Development concerns - autism

[overanalyser1]

Hi there everyone. I hope everyone is keeping safe.

I've got a beautiful 13 month old son who I (obviously) love dearly. However I've been suffering with anxiety pretty badly since I was pregnant and it seems to be getting worse. I am completely obsessing over my son's development and it's starting to really get me down. I don't want to miss out on anything but I just can't seem to be present in the moment as I keep watching his every move.

I've done a lot of googling in the last year and evrytime I Google anything it seems to point to autism. My Health visitor had no concerns at his 10-12 month review but I still can't seem to just relax.

My son is doing the following

• babbles
• if I ask what sound the train, cat, tractor, baby, snake and owl make he will tell me the sounds
• lots of clapping
• eye contact is decent but I wouldn't say it was amazing
• responds to his name unless he is really preoccupied with what he is doing
• sometimes will go to share his food with us
• laughs at games like peekaboo
• hides thing in his bib as he thinks it's a game when I say 'where's your banana' etc
• understands commands like 'pass to mamma'
• understands a lot of what I'm saying like 'where's dada and he will look to the door'

My son is NOT doing the following

• saying mama or dada
• not pointing
• very occasionally waves
• I don't feel that he shares that much enjoyment with us
• doesn't seem to be too fussed when we drop him at nursery

I guess my biggest concerns at this stage are the lack of pointing and the lack of shared enjoyment. I know autism is by no means the end of the world but If he were to be diagnosed I would like to get my son the support he needs to help him thrive and believe early intervention can be really helpful.

Any advice or thoughts would be amazing. Thanks so much!

He sounds completely normal for a 13 month old. It’s said a lot but they really do all develop at different rates. My DS could point at 8 months but couldn’t move at all (crawling, shuffling, cruising, walking…anything) until recently (he’s 15 months). Id say your DS actually sounds quite advanced as far as speech is concerned - I don’t think my DS could make the sounds of all the animals/things you have listed. In the kindest of ways please seek help for your anxiety as opposed to projecting it onto your sons development. It does neither of you any good.

@AliceW89 thanks so much for your reply. I am currently having CBT but just got myself into a bit of state this weekend.

I honestly wouldn't worry (and even if you do have something to worry about just enjoy your son in this moment) I've had two years of anxiety thinking my son had autism despite being reassured by doctors and SLT.

Your son sounds like he's on track to me. My son is 25 months and only just started making sounds and animal noise. He didn't point at all until 16 months and even then it was rare. He does it much more now. It seems that my son is just a late bloomer though it took me a while to believe that when Dr Google told me otherwise.

He sounds absolutely fine. Babies don’t all hit all their milestones bang on cue. My son is a month older and isn’t making animal noises or saying mama or dada yet but can use a fork really well. There’s a really wide range of ‘normal’ where it comes to development. This is one time when google is not your friend!

@HeyDuggeesFavouriteSquirrel @Lolalovesmarmite thank you both so much for your replies. I definitely feel better so thank you x