LO not waving or pointing? When to be concerned...
Hi all.. I'm new to this board. I took a hiatus from thebump during my LO 9-12 mos but am back to ask about him about 2 weeks after his 1st bday.
He is already walking (fast!), makes eye contact.. mimics head shaking and mouth popping, bangs toys together, claps, tries to stack and put cups inside each other but I'll be darned if he doesn't wave bye-bye after 3 months of trying!
He doesn't really have any real words, the typical mama, baba, dada but never seems to be associated with anything and he doesn't point for anything. He does reach arms up when he wants to be held.
I've read that not waving by 12 mos can be an early sign of a social disorder so I was wondering how any of you have had babies with this level of development turn out?
TIA for taking the time to answer.
Jess
Re: LO not waving or pointing? When to be concerned...
My daughter didn't start pointing until she was 14 months - she'd reach toward things and gesture in their direction, but didn't actually stick her pointer finger out until then. She started waving around 11 months, but it was VERY sporadic, and she stopped completely for awhile too. Probably around 15 months she started doing it much more intentionally and appropriately without prompting.
She was also a late walker too, but was early with most other things. I was concerned about the pointing thing but what can you do? Bring it up at your next doctor's appointment and they'll let you know if there is any reason to be concerned - I doubt there is.
LO would wave bye at about 11 months and that lasted for about 2 weeks, then she stopped until she turned 16 months. I didn't worry about and she is plenty social with and without the waving.
LO has been pointing for a long time. I don't really remember when it started but we had a game of pointing and making funny faces at her so she mimicked that first then moved on to pointing at objects she wants. We started the pointing at objects by getting her to point to the bottle or sippy on the counter since that was something she almost always wanted ASAP.
Yes, not pointing could be a sign of a developmental delay or autism. If that is his only red flag, I would make sure you talk to your pedi, keep an eye on other red flags, and encourage pointing as much as possible.
My DS didn't point at a year either. He is now finally starting to point and reach for things. However, autism has not been ruled out for him yet. He's showing many, many signs that are not consistent with autism, but still has a few other things that could be due to autism.
This exactly. We don't point, wave, etc. But back around 10-11 months we made an effort to point at everything and wave good bye every time we left. He started pointing pretty much right away, and was waving within a month or two. Just practice it with him. Same with clapping, it only took a few days for DS to pick it up because we really worked on it.
Liam has been waving since around 10 months (still doesn't do it all the time, though) but only started recently pointing to things. He has several words that he uses pretty inconsistently (mama, dada, dog, bye-bye, hello, thank you, baba, ball) and those are just a recent development. He is very social, though, and initiates play with us all the time, babbles to us and everyone else, makes great eye contact, and is very loving and cuddly.
As long as he is being social, making eye contact, etc. and hasn't regressed on any skills I would just see how things play out and not start worrying just yet. It's still too early to tell anything and you don't want to waste time fretting about it.
DS still doesn't point nor really wave. He would make the motion when he was done eating but that's about it. Instead when he "waves" he pretty much just puts his arm up and his hand in like a high five position, then turns around and walks away. To him that's bye-bye waving.
But he was also do that if he's wanting something he can't reach.
Usually around 14-15 month is suppose to be concerning for a social d/o.
Also you stated that your LO is really good at walking. When DS had his developmental screening at 12 months. The person doing it said that if they are concentrating really hard at doing something (i.e. verbal, movement, etc) that the other will lag behind until they master the task they are doing at the time. That's why some babies are better walkers first and some babies are better talkers first.
Once DS started to walk really well, I noticed his verbal has increased and he's trying to talk a lot more.
HTH