AS Parent With New Baby...input?

Post Reply New Topic

Well, just an update:
He's been born and is a couple of months old now. He's smashing and both myself and my good lady wife are very happy with His Nibs.
The crying is difficult and so is the having to hold him but even thought it can frazzle me a bit I'm more than happy to do it if it makes him even a little happier.

Thanks again, folks.

the crying was always difficult for my aspie hubby......still is.

Congratulations on the baby!

The best thing I can say is that worrying is part of being a parent, regardless of whether you have AS or are NT. I am fond of saying that the worrying starts when you see that positive pregnancy test and it continues for the rest of your life. I think that you just have to accept that you are always going to worry about your child (and this applies to all possible combinations of NT or AS parent or child).

The good news is that a lot of wonderful things will happen, too.

If your child is NT, you may get some comfort in the fact that most NT children are basically hard-wired for social interaction. He or she will probably figure out how to find friends and be successful with social interactions even if you aren't good at it. He or she will likely figure everything out from friends at school because that's how NTs usually do it.

If your child is an Aspie, he or she will benefit from having two parents that know what it is like to grow up with Aspergers.

I don't mean to minimize the problems that you may face. I'm just trying to point out that having Aspergers doesn't disqualify you from being a successful parent.

That doesn't read accurately. I love to hold him. LOVE IT. Just that when I'm exhausted and need to sleep, he sometimes needs attention - THAT'S hard. But then every parent AS or not has to deal with that.
Oddly, I think my good lady wife (also AS) has more difficulty with him crying than me. I still hate it, though.

But at this stage he's a joy. Once he's more social that's when I see trouble.
We love him, though, so I'm sure we'll work it all out.

Oh, and RudolfsDad, I know exactly what you mean. I'm actually more worried he'll be NT than I am of him being AS. If he's NT then I worry that I'll be confused by him and be of no use in certain social situations.
But I suppose this is really a similar worry to most parents it just looks slighty different as AS is involved.