in

England

Repetitive movements - jazz hands / opening and closing hands / stiffening arms and legs and rolling hands and feet

Hi all, I’m feeling really anxious and down a rabbit hole on the internet on ‘stimming’ and signs of autism in babies. I’m a FTM and never really been around babies save for now when I take my LO to groups and don’t see any other babies doing this. I was really stressed throughout my pregnancy with work and didn’t look after myself in terms of getting rest and eating right and whilst already being a massive over-thinker and anxious person, feel a lot of guilt about that now my son is here and worry I’ve done something as he’s just the best thing that’s ever happened to me, I just want the best for him. I’ve seen a few mums post on here about their children doing similar things and people have commented that it’s normal or their child did it and grew out of it and was neurotypical. I think I’m just looking to see if anybody’s child did/does the same as my son and whether they grew out of it/were diagnosed with autism or if stimming in the way my son does makes it more likely he will be autistic or continue to stim/find new stims - just for my information and understanding.

My son is 8 months old but around 5 months he was constantly twirling his feet. He stopped doing that as much at about 6 months and since then he’s been stiffening his arms and legs and kind of rotating his hands and feet / opening and closing his fingers. I’d say it’s mostly when he’s excited or frustrated/upset, when he’s doing a poo! when he wants to be picked up and in his high chair quite often. I can’t tell if it looks voluntary or not but he kind of whacks his arms out. Recently I put him on the grass which scared him at first but then he got used to it and he did it then so I think it happens when overstimulated too. Somedays it feels like it’s happening a lot. He can sometimes be distracted from it(I.e if I gave him a toy or did something I know he thinks is funny) and he will still be communicating with me whilst doing it (I.e smiling or crying if upset and looking straight at me but sometimes not). Other than this, I never would have even thought about autism. I don’t believe he’s showing any other signs but now I keep looking for things that he’s doing and thinking they are signs. I did take him to the gp and health visitor and they’ve said it is normal for now and you can’t tell much till they’re older but I still can’t help but worry for the future now and feel like I can’t enjoy the moment constantly worrying and kind of wishing time away. I’ve just put a few more things he does below which I’ve seen can also be signs but also be normal baby behaviour below - are these normal? I know that some babies don’t stim at all and are diagnosed, but does stimming mean they are more likely to be diagnosed? I know you can’t diagnose at this age, I’m just worried having seen all of these videos online! Now everything he does looks repetitive or obsessive and I wouldn’t have thought anything of it otherwise.

For reference, great eye contact, loves playing games, has imitated sounds and saying ‘no’ and clapping, really good and social with adults some older kids but not small babies (see below), sleeps really well, good with food etc

- since learning ‘no’ shaking his head to imitate me, he’s been shaking his head
- Does flap arms when excited and slaps his legs if sitting but that looks more voluntary than the arms described above and sometimes accompanied with a head shake since learning ‘no’
- He’s been teething since about 3 months and has 8 teeth so everything always been in the mouth but with some toys and food he will hold them close to his eyes, inspect them by rotating them and then put them in his mouth. It doesn’t seem obsessive or for very long I just thought it was weird
- Again, doesn’t seem obsessive and he does generally play with toys but he will always find a label and fiddle with it
- Rubs feet together and on things, especially when feeding
- Biting me only when tired and frustrated
- kicking legs a lot, especially in bouncer, when being held and in high chair quite often
- This one I used to think was funny so maybe he thinks it is!! But he will bite really hard on a spoon and some other objects (not often but almost every mealtime!) with all of his might and his whole body will shake and put his hands into fists
- Shivers on grass and does the arms above. Noticed it on other occasions, I assume when overstimulated
- He’s gotten a bit better with this but generally he’s not interested in other babies or small children, he actually looks disgusted by them and turns his head away
- Sometimes he makes this grunting /panting sound with open mouth and does the arms
- Since about 7 months he’s been screaming loads / squeals / high pitched
- Very vocal but not loads of babble except dada and gaga in bursts on random - no mama or baba
- Will press his index finger and thumb together and scratch things. Also smacks everything
- currently showing no signs of crawling or wanting to move, just rolls onto his back from tummy

Sorry for the download but find it really hard to talk to anyone about it so just looking to hear from other mums experiences as mums on this app seem really sensible compared to other social media!