My baby turned 8 months today and over the past few weeks I’ve noticed that when he’s sitting, he does quite a lot of repetitive movements with his hands and feet – almost like twirling/wiggling them repeatedly.
What’s making me notice it more is that he seems to do it quite a lot. He tends to do it when he’s in the car, sitting in his highchair etc. If I give him a toy or engage him with something, he’ll stop and focus on that.
He has always been a very active baby. When he was younger he used to kick his legs constantly when lying down or in his bouncer, and he’s generally always been on the go.
Apart from this, he’s a very alert, happy and social baby and is meeting all his milestones. He makes eye contact, engages with us etc. There’s nothing else that has particularly concerned me.
Our first child never did anything like this, so I’m finding myself comparing the two and, if I’m completely honest, I’m going a bit mad worrying that these movements could be an early sign of autism.
I know 8 months is very young and babies do all sorts of repetitive movements, but I’d really appreciate hearing from other parents – did your babies do things like this at around this age? Did they grow out of it?
I’m probably overthinking it, but once the thought of autism has entered your head it’s so hard to switch it off!