What signs did you see in your spectrum babies?

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All very interesting, thanks for sharing. I think my baby might be on the spectrum, but it is too early (9m). He is sooooo intense. Has no self-soothing abilities. He pretty much only breastfeeds. Never liked the bottle. He will take some breastmilk from a sippy cup at the babysitter, but refuses formula. He doesn't really want to eat food. Pretty much screams all the time. Sleeps very little, and fights falling asleep, and wakes up easily and frequently. Hates all strangers. But he's very driven to explore his environment. He rolled over and did a push up at only 6 weeks old. All his physical skills have come early. He was repetetively turning the pages of board books at a few months old. Back and forth, back and forth. He likes boing-ing the spring-y door stopper repetetively. It seems like he is verbally stimming too. He likes making strange noises repetetively - rolling his hand over his mouth.

Did anyone else's babies/small toddlers have "night terrors"? Ours used to wake up sometimes absolutely wide-eyed but otherwise obviously not with us, not awake, screaming bloody murder, and nothing we did seemed to help - in fact if I tried to hold him when he was freaking out, he would freak even MORE, like I was scaring him. His father and I would have to take him out of his crib/bed, and put him on a pallet of blankets/quilts on the floor in the living room with soft lighting on (not too bright, but bright enough to help him 'wake up'), and surround him with a barricade of pillows. He'd sit in the middle, screaming like he was witnessing or experiencing the most unimaginable horrors. It was TORTURE for us, watching this, agonizing for our little guy. But if we tried to do what was "instinctual" (hold him, talk to him, soothe him, cuddle him and assure him he was safe) he reacted like we were big hairy stabby monsters attacking him. The barricade of pillows was to keep him from hurting himself, flailing about or bashing his head on the floor, etc. After twenty minutes or so - it seemed like FOREVER - he would seem to "come around" and "come out of it," and would recognize us and act "awake" again, and accept our cuddles and maybe a drink.

He still has those from time to time, and he's nine. Fortunately he doesn't try to hurt himself or us anymore, but it's so weird, with him talking "to" us with his eyes wide open in terror, but you can tell he's not really "there." We have to turn the light on and get him a drink and wait it out, basically.

Did anyone else's babies/small toddlers have "night terrors"?

Oh yes the night terrors! We couldn't figure out why he would wake up screaming and my dad suggested the night terrors. It started when he was about 2 y/o and continued as far as I know until he was about 7 y/o. I used to ask him what the dreams were about and he would say, "They are so bad I can't tell you about them." Now he is almost 17 y/o and tells me he dreams maybe 1 - 2 times a year. He really only sleeps a few hours at a time. He has always been up and down through-out the night and still is.

Another thing I remembered is when he would get sick as a small child he would become so disoriented that one time he jumped out of bed and urinated in the corner of his room. It was like he was sleep walking. But he only got this way when he was sick.
Dawn

YES YES YES! I forgot about night terrors. Those were scary. He would suddenly just start screaming in his sleep and would never wake up.

colic, reflux, couldn't lie stilll, didn't smile often, poor eye contact, couldn't go to sleep easily, turned night into day.

7y son as a baby

night terrors - still has them
screaming for hours
very sensitive to noises - had to take batteries out of all toys still do.
hated swaddling - clothes in general
lined up all his cars across the room - woe betide anyone move one out of place.
headbanging -bouncing off walls
spinning whenever I hoovered - still does this but not everytime.
sensory seeking -liked to be held very tight.

loads more , of course at the time we just put it down to his personality . When I had problems breast feeding A midwife at the hospital said he was a very angry baby & when taken into the nursery at night to give me a break they had to put him next to the radio , otherwisw he kept all the other babies awake.

[quote]I had an internal clock that told me when it was time for bed, and I'd fall asleep no matter where I was.

Zonder, this was my son, too. It started when he was two days old! Every night at about 8:00 he would start to settle and by 8:30 be asleep. When he was about 4 we had a huge party with people in every room, including on his bed, so he just wrapped a blanket around himself and fell asleep on the living room floor amidst the noise and chaos.

He also hated to be swaddled but loved being in the sling. As he got to be an older baby I think he liked the sling not only for the sensory effects but because most people would not approach him closely when he was in it, as they sometimes did when he was in the stroller.

I don't like clothing tags, so I cut them out of all clothes, but there were some outfits he did not like as an infant, and he would squirm and fuss until I figured it out.

He toilet-trained before age two, I believe because he did not like wearing a wet diaper and especially disliked having poop on him.

In hindsight, there were signs at birth. However, no one was concerned until age 2 when my son only had 1 real word.

My oldest (less impaired): severe colic, non-stop screaming (not even crying, just screaming) from birth-- didn't actually cry (with tears) until 3 months. Other than this I didn't see many signs until he was older and wasn't talking.

My youngest (more impaired): I noticed right away-- no eye contact. If I could catch her gaze she turned her head immediately. This was obvious by 3 months or so.

I was also a picky eater until I was about seven, then I started to really enjoy food.

When my son was a baby he walked late and talked late and he just kept me very busy. He also loved only one toy from the time he was very young, first balls, then trains. He also would get upset if I took my other kids to school and didn't go straight home ( didn't turn at a stop sign ) he would scream and cry. I guess it was a routine thing.

My son was quiet, he didn't even cry when he was born,He wouldn't cry when wet, his changes had to be scheduled because of this or you would have no idea he was wet. He hated being put down it was the only time he cried but it wasn't really crying it was just screaming , I pretty much had him in a baby sling on whenever we were awake or was holding him. I didn't notice the lack of eye contact but others did, he smiled or laughed randomly and flapped his arms, as he got older he would miss the stuff like rolling over and be late with it he never crawled though one day he just started running and he would go off straight in one direction, he wouldn't eat solids only breast milk till he was over three he would learn a word and use it once or just repeat it. The doctor , who we had to see at a public clinic thought nothing was wrong although she did have his hearing checked as he wouldn't respond to his name , would say don't worry every child is different some just take longer, I would spend hours trying to get him to play and do normal baby stuff that I read from books( I never could play the way most kids do myself) and I gave up and played with him the way I like to play, by spinning stuff and lining things up and sorting things, or touching stuff like rubbing a blanked with an interesting texture with our hands , when he was walking we would both go spin outside he liked that and would be engaged.

My adoptive mom says I didn't cry much I was a "good" and seemed to be happy just being on my own , not that she payed no attention or ignored me she just says I l never needed to be entertained like some babys.

Allaura had night terrors too. They started at about 18 months and she had them off and on for about 2 years. We'd go through phases where she's have them nearly every night.