I’m really hoping I’m overreacting here and my anxiety is getting the better of me, but I’m hoping for some happy anecdotal stories or reassurance. My 8mo daughter isn’t babbling- she hasn’t said ma or da, and she has only said ba on a couple of occasions. No repetition either.
I’m making myself ill with anxiety, struggling really badly with concern that this is a key marker for autism. My HV also said ‘oh that is quite late!’ which hasn’t helped!
She was diagnosed with an egg and dairy allergy at 6mo, and since then my health anxiety around her had gone through the roof. My husband has ADD as well, but no autism- he’s extremely sociable, as am I. I’m not sure if this could be related though.
My concerns are:
- No consonants or repetitive babbling
- She doesn’t copy any vocalisations, but she does smile or shriek if we are playing and I copy her. Like she’s happy we are copying but doesn’t think to copy back.
- She doesn’t really respond to her name or follow points, but I appreciate she might be a bit young for that
- She only really copies you when there’s a physical accompanying action. Like, if you clap or wave then she will sometimes copy.
I’m certain her hearing is fine, as she looks up at sounds regularly and for example if she hears the front door go she will look at the living room door expecting it to open shortly after.
In terms of positives, trying to reassure myself:
• She is very smiley and we get full belly laughs from her a decent amount. Very smiley with strangers in cafes etc
•She is very interested in watching people. Will stop playing with objects if someone comes in the room and looks at them.
•She was confidently crawling at 7mo. She’s pulling herself up to her knees and is close to standing. No concerns at all with any of her motor skills- she’s self feeding and pulling herself up to sitting from most positions too.
•She is saying ‘cccc’, which we think is from us saying ‘cat’ at her a lot, because she adores our cat.
•She is shrieking and we get ‘ooo’ ‘aaa’ and ‘huuu’ when she has these short bursts of vocal activity.
•She was clapping and waving at 7mo. Although she does do this a lot, so I wasn’t sure if it might actually be stimming in some way.
•She does hold eye contact. Can be quiet fleeting at times, but when she’s laughing or smiling she will lock eyes with you.
On the whole though, she is quite quiet- friendly, but quiet.
I honestly feel so low. I take her to baby groups and can’t help but compare her to all of these noisy vocal babies. I’ve convinced myself I’m going to have to deal with an autistic or verbally delayed child as well as her allergies and I’m really spiralling. Please help!!