12 months and ASD worry

[ShazamJaffaCake]

Hello all,

hopping people can give me a bit of reassurance as I’m pretty worried about my little one about to turn 12 months.

we have always worried that she is a little behind and behaves a bit different to other babies and her older brother.

she is a happy little thing, enjoys playing with toys, showing us things, enjoys watching her older brother, but sometime she also can quite happily sit and play and doesn’t seem that bothered we are there. She does smile regularly, but never laughs. We also worry she isn’t always as excited bout seeing us when coming back into the room as we think she should be, sometimes she is, but others just gives you a quick glance then carries on.

she does look at us, but her eye contact isn’t the best, it’s better at a distance, but not much up close when held, and none when breastfeeding. Similarly, she did used to look at herself in the mirror a bit, but never much and still isn’t that fussed.

her communication is a bit of a mixed bag, she can point to things to draw our attention to them or guide us around the house to where she wants to be. She does babble, but is overall a VERY quiet baby compared to all others. She has never copied noises but will copy actions. She can also use a couple of baby signs to indicate, open, more, milk, home, hear. No words yet though, and also doesn’t make and B or M consonant sounds. We also worry that her facial expression is generally pretty flat, she does smile at many things though.

she does also play people games sometimes. Not fussed about hugging a cuddly toy.

while she does these now, she was a little late with putting things in her mouth, vocalising and with consonants. She has also chewed her tongue since about 3 months old. Has this checked and everyone just seems to think it’s a comfort thing.

we have raised all of these concerns with HV, speech & language, paediatrician, GP etc, and all seem to just want to wait or think nothing is wrong.

does anyone have any similar experiences? We are going a bit mad over here with worry and not sure what to do next

Hi, have you checked her ears?
Alot of what you have said sounds like my boy when he was that age (and younger) in particular lack of laughing, babbling, facial expressions, rarely smiling, rarely happy. But met all physical milestones no issue and never had an issue with eye contact. In our case it was all down to glue ear, he was a totally different baby once he had grommets and e could hear and interact; it really did change him. He is almost 2.5 now and thriving but I remember going crazy with worry and was in a really bad place for a long time. Worth getting ears checked as a starting point x

Hello @Glueear17, thank you for replying! Yep, we have had ears and eyes checked, all came back fine, I wish it actually had been that, at least we would have an explenation then.

Hi @ShazamJaffaCake how is your little girl now?

Hello @Rosecoast17 she is doing great, very happy little girl who is communicating well and starting to try new words every day. In hindsight it was my partner and I that needed some help and our little family have come a long way since I posted this. She still has her own little unique things, like she chews her tongue, she is doing well in every way. Hope you’re ok?