Hi, I'm very confused and hoping I can get advice or a similar experience.
My 3 year old daughter started stimming, doing repetitive movements recently (about a month ago). It's very random; at, first, we thought she was playing, but as time goes on, she is doing it more and more. It's very obvious and happens at all times of day.
It's either hand flapping, doing repetitive movements with her arms, or pulling clothes.. It's almost like tics or OCD- as if she needs to do a 'number' of movements before she can go on with her day.
The thing is, she never showed any signs of neurodiversity; she's in creche since she was 1,5, and they never mentioned any unusual behaviour, it's the opposite- she's getting praised for good behaviour, being social, getting involved in all activities, etc. At home, there are also no red flags.
One thing that's been off since she was born is sleep- she still hasn't slept through the night, and we tried all the usual methods.
Also, lately, she started waking up more often in the night and screaming her lungs out for a couple of minutes, as if she had a night terror.
There were no recent lifestyle changes apart from her stopping daytime naps and potty training over Christmas- it went very smooth and she never had an accident.
They also moved her to an 'older' group in creche, and she seemed to have settled in very quickly.
I'm wondering if this stimming could be a phase she's going through a reaction to something that happened or it's a sign of autism- even though she never shown any other signs? I'm planning to take her to GP and get an opinion but, referrals and assesments of this type take ages, so I'm unsure where to start.
I'm just confused because this is new to me.
Thanks in advance!