Hello
Hope you're all well. I guess I am finding this whole motherhood rather stressful. I think especially when you have some medical background you are constantly nit picking anything that might be unusual but possibly normal or something that is absent.
my daughter is 8.5 months now.
Gross motor wise seems ok ;
- sitting unsupported at 7 months
- Army crawl for last one month (so not proper crawling but I know crawling not a milestone )
- Able to weightbear using my hands as support and briefly holding onto something (tip toe mainly but appreciate babies are not used to being on their feet)
- Able to move object between hands and I have seen her bang two objects together in midline
- Etc
Fine motor wise good - no concerns either.
My concern really is her language , social communication skills.
She coos when she is in the mood and only occasional aaagaaa, gooo, baa , kaaa and definitely no repetitive babbling type noises (e.g. Bababbaba/dadada etc
Also very rarely back and forth sharing of sounds. I constantly try and copy her noises. She does look at me when I do copy her but doesn't necessarily make her copy back.
People frequently say what a "perfect" quiet baby I have but I know deep down babies are not supposed to be quiet!
There is no back and forth gestures either. For example - When I point at things she just looks at my finger and not what I'm pointing at. She doesn't point to things she clearly wants. For example she looks at her baby bowl with food I'm preparing for her and she looks at it makes a funny noise and looks at me and then back at bowl- doesn't bring arms out or point.
If I bring her favourite toy slowly towards her she eventually brings her arms up to grab it but doesn't actively point at it and look at me to tell me non verbally that she wants it.
When she is sitting up or in her highchair and wants to be picked up she just kicks her legs and moves her arms about but doesn't raise them up to tell me.
Same when she wakes up from nap:sleep in the morning. Just shakes her arms and legs and occasional moany sound to tell me to pick her up.
Also every morning and night I get her in front of the mirror and wave at her. She smiles but hardly ever copies a wave and just tries to look around. I can't really read her a book for long as she just wants to grab it and munch it or if I resist just look around to find the closest object she can grab and play with.
When she was about 5 months old she used to love peekaboo and mimicking me by sticking my tongue out but she definitively doesn't mimic me now . And rarely smiles when I play peekaboo now.
my husband thinks I'm being silly and it's because she is bored of the game.
She happily plays (and coos) with her toys and will 40% of time respond to her name and when she does look up she usually does smile and make a coo sound.
She seems better with hus and. I guess could be that she is bored of my face and voice and so when husband comes home from work she gives him good eye contact and smiles and squeals in delight and when he is doing something in the room she looks at him intently and then makes a sound to try and get his attention.
husband doesn't agree with me regarding her eye contact and thinks she is fine. But he only sees her for 15 minute in the week day
She happily plays with toys and moans whenever she is tired or wants to be picked up. She's not a cuddly baby unless tired/Ill but when she is in the mood will laugh if I make funny faces :tickle her chin. Never spontaneously. Occasionally she makes a fake laugh type sound when playing with her toys.
She doesn't play pat a cake.
I guess what concerns me is the fact she hasn't showed any signs of babbling at all.
Also the fact I can't get her to interact with me back and forth , no imitating or copying.
Her hearing is very good. She can hear husband take his shoes off from upstairs!
I remember when she was very young she was the only baby in a sensory room crying and stressed out due to the lights and sound of the foil blanket. We went again last month and she was fine. She is a very cautious baby and very curious. She constantly looking around and if someone walks in the room she has to assess the situation again and looks around to make sure nothing else has changed.
I guess the reason why I feel like opening up is because I was wondering if at 8.5 months of age there is still a chance things might improve ? If it was just the verbal aspect then I wouldn't be so concerned just yet but the fact that the non-verbal cues aren't there too.
If I was to put on a doctor hat on - obviously I say it's to early to say until 12 months of age.
My mother instincts and hat says ASD is a high possibility and instead of "watch and waiting till toddler " early intervention is key.
I have been tempted to get private paediatrician with specialist interest in ASD to review but I just know she will tell me to wait till after her first bday.
my husband thinks I'm screwed up. My sister thinks I'm being silly as "she is only just a baby".
I think my fear is that I won't be able to get her the best help ASAP as early intervention is key and I would hate having to wait till she is 2-3 years of age.
I know a handful of kids with ASD have ticked all milestones and sadly regressed but I was wondering if you know if 8.5-9 months is genuinely really still too young or that actually in most cases the red flags are present around now?