thank you for your replies.
i think the information about the weight bearing is v interesting and is probably the best avenue to go down!
i am going to not mention autism etc but I think i will mention about the weight bearing on legs thing.
Here's a list of do's and don'ts for sharing concerns with another parent. Very, very good advice.
http://www.firstsigns.org/concerns/parent_parent.htm
Good luck with everything.
It's wonderful that she has such a caring friend as you who is checking out her concerns like that.
I'm not sure how to tell her but do be very careful how you tread it's very rocky ground. You can just wait for her to start voicing her concerns - it prob won't take long.
I am so sorry to jump in here, I have been surfing the web for ages about this and thought the next step would be to ask some people who would probably know.
My friend has a baby of 11 months, I am worred about the baby and from what I can gather she is exhibiting signs of autism.
She has always been the most placid and calm baby, sleeps very very well, hardly fusses, when she was born this looked lovely, she was also very smiley, cute and very lovable. If I am honest as a mother myself i have never known such an easy baby.
However as time has gone on things have changed, said baby hardly smiles anymore, I looked after her for a day and she did not smile once. The only time she expressed any emotion was when she flapped her arms for happy/excited.
She played for long protracted periods of time with just one toy and was constantly putting things in things and taking them out again.
She rocked backwards and forwards quite a bit.
She did not complain when you took a toy away from her like my son did.
She bears no weight at all on her legs! None at all, she sits but did not do that till she was over 8 months and does not crawl, move about in anyway other than rolling.
She did not fuss at all when her mother left the house .
My friend has commented today that she would not look at them over the weekend and while she responded to her name she almost looks through you.
Overall she is still an extremely passive baby but just seems a little behind and seems to have regressed personality wise from where she was.
I am trying to get my thoughts together on it and think i will wait until she is over one before i mention anything but I am so worried for my friend.
Oh she is also a fussy eater and makes no discernable words yet (though I know 11 months is a bit early for that)
Am I right to be concerned and to be thinking along these lines or could it be something else?
My daughter was just like this..the most passive and easy baby I ever met in my life..I just thought she was an angel and how lucky I was..she was totally content to be alone and never cried or fussed to get my attn...she would actually get rigid and upset if I tried to get her out of her crib in the mornings. Never thought a thing except she didnt like people too much:) At 2.8 years old she got diagnosed with autism..she didnt talk or have good eye contact and walked on her tippy toes... All the things you have mentioned are red flags for autism..talk to your friend and tell her to get her daughter evaluated by a developmental pediatrican asap..ECI and speech therapists cant diagnose her.
I hope she listens to you and realizes that there is so much to help her dd if she is indeed on the spectrum but the key is early intervention.
She is lucky you are concerned about her little girl...many came to me months after my dd got diagnosed with expressions of knowing she was autistic but didnt want to tell me or know how..
She may get upset at you for bringing up the "A" word but she will remember you and be grateful for life if her daughter is on the spectrum.
Good luck and keep us posted:)
i am just not sure how to broach it
You could try bringing up just the weight bearing issue at first. That is a BIG concern. I looked at a few websites and all of them said that a baby should be bearing SOME weight on their legs by 6 months at the latest. Mine both did this by 3 months. I don't know how typical this is - but not bearing any weight at all by 11 months is a big concern. You may want to direct her to a developmental checklist. Here is one I found - it's probably not the best one out there (I'm guessing others can direct you better) but here it is:
http://www.keepkidshealthy.com/infant/infantdevelopment.html
You could mention some of the things you saw when you watched the baby and tell her it would be a good idea to bring these things up at the baby's one-year well-child checkup. I would HOPE that a pediatrician would be concerned that a child isn't bearing weight at 11 months. I might not use the word autism at first - but just maybe mention delays. Which it is possible this is all that the child has - developmental delays. She could have cerebral palsy as well.
You are a good friend to be watching out for her child. Be careful how you say this though - she may not be ready to hear it! And she will need all the support she can get if her child has delays or autism.
I'm glad you came to this board - we are here to help!
Not bearing weight on the legs by age 7 months is one of the Center for Disease Control's developmental red flags, definitely something to consult a pediatrician about (not necessarily because of autism). Here's a link to the CDC's milestones and red flags for 7 months -- the other ages will appear on the menu on the right side of the screen.
http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/autism/actearly/milestones_7months .html
Good luck talking to your friend about this sensitive subject.