Hi, my DD is nearly 3 and has always shown signs of shyness, but now I’m questioning if it’s mild autism?
For example, as a baby, she would cry when i passed her over to someone (even close family) and took a while to get comfortable around them. As she’s gotten older, she is fine with close family members now but still struggles with stranger danger.
She plays well with other children especially her friends, but as soon as a parent or someone unfamiliar comes over (adult) she goes very inward and scared. This even happened the other day with a close friend she sees weekly! It was so random. Is this just stranger danger? I would also say this is especially the case with men.
She has moments where she isn’t great amongst crowds, but then other times she is fine- really depends on her mood that day! Also she is a very emotional little one especially if she is tired, which can lead to tantrums (is this just normal toddler behaviour though?)
She also has this hair pulling habit, where she pulls strands out of habit. She’s does it as a settling thing or if she’s settled reading a book or watching tv.
She is such a sweet little girl and has a huge heart! She’s responsive to her name, great language development, very empathetic and good at reading emotions, plays well and uses imagination. It’s just mainly the stranger danger at 3 years old, hair pulling and heightened emotions thing I am worried about.
is this normal toddler behaviour or possibly autism? I was also a very shy child! I used to have my mum in the classroom for the first 5 minutes until I was 7! I am very confident and outgoing now- so wondering if she’s just like me and a shyer more cautious child or something I should look into?
any experience????