Hi everyone, I'm looking for honest experiences from parents who have been through something similar. My first son is 9.5 months old, and I'm becoming increasingly worried about his development. • He almost never makes eye contact with the person holding him. If he's sitting on my lap or lying on my chest, he usually looks around instead of at my face. It's very difficult to get his attention unless I use something highly engaging, like raising my voice or playing peekaboo, and even then, I lose his attention quickly. • His eye contact is better from a distance, but he doesn't maintain eye contact and quickly shifts his attention between people, toys, and his surroundings. • He makes much better eye contact with strangers and with children around 4–6 years old than with familiar faces. • He doesn't consistently imitate sounds, facial expressions, or gestures (such as clapping or waving). He does clap on his own sometimes, but he doesn't imitate clapping when I demonstrate it. Around 9 months, he briefly imitated screaming sounds and sticking out his tongue for one day but then stopped. • He isn't canonically babbling yet. He makes lots of sounds like "ahh," "ooo," "ggg," and "thhh," but not consistent "ba," "ma," or "da" sound isn't canonically babbling yet (no consistent "ba," "ma," or "da"). He said bababab / mamama for 2 days when he was 8 months and stopped. • He smiles at me, smiles back, laughs during silly games, follows people and objects well, and usually responds to sounds. He responds to his name inconsistently. • He loves his walker and happily chases people with it when they walk or run in front of him. • When we're outdoors, he seems to zone out and becomes fascinated by his surroundings. He rarely looks at people's faces and spends most of his time looking at the sky and everything around him. • He often stares at the ceiling or lights and sometimes smiles while looking at them. • He sits independently, can stand with support, and reaches for toys. • Both his hearing and vision have been tested and are normal. We don't have a developmental pediatrician where I live, so we've only been seeing a general pediatrician, but I haven't been getting clear answers. Yesterday, I took him to a pediatric neurologist. He performed a full neurological examination and said his muscle tone, reflexes, and physical exam were all normal. He agreed that there are some delays but said that every child develops at a different pace. When I specifically asked about autism, he told me that no one can reliably diagnose or rule out autism at this age, so his answer didn't really reassure me. He also ordered a brain MRI because of his larger head circumference, and the MRI came back completely normal. I understand that 9.5 months is still too young for a diagnosis, but based on your experience: Do these sound like early signs of autism, or has anyone had a baby with similar concerns who later caught up developmentally? My husband and I have reached a point where we can no longer tell what's considered normal and what could be a sign of developmental delay or autism. We're constantly analyzing his behavior and watching where he looks. We have four other children in the family who are around the same age, and we can't help but notice differences in their attention, social interaction, and eye contact compared to him. I would really appreciate your thoughts. Thanks a lot