Expert: Celtica - 3/14/2008

Question
I have a 9 month old little boy and since he was about 4 months old it has seemed to me that he is a little different.  I have a 4 year old boy as well.  Anyway, I guess the #1 thing that worries me or seems odd to me is that he is not very affectionate at all.......I mean he Smiles all the time at my family and others but he will not hug or kiss or snuggle....he wants to be picked up when he is tired or upset but he will immediately turn out, like he's going to miss something, or he will squirm, he hasn't fallen asleep on me or anyone since he was like 4-5 months....if we are not home, I have to put him in his car seat and sway it to get him to go to sleep!  It's like he just cannot relax being held.  He will may eye contact for short periods of time, but then he will only answer or look when you call his name about 50% of the time.  We have always joked around and said he just mean or he is a brut because he will constantly pull my hair, roll into me, grunt , squeal.  He also gets incredibly aggravated if you try to touch his face,  he will block you and freak out, he will fight you and he is strong if try to wipe his face or give him saline drops we have to basically hold him down and he screams like you are giving him a shot.  He also hates to be dressed, changing his diaper and putting clothes on him and taking them off is soooooooo challenging, I dread it because he kicks and squirms, and crys , and flips over, etc...  As far as developmental milestones....he does babble but no actual words, and he can scoot (crab crawl) everywhere but he does not crawl , pull himself up on things or even go from stomach to a sitting position.  He can go from sitting to stomach but not gracefully......he usually face plants, and he still will trow himself backwards when he is tired or cranky.  We always have to put a pillow behind him because you never know if he is going to do it or not!  I can't remember how affectionate my 4 year old was at this stage but it just seems like he is constantly fighting us and for a baby to not want to be rocked to sleep or held to just relax seems so weird to me. I have read some of the signs of Autism and I know this is kind of a young age to really know anything but I don't know about any of the spectrums and I wanted to know what you thought if any of these things sound like red flags?   Oh and when he plays it is like he goes from one thing to another in seconds...kind of like he is all over the place like he cannot concentrate on any one thing.

Answer
Hi Brandy,

As I'm not a doctor I cannot dignose your child with anything. If you are worried, please go and see a specialist.
Usually, autism is not dignosed at such a young age. I don't know enough about early child development to be able to tell you if your child's behaviour is just a variant of "normal" or not.
What your write about him sounds a bit like he may have some sensory issues (which is commong among people on the autistic spectrum, but can occur in normal people too) which would explain why he doesn't like to be held. As I already said, if you're worried, please go and see a specialist.  

I'm sorry I cannot help you with this question.
C.