Not laughing or babbling... 8 months old

[Catheroooo]

As the above says... we had one laugh since birth. Some half laughs in response. She smiles but hardly looks when points nor responds to name. No babbling but does make noises.

So worried she's autistic... help!

I don’t think there’s much to worry about at this stage, she’s tiny still. If you’re worried though, it might be worth getting her hearing checked. You may be able to self refer to audiology or your HV might be able to refer you.

If you want to check speech development, Talking Point have a useful progress checker here and M-chat is an early Autism check, but that’s from 16 months.

At the moment though, I’d check she can hear, do the talking point development checker and try to relax, play lots of games with her and enjoy your baby

Try not to worry too much OP, but take her along to your health visitor. They can vary so much at this age! DD doesn't reliably respond to her name at 12 months, she's usually too absorbed in whatever she's doing. Your DD smiles, so that's a good sign. They will probably do a hearing check first, does she respond to loud noises? Such as a door that bangs?

I wouldn't begin checking for autism yourself. It can cause a lot of unnecessary worry, a lot of these tests list things which are advanced for most children of that age. I work with special needs children, and have a masters degree in autism and have tested DD out of interest using various tests (including the M-CHAT above) and it varies wildly. Some list her as a medium risk and some as no risk at all, and I'm not worried about her in the slightest. So depending on what test you use can cause a lot of unnecessary worry!

If you want to have a look yourself then don't use the autism check use the age and stages questionnaire for the relevant age group and take that along to your health visitor, that gets a more overall picture of your DDs development. And the health visitors use those criteria themselves.

www.southernhealth.nhs.uk/EasysiteWeb/getresource.axd?AssetID=99704&type=full&servicetype=Inline

Link to the age and stages questionnaire for 8 months. If you find your DD is only behind in an area then take her along to your health visitor. I would request a hearing test though, just to be on the safe side.

Ignore 'only' don't know how that got there.

Thank you.

She does respond to loud bangs. She's actually super sensitive to noise which was another worry. She wakes st a pin dropping. In the hot weather I couldn't leave her window open as the road noise disturbed her.

She was rolling over very early and is crawling and standing confidently so am trying to tell myself she's put her effort into mobility. She's almost got her pincer grip etc so who knows. She does this funny grunt almost fake cough to get ourattention sometimes which when I repeat she will repeat on occasion, but i'd just love to hear her belly laugh again.

Thanks for taking the time to respond. I'll speak to our hv when I get her weighed next.

My middle child never did either and now he’s a perfectly happy and healthy (and very intelligent!) 7 year old. I wouldn’t worry

Sounds like, as you say, she's put more effort into mobility my daughter was the opposite she chat, chat chatted but didn't crawl til 10.5 months or walk til 14 months. They're all different try not to worry, she's still so young

Peekaboo? Funny faces? Throwing her up in the air? Pretend to fall over? Gentle tickles? What kind of response to those things get?

My DD was the same with noises, hates loud bangs, hairdryers, hand dryers, the hoover, basically anything. She's getting better now, I think it's pretty common at that age, it's all unfamiliar to them and they haven't learnt to ignore all the background noises yet.

The fake coughing noise is a good sign as well, most babies do it, she knows it's a way to get your attention. I agree with Rosie1990, sounds like she's focused on her motor skills. As for autism, a lot of the research suggests that very early indicators of autism are slow development of gross motor skills, sounds like that's not a problem for your DD so I wouldn't worry.

I also found that DD began saying 'ma' at about 5 months and then stopped for a while when she learnt to sit up and crawl and then the babbling started again, and now she doesn't stop. So I wouldn't worry, keep on trying to entertain her and I'm sure she will soon. Definitely mention to your health visitor if you're worried though. But they're so little at this stage and there's so much variation they will most likely just tell you to keep an eye and come back if you still have any concerns in a few months.

Peekaboo and throwing up in the air get smiles and a kind of half laugh... She doesn't seem ticklish but does take her foot away if we tickle. I'll try falling over! Thanks.

My DD didn’t laugh or smile much then saw someone fall over when she was about 10 Months and laughed really hard. She still has a slightly Schadenfreude sense of humour now

If you're not getting babbling sounds at all then I would ask for the HV to review her.

My eldest never babbled or laughed, but began speaking in full sentences around 19 months.
I'm afraid all babies are different, and they work to their own schedule!
Do try not to worry- speak to your HV, and they'll likely know dozens of babies that weren't making noises at this age.