Autism/Torticollis

My baby also never stared into my eyes whilst feeding and now that you mention it, he loved staring directly into the lights?? I also thought it was odd.
He does babble make eye contact and LOVES (loves loves) other kids!
He is 13 months now..

thanks Claudia!

Not making eye contact is a sign, but it has to be taken in context. Early onset autism is also associated with no babbling, smiling, emotional attachment, so you cant only use 1 marker. These are things that your paed would note as "concerns" and probably refer for further assessment when baby was a little older. Ealry intervention is VERY important.
You also get some children that seem to develop autistic tendencies later (part of the reason for the MMR/autism debate). These children would seem typical and then seem to regress and internalise emotion later:)

A child with a torticollis struggles to turn their head due to muscle tightness in the sternocleidomastoid muscle, as well as due to vertebral issues. This is fixed with chiro/physio, stretching and positioning your baby to encourage the head to turn in the direction baby is reluctant to move it to:)

If your doc isnt worried, then I wouldnt!

thanks, I was just wondering if it could be.

I think maybe her looking up always (not always at you) is more than likely from her neck muscles.

The paed didnt have any concerns, its just what he said that made me wonder. Online they say it can be seen in babies (about 6 months) but im sure often misdiagnosed as babies like to explore alot.

I will definitely speak to the paed at the next visit about it just to make sure and maybe give the chiro a call.

Thank u ladies

Chris

When I au-paired in Holland, my friend looked after a little boy, he was 3 at that stage. They did not know he was autistic, only found out a little bit later. The signs was no talking, not potty trained, he only played with one thing, did not play with other friends his age, he would re-act differently if you talked to him. He did not look you in the eyes when you talked to him.

Like Suhaila said, they can only tell at a later stage.
Please keep us up to date

Hi Chris

From my experience in government and children's assessment centres, not making eye contact whilst feeding, or staring at the ceiling and lights etc are not signs of autism in and of themselves. they are part and parcel of normal and abnormal behaviour. They can be soft signs or markers for autism, which is usually diagnosed when a child is older. one of the first-level instruments used to screen for autism is the CHAT between 18 to 36 months, and looks at eye contact, social reciprocation, when the child enjoys being swung, bounced on the knee, do they take interest in other children, do they point at things that interest them, like the company of others, are withdraw, are fixated with objects, engage in repetitive stereotype behaviours etc. this this test along with measures of the childs cognitive functioning and social and adaptive behaviours, and a team of health professional opinions are then used to make a diagnosis, as Autism is a tricky disorder. in fact it is not so much a disorder as a constellation of signs and symptoms and is better understood as autism spectrum disorder. So your lg having one or two symptoms doesnt mean she is predisposed. was that the only concern the pead had? i wouldnt like for you to stress if it were just that for now.

hope that makes sense:)

Hi ladies

Does any ladies have any autistic babies/children or who had/has torticollis?

Just wanted to ask what are the symptoms you should look out for?

Reason why I ask is because our first Paed had asked us if the babies lok at you while feeding and we asked why do they ask that, what does it mean, he said that its one sign for autism.

Now, Im not 100% sure, and from researching it my daughter doesn't have all those symptoms that they give, but then could she have Torticollis?

She is always pushing her head back and staring up at the ceiling and lights and wherever else. Iv starting doing exercises with her again to try stretch her neck muscles. When she went to the chiro earlier, she said that she was very stiff between her shoulders and neck, but she had improved alot? Do you think this could still be it? Do I take her back to the chiro?

She does responnd when we talk to her, she will look our way and she smiles and gurgles when we talk to her.