Hi everyone…. I don’t know where to start. I had a really tough few years of my life with infertility, serious health concerns, family issues, and now after giving birth to my long awaited child at 36 I strongly suspect he has autism.
I felt he was different from other babies early on but could not quite understand what and managed to stop worrying about him for a bit when he was showing some progress. However, recently some traits became more pronounced. I googled hand twirling and eye contact / no back and forth babbling and this got me worried about autism.
my beautiful baby is only 8 months old and it’s not just one thing that worries me but a whole picture (there’s just so much!)
to start with, it seemed like things were improving for my LO - he was giving more eye contact, became a bit more smiley, started saying babababa dadadadada, sat up around 8 months (although still falls) and just got his first tooth and started crawling commando style (but only engaging hands).
however other things I was worried about did not go away and became more pronounced If anything, also he used to make sounds in response to me when he was about 4-5 months old, when I sang to him and does not do it anymore. What worries me now:
- Doesn’t always smile back
- Rarely respond to name
- Doesn’t copy / imitate
- doesnt hold his milk bottle
- Babbles and smiles at objects / to himself but not in response to me so no back any forth babbling
- also his babbling is repetitive and monotone
- Swirling hands and feet - constant need for movement. Especially when hi sits in a play chair or on someone - he sort of puts his arms out and up (like a scarecrow lol and starts twirling his wrists), stretches out legs and twirls his feet and wiggles toes , does it pretty much all the time, people commenting “he always needs to be on the go”, “can’t sit still” etc. if he is not sitting he will be flapping hands and / or arms or rubbing feet together or against something pr hitting things
- Stiffens / tenses arms and legs and grunts
- Tongue protruding most of the time
- Grumpy easily and gets very frustrated easily and with everything, especially if I remove things he should not be playing with
- Wakes up every couple of hours / can’t sleep alone so we co-sleep
- Need for sensory input -all the time squeezing, touching, rubbing, sucking constant, chews and sucks on my arm / shoulder / hand
- No sustained eye contact - he will look at me when I sing to him or work hard to entertain him or from a distance and will half of the time smile but then will turn away quickly
- no standing / standing on toes / not interested in jumperoo
- Difficulty in weaning - dislikes purée texture / gags/ vomitted once , but likes eating paper
- Hard to engage playing with toys - interested in labels /zips / tassels, with toys mostly violently bashes them
- Does not smile at himself in a mirror - would rather look at me than himself, smiles at objects more than people
- Often rubs his face as if tired but def not tired (I.e. just had a long nap and bottle), my mother in law always comments on this
- Short attention span
- Not much interest in toys / does not enjoy peekaboo much / gets bored of it quickly but likes when I blow bubbles for him as “ready steady go”
- quickly loses interest in old toys and prefers non toy objects - shoes / mugs / etc
- throws himself backwards arching his back and throwing his head back when frustrated / bored / upset
i have a terrible anxiety about it, mostly that I worry that with so many red flags presenting so early he would be severely affected coupled with a intellectual disability. I am ashamed to admit the thought of life caring for such complex needs person terrifies me.
i am trying to address my anxiety but I would also like to connect with mums who are going through similar worries, to feel less isolated as at the moment babies groups are just sending me deeper into depression.
thanks everyone for reading.