Stimming at 8 months old - definitely ASD?

[Wobblyheart]

Hi everyone,

I have posted about my son a few times now. He is 8 months old and I see a lot of red flags in his development. Not responding to name, hating wet and mushy foods, fleeting eye contacts, not very smily, no back and forth babbling, poor sleeper, gross motor skills delay but most worrisome is his stimming.

he always had repetitive movement even since he was 3 months old - and just jerked and flapped his arms and legs. Now it is transformed into full on stimming: sometimes he will be shaking his head ode to side, but most often would hold arms outward, would tense arm and legs and twirl / rotate arms, hands and feet. I did not see any other babies from my antenatal group and from my friends do it.

I saw YouTube videos of babies around his age doing it who went onto being diagnosed with ASD later.

I wondered whether it is definitely looking like a very likely ASD or there is hope that he might outgrow it?

did anyones baby do it and then outgrow it?

thank you from a very concerned mum.

bump?

Hiya,

I'm a childminder and have experience with children with ASD. It's something that is so hard to know at this age, your son is still very young. It's so hard not to worry, I have been concerned about my own son and he still stims now at 2.5yrs and has shown some other signs. He rotates his hands and kicks his feet still. When he sees things that spin or roll, or anything to do with fish/sealife, he does it. He has obessions and often plays with his toys the same way and very much needs a routine. When he was a baby he hated wet foods too and despised any sort of messy play or paint activities. He has grown out of this compeltely now and loves to be filthy 🤣 he also was behind with gross motor skills, crawled late and didnt walk until about 18 months. But now his development is all average or above for his age, he plays happily with other children and speaks extremely well.

When I've sought advice, mostly I've been told it can be normal for some children to stim into later childhood and if there are not other signs try not to worry. The health visitor wasn't concerned and just put it down to him being a little sensory sensitive. Have you contacted your health visitor or GP about your concerns? I don't know if there is anything they can really do at this age as ASD isn't diagnosed until age 2 at the very earliest, but they may help you for what else to look out for. Also, if you note your concerns nice and early, if he does reciece an ASD diagnosis a little down the line, you will hopefully get it early.

From experience working with a few autistic children, before and after their diagnosis, the ones who got early diagnosis and extra help early on are now thriving and have found things easier. It makes a huge difference in my opinion/experience. And for the record, the autistic children we have cared for with are lovely, kind kids, who yes, struggle a little with social interaction/sensory issues at times, but on the most part live pretty 'normal' lives, have friends and have done well at school with the extra support. I know how worrying it can be and it's very easy for me to say try not to worry as it's still so early, but I totally understand that's far easier said than done. Always here to chat if you need at all xx