When did you know?

[HunkerMunker]

I'm not sure if this is an upsetting thing to be asking, so I hope it isn't!

I've been wondering for a while now whether autistic children are different as babies? I've heard people say that their children changed overnight after their vaccinations (this is NOT intended to be a contentious vax thread though!) - but were there any signs at all of what was to come before the vaccinations?

I'm just interested really - like I say, I'm sorry if this isn't the 'done thing' to ask - I hope people know me well enough by now to know I'm not being deliberately inflammatory here!

Maggie - we're always happy to help with any questions etc. I still feel very grateful for all the help and advice I got on here back when I first joined (and since of course!). At the time ds1 was about 3yrs old and I had strong suspicions that he had ASD but we were in limbo land while waiting for an assessment. I'm always happy to do by best to try to return the favour to other mumsnetters.

Jimjams, when you say that by 3, an autistic child is having a bad time, exactly what do you mean? We saw the clinical pyschologist for a review today. When we saw her 6 months ago she said she didn't think Ds2 (3.5y) fitted into the criteria for a diagnosis of ASD and the paed agreed, but today she was umming and ahhing a lot more and said she thought he did have social communication problems and that he was showing delayed and even some immediate echolalia (although I was more doubtful about that.) She is also worried because he doesn't point. However she doesn't seem prepared to say he is autistic. I'm a bit frustrated because I had finally stopped worrying about why he doesn't point etc and now we seem to be back on the is he, isn't he rollercoaster. He has no rituals or routines, few tantrums and not anything really in the way of stimming that I can identify. He interacts well in the family and with familiar adults, although his language is definitely odd. Wouldn't it start to be fairly obvious if he was autistic by now? The CP did agree that he could fit in with the "autistic" manifestations of dyspraxia which I think is more likely.

J has always been blissfully happy too, always smiling and eager to please (though usually failing because he can't behave appropriately). He has several missing AS factors and I'd still say he has more ADHD tendencies than AS, yet the psych said that when she left the school after observing him she was "99% certain he had AS". Not sure what to make of that - I still have loads of questions for her. Perhaps the crossover indicators present differently depending on the condition. Who knows? Anyone here?

bumping this up so you see my question Jimjams

Sorry, thread too long to read all of it
DS was definitely different as a baby and one of my interests has become Early Diagnosis. That doesn't mean that all children who have ASD are so from birth or that, if they are from birth, that its obvious iyswim.
DS really screamed all the time and hardly slept. I know that babies do that but other people have since confirmed that it was excessive. My feeling is that he had sensory overload and "wasn't ready to be born". After about 3 months he became quite passive and slept well, responded well to structure etc, thank god I didn't know about Attachment Parening then as it would have been a disaster with him! He never made eye contact, had no attachment to me or DH or anyone else, never pointed, didn't make communicative noises, couldn't play etc etc.

Hi all , a newbie here .
I have a NT child then i gave birth to my son who was also NT until after recieving his mmr jab.
I do not wish to start a debate on the issue of the jab i am only expressing and sharing my personal experience.
My ds (now 5) is a low functioning autistic.
There were never any indications (infact he was a text book baby unlike his sibling who was difficult) until he reached 13 months, the handful of single words he had disappeared so did eye contact and so did his interacting skills also his placid contented personality took a walk and what appeared was and is the complete opposite.
There is no history of ASD his elder sibling is NT, he reached all milestones either on target or before. All i know is that my son changed drastically around 13 months alarm bells were going off until finally he was dx at age 2 with classic autism .