him]
Once home he did not have facial expressions, did not like being held [screamed] would only follow shiney spinning things. Did not look for faces or face like objects [toys]
Did not babble, did not explore, did not try reciprocal interactions no matter what we tried. Did not sit or stand and missed reaching milestones. By 14 months he found his feet and went from a strangely quite baby straight into the shit spitting spawn from hell. His behaviour was dangerous, challenging and destructive. He had input from everyone. He was an utter nightmare to parent. He did not begin to make any progress till 7 after three years in an autistic focussed special school began to help. PECS were beyond him as his communication was the most impacted. It took years and years of help from CAHMS, SALTs, Physio’s, OT and specialised teaching but he is now mostly independent, does not shut up and made far more progress than anyone thought he would. Hurrah for early interventions even though they took time to make sense for him.
He just felt very ‘wrong’

DN was diagnosed at almost 2 years. He was a noticable "different" baby, like a visitor from another planet.
DS was diagnosed at 6 but concerns were raised from 2 years onwards and he too was noticably different from other babies in his group.

Hi, my DS was different in so many ways. As others have already mentioned he had the lack of reciprocal behavior and babbleing from the very beginning . I was concerned very early as I saw many babies before, and he didn't signal the joy of being together. I was missing that joyful interest .. and the constant babbleing which should have filled the house. He was too silent. He didn't look me in the eyes during feeding.
With motor milestones he was okay, at 7 mo he was commando crawling, but we could hardly go outside, as he just escaped and crawled away. He didn't understand NO. At 13 mo he started to run (no cute first steps, run immediatly). So yes there were loads of red flags.
But it can happen that until a certain age a baby develops completly normal and that comes a regression. that could be pherhalps more heartbreaking.

I didn't have a clue. My dad sat me down when he was around 5 months and said he was worried about his development.

He didn't cry on waking, didn't cry for feeds, didn't seek my attention, didn't seek me out, basically wouldn't recognise me from Adam. He wasn't curious, didn't explore, nothing was spontaneous, didn't reach for toys or bat at toys, he was so difficult to feed. Slept so much. Like too much. Just wasn't interested in the world around him. Presented as very contended. But just wasn't that bothered about anything really.

As time went on things became more obvious to me in that we couldn't wean him, we couldn't soothe him without playing a song or video on repeat, he rocked and head banged and back slammed into his chair. Repetitive behaviours, routines, need for schedules, OCD type rituals, difficulty with transitions, had to change his nappy standing up.

When he eventually walked (with the help of physio) it was peculiar. He never once fell over. He walked like he had been doing it for decades. Hands swinging by his side, walking along with not a care in the world. None of this wobbling about arms up in the air looking for arms to fall into. In fact his first steps were in a hospital corridor and we were filming it like the proud parents we were and I think everyone we passed thought we were bonkers in the sense that we were celebrating a walk that looked like it had been perfected over the past 9 months. Prior to figuring out walking he spent an hour on his own practicing how to fall down safely. He is the most cautious child I know.

We suspected at 5 months and then definitely knew by the time he was 7 months old xxx

@Bombleton - my son got on a bike (without stabilisers) aged about 5, and rode it, without a wobble or a fall, much the same as your son and his confident walk. It was the first time he'd ever sat on a bike too.

Bonkers isn't it! I couldn't get over it. I wish he was confident like that now. He is nearly 5. Won't step foot onto a scooter. And if a bike is wobbly even with stabilisers he won't get on it 🤣🙈

I have come to learn he will do everything in his own time and not a moment before 🤷🏼‍♀️

@EssJayyCee how is ur baby now