Limited Eye Contact and Not Following Toys

Whoa.

She is 10 weeks old. While many of us with autistic children can look back and say that we saw signs this early, there is nothing diagnositic for a 10 week old to determine autism, and if you start asking if my baby has it, your pediatrician is going to write you off as a nut. You want them to take you seriously. First things first. Speak to your pediatrician right away and get some referals. They will probably have you get her eyes checked and her hearing checked and may have you get some early intervention to help her track objects. Watch her developmental milestones very closely.

Next, stay off the internet, but if you get on it, read about develomental milestones so that you know what she should be doing. I don't know what you read, but you are finding stuff that is so way off in the lunatic fringe than even the most popular garbage is. Anyone can draw a crazy conclusion and put it out on the internet about what causes autism. If she has it, she has it, and blaming yourself for something you don't even know yet because you read something that is nutty and unproven is a waste of your time. Find out what you can do with her right now that is NOT a waste of your time.

M.

Talk to your pediatrician, and act sooner rather than later since you have a gut feeling that something is wrong, trust it. Don't try to put a name on it. Don't try to find out why, because why does not matter and it won't change what you do about it.

She may still have difficulty focusing her eyes. She may not be hearing well, so that when you call to her she doesn't hear you. That would be my first thought instead of autism. She is way too young for an autism diagnosis. Not being able to see or hear would explain most of what you describe.

Have you talked with her pediatrician about this? This behavior could also be normal for some 10 week old babies. Or there could be other causes totally unrelated to autism.

Please don't beat yourself up about drinking diet soda. This is just a theory and a new one at that. Researchers are reaching to find a cause and everything that they've decided continue to be just that. Theories.

NO ONE KNOWS WHAT CAUSES AUTISM. There is some solid evidence that it is genetic in some cases, but beyond that, we have no idea. There are all sorts of theories, including vaccines, artificial sweeteners, processed sugars, and even gluten. But no one knows. Please don't beat yourself up about drinking diet soda, especially now, when it's too late to do anything about it. If your child is autistic, there is no reason to assume that is why.

Everyone's advice has been very good. Speak to your pediatrician about what you are observing and get her eye-sight checked. That is the first thing that occurs to me. If your daughter continues to show signs of potential autism, you also have the opportunity for Early Intervention, which is key in all cases of autism. Don't just to conclusions just yet, because worrying won't solve anything, and don't take anything you find on the internet as fact unless it is from a reliable medical website. Good luck.

S.,

I don't know if they have this in Arizona, but in Illinois we have something called Early Intervention. All you have to do is call and they send a team of experts to your house for free to evaluate your child for free.

My five year old son has PDD-NOS, basically some autistic behaviors, but not enough to get an official diagnosis. I spent years dragging him from doctor to doctor trying to figure out what was wrong. It was frustrating. Like you, I read everything I could find about autism and it only confused me more.

Don't feel bad about drinking diet soda. There's so much misinformation on the Internet about autism. When your child gets older, you might want to bring her to a good psychologist who can do some neuropsychological testing to make sure she's developing correctly. I found it very helpful.

Hope this helps. Two months is so young. One of the most important things I learned is to trust your gut and don't wait for the pediatrician to worry before you call other sources for help. I learned that through my son and that experience made me call Early Intervention ASAP when my daughter had delays.

Good luck!!

Yes it is too early to tell just yet , and no testing can be done anyway until she is older. All you can do is talk to the ped about your concerns at her next well child visit. It could be nothing , she is just slower at doing things than her siblings (my 3rd child was) and she is fine , it could be a sight issue , but again you won't know until she is older , and if it is Autism , then it is , nothing can be done about it. My son is on the Autism spectrum and he is now 7 , I really started to notice little things in him around age 3 , then age 4 his teacher mentioned some stuff and then he was diagnosed.

It may or may not be, it's too early to tell at this age. Continue to watch her behaviors as she develops and seek out early intervention if you feel it's necessary. One thing to note thought is that when babies are overstimulated, they will often turn away their heads. It's a nonverbal way to tell us "ok, I'm done already". They do it during play, they will do it if a relative is playing kissy face, they will do it during eating times and more.

I would encourage you to think about the times that she does look at you - is it quiet, just after waking from a nap etc and compare those with times she turns her head. She may be more sensitive than your other kids or just have lots more going on that overwhelms her.

Hi S., I was just wondering how things turned out for your daughter? My daughter is 10wks and is doing exactly what you described your daughter doing at 10wks. Im really scared about the autism thing too, did your daughter start making eye contact and smiling eventually? Is everything ok?