Signs of autism in a baby?!

[RosaM12]

My baby is 7 months old and today, someone said, ‘maybe it’s autism’
I can’t stop thinking about it. A. Because I wouldn’t dream of saying that to another parents but B. What if they’ve got a point?

I work in a school, have a large family and an older child so see children of all personalities, temperaments, shapes, sizes- whatever! Because of that, I see a tiny % how incredibly difficult children who have severe autism can be. On the other hand, I see things that blow me away and I’m amazed by. But even then, it’s undeniable many struggle. What I do know for certain is that, I feel children with SEND are being failed by the education system in this country and it breaks my heart to think he could go through that. Then what next? What would his future look like?

I KNOW it’s way too early to tell.
I KNOW I should enjoy my baby- believe me I am.
& no, it would not make a difference
But I am intrigued…

if you have a child with autism, when did you first notice something? What were the early signs?

my 7 month old has been hitting his head with his fist. He does this when feeding or tired. I thought it was probably just teething?
He is also VERY active. His hands and feet do not stop moving. He rubs his feet together, stiffens his limbs and waves his arms when excited. At baby group, he does stand out amongst the other children and is totally different to his sister.
He also mouths everything, even when I would say his teeth aren’t playing up.
Oh & a terrible sleeper. Still up about 6/7 times a night.

Apart from that, I would say he seems pretty NT. He responds to his name, babbles, can roll, sit up unaided, although seems to have 0 interest in crawling (his sister was crawling by now but also know that’s pretty normal)

I also don’t mean to offend, just interested to see if any parents did spot any signs at this age range?

All of that sounds incredibly normal. He sleeps like a baby does, he's moving to strengthen himself, he's busy. So many threads recently about whether a perfectly standard child is ND.

People should shut up with this ND bs.

He sounds normal, all babies are different like all adults are! Cut his day sleep down to get less night wakes.

I thought this! He sleeps 2.5 hours across three/four naps. After been awake for 2/3 hours he’s sooooo grumpy so didn’t think I could cut them anymore.
maybe I just deal with the grump better

You had a post before when they were 6 months, are you going to be asking ever month? People have already said it's too early, just enjoy your baby.

I was highly experienced in working with asd kids. I recognised signs in my son around 12m but I didn’t worry i waited. At 20m I referred to salt and requested a hv appointment. Both agreed to refer to paediatrician. He was diagnosed at 3 yearsand 4 months.
i d honestly be surprised if there are obvious signs at 7 months.

I mean this kindly, please enjoy your baby at every stage. I work at a specialist school and children present ND in all different ways.

There are milestone where your health visitor will say they are doing or not doing. Please go with the flow. This measure may or may not be correct.

I am also reading you're posting frequently, since the 6-mth mark. Little changes will take place and you may not get the answers you're looking for. Enjoy this precious time.

Yes it's so annoying, diagonisidng others

I was wondering can a child regress to autism at 6 years old?

I'm autistic as is older DD. 7 months is too young to tell. A lot of the behaviours that are present in older autistic kids are a normal part of a babies development. He'll either outgrown them (likely) or he won't, if he doesn't buy say aged 3 have a chat with the GP.

"my 7 month old has been hitting his head with his fist. He does this when feeding or tired. I thought it was probably just teething?"

It's all he can do. He has terrible fine motor skills and no words.

"He is also VERY active. His hands and feet do not stop moving. He rubs his feet together, stiffens his limbs and waves his arms when excited."

Bang on cue, in fact a touch early. Again, he doesn't have anything else he can do. It's likely that it will fade once he can clap, wave, or talk... He's communicating his joy!

"At baby group, he does stand out amongst the other children and is totally different to his sister."

How so?

"He also mouths everything, even when I would say his teeth aren’t playing up."

Yep, it's at it's most intense at 6-9 months, but it will fade by 18-24 months as his motor skills improve and he can explore things differently.

"Oh & a terrible sleeper. Still up about 6/7 times a night."

Annoying but really normal.

Nothing there screams ASD.

there definitely signs very early on but it’s only really in retrospect that you see it. For example, an autistic child won’t look at where you are pointing, they often don’t mouth toys and objects and can be incredibly sensative to light and noise. Also react very negatively to people. Also if there are additional LD’s they tend to dribble for longer - although this is taking them more in to age 5.

I didn’t work with autistic kids but I am autistic, raised one, and am always struck by how different non autistic babies are, and frankly, how socially aware they are pretty much from the first few weeks. I’m pretty sure this has been researched but I can only go on my own life experience. FWIW OP’s baby just sounds like an active baby and it probably is too early to start worrying about- the problems tend to become more visible once they are expected to integrate with their peers at nursery but cross that bridge when it arrives.

Pretty quickly we knew something was up, from day 2 he didn't sleep unless held, woke up every hour, couldn't stand any unexpected noises eg blender or vacuum cleaner. Very happy and smiley and met milestones like rolling, walking on the early side. Childminder pickups were a total meltdown after being fine all day. All that by 1 year.
By 2 he was melting down if things were lost, even if they weren't his. By 3 we were struggling with toilet training.
Well ahead on numbers, could read most things by 3.5 years old. School picked him up at 4.5 as needing assessment.

However our other child was much more chilled, good eye contact, everything different, and the latter became noise and sensory sensitive. But he was also flagged by school, but at 3.5y.
It's hard when you're the parent as you may not have as many points of reference, I would say keep it in mind and mention it to school etc when it gets to that stage, but if they are getting the right support anyway, it's not urgent to know.

We didn't know at 7months but we knew things were different (second baby) and knew from the signs it could be.

• Didn't respond to name or favourite toy noises
• hated the normal baby movements from newborn (car seat/pushchair)
• screamed blue murder anywhere with harsh lights (Tesco's and hospitals)
• hit milestones late
• no babbling/baby sounds
• little interest in us talking/smiling/pulling faces

By 1 we suspected autism, by 2 weeks started ruling out hearing/other things that could impact development, by 3 we were on the diagnostic pathway, by 4 we had an autism diagnosis.

Wouldn't have had a clue at 7 months. She was an incredibly wakeful and alert baby right from birth, but it's only since that I've learned that can be a sign.

Lots of signs followed that (speech delay, hyperlexia, late toilet training, incredible memory for visual detail, toe walking, meltdowns) but it wasn't until she was 6 that I joined the dots.

Enjoy your baby. It would be near impossible to know at 7 months.

Mine was late to smile for the first time (about 10 weeks old) so was always ‘different’ from an early age. Was very obviously neurodiverse from about 18 months. Diagnosed at 7.

I had suspicions from a very young age (maybe 4 or 5 months). I wonder if it’s because I have suspected ASD and was aware of the traits due to DB getting diagnosed not long ago. I voiced concerns when DS was 1, and again when he was 2. Was picked up by preschool teacher when he was 3. Started pathway for assessment at 4 and diagnosed at 5. I knew for a long time but was generally brushed off for most of it. I will say it’s good to be openminded to anything as you just don’t know. DS had glue ear and mild hearing loss which was only suggested because of his speech delay.

I think their can be signs at a very young age. My friend has 2 boys eldest is autistic and her youngest is 7 months and never makes eye contact. I strongly suspect he has autism to

We suspected with ours at that age. She screamed and screamed and barely slept. Her memory was also ridiculously
good.

she wasn’t diagnosed until she was 9. She has the largely “good” kind of autism where the advantages tend to outweigh the downsides.

finding out your child has autism doesn’t have to be scary. It’s not bad for everyone. For some of us, it means some struggles, but also some real perks. I love my ASD brain. My dd is thriving.

Mumsnet is absolutely obsessed with neurodiversity.

Not to sound like a dig, but if it is autism, so what! I have autism & my baby dad has ADHD & autism. Our daughter is bound to get something of ours but that’s ok! Enjoy your baby, let your baby be a baby & don’t let anyone make you question it.

My son definitely had signs from 7m but there’s absolutely no way I’d have recognised them at the time! In hindsight yes. He was diagnosed at 3 years and 8 months old though

My son was very late with meeting his milestones. the health visitor said he should be playing with toys by now but he wasn't able to grip or hold anything, not even a rattle. didn't sit up or crawl until very late. I cant remember how late the milestones were (hes 30 now) but we're all a year or 2 delayed. hes autistic, still living at home, doesnt work but has a voluntary job.