8 month old doesn't respond to name or 'No'

[ImSureISaidNo]

Dd is average on everything I think but I'm starting to wonder about a few things.

She doesn't really respond to her name, occasionally/rarely she does but I think it's coincidence. To be fair it could be that I use a tonne of nicknames for her and had a bit of name doubt during the first 4 months so never really used it much.

However it's more her response to No combined with not responding to her name that's worrying me. I'm starting to have trouble changing her nappy, occasionally when she's occupied with a toy I manage but she often drops the toy, or would rather roll over mid change etc so I tell her "No" sort of firmly but it doesn't make much difference, "Stop" sometimes gets through to her but not often. Do I need to be concerned? I know it's an autistic flag (nothing wrong with autism but would prefer to know sooner than later for what I'm dealing with etc).

I don't raise my voice much when telling her No, do I need to? Obviously not shout it but raise it?! What do you do/ did you do?

Ignore parenting books they are there to make money it's a huge business praying on anxious new mums. Daisy Ridley (I think) wrote a brilliant book called 'Bringing up Baby' which basically looked back at the parenting advice given through the ages and the social and political impact, it's very interesting and made me rethink the parenting guides.

If you are interested in communicating early you should try sign language. Once baby's have the control of their hands to clap then they can start to sign.

DD was signing in sentences at 18 months ages before she could do the same with words. We did a toddler group called Tiny Talk that taught us, but there are lots of videos online, Mr Tumble or just make up your own. It reduced alot of her frustration as she could communicate milk, more, home, food etc so as a toddler she cried less.

Also as your baby gets older alot of young children don't process the word 'no' you need to use short, positive commands telling them the behaviour you do want, not putting ideas in their head of what you don't want ie "No, don't jump in the puddle" - child jumps in the puddle and gets told off, needs to be something like "Let's jump over the puddle" - child jumps over the puddle and everyone is happy.

Learning to parent is a lot of trial and error but you'll find your own way, just dont compare yourself or your baby to other people, that way lies misery as we can never compete with the version people publish of themselves.

Ignore the sarcastic responses OP. For some reason it seems to make insecure people feel better about themselves.

As for the word 'no', understanding the word and reacting accordingly are very different things at that age. Babies (even if old enough to understand) and very young children just aren't mature enough yet to be able to ignore their own impulses. An 8 month old baby may possibly understand the word, but isn't likely to often show any signs of this understanding by the relevant cooperation!

Distraction, distraction, distraction is your friend here. As a PP said, just have a few small interesting toys or objects close to hand when nappy changing. Just keep swapping them for something different once baby gets fed up with them.

It was a nightmare when Ds started walking just before 9 months. No way did he understand ‘no’. He was like a constant chaos machine.
He still is a year on but at least he does understand more now.

Things like dropping a toy and trying to roll during a nappy change are developmentally normal and won't be stopped with 'no' anyway. She's only a little baby so I wouldn't expect her to understand the word no yet anyway. It's not a flag for autism that she won't stop what she's doing when asked. She just doesn't understand yet!

I don't think many understand no at 8 months , mine still has trouble at 18
But seriously no i don't think mine got until past a year at least

A firm no in a raised voice will just startle/scare her. She will have absolutely no understanding of the word at all. If she rolls off, just keep putting her back and she will get bored eventually. I used to sit on the floor with my legs in a V and change mine in between them so they would hit a fleshy barrier eventually!

I have the world's most unusually compliant child (seriously, it's weird) and I'd say it wasn't until about 18 months that she started reliably responding to an "uh-uh". Don't worry OP (easier said than done, I know!) - they all do things at different times and your HV will raise it with you if there are any issues.