rocking while sitting

one of my LO's will sometimes rock back and forth (forward and backward) while sitting.
is this normal at 10 months?

 

That just means he's getting ready to MOVE!!! :woohoo: They test their balance, strengthen their muscles, all that good stuff!

 

ok, lol
he does it in his highchair a lot. i read online it is an early sign of autism so lost my sh*t
hahahahaha

 

OMG, I really need to video tape my boys...they have the FP booster/high chairs that strap onto our reg chairs. They rock those things SO hard (in tandem, no less) that they can get the front chair legs off the ground a little. I'm certain that, if left unattended long enough, they could be halfway down the road in those things! :laughing:

 

Sometimes it can be an indicator, but it would have to be paired with a bunch of other indicators- not smiling, not looking at people, etc. Babies have to learn how to contol their whole bodies- he's probably just figuring out crawling or his upper body.

 

he doesn't smile often. he's a little serious; or more serious than his brother for that matter.
now im freaking out, lol.

newpairofschus, you made me feel much better!

 

My dd at about that age once sat on the beach under a tent holding a ball and rocked for literally an hour or more. The whole weekend (vacation with friends) people kept asking me if all she did was rock. Now, she won't stay still and mobility was right around the corner from when the rocking hit its peak!

 

don't freak out if he's rocking and doesn't smile as much as his brother if those are the only signs. i went through the whole autism workup with 2 of mine. thankfully neither of them have autism, but they both exhibited multiple symptoms so i educated myself a lot about it during our "wait and see" time. it isn't so much lack of smiling that is worrisome. some children really are more reserved and "serious" than others. it's lack of social skills and inappropriate displays of affection that is problematic (for example my LO would love all over strangers, but wouldn't look me in the eye or show me affection and would swat at me if i tried to hug him and one of my twins would run around in a circle staring at the ground and wouldn't interact with others). for some kids the 1st sign of a lack of social skills is not smiling, but it's a complete lack of a social smile usually so not smiling as much as his brother could be totally normal. both of my 2 that we were worried about rocked a lot and my LO grunted and flapped his hands as well. as it happened, one has a speech delay and the other had a mild physical delay and their physical signs of "autism" were signs of frustration. it's very possible that your son is rocking because he is getting ready to be mobile like the other ladies said and that is perfectly normal.

 

i feel like he does pay attention more to others (Strangers) than he does me.
should he be hugging me and stuff like that?

hes also obsessed with this one toy. i read that was an early indicator.
he also doesnt laugh at peekaboo either

 

He's young. I would try not to worry. There are many, many autism indicators and almost all of them can also be normal for some children. Without a professional evaluation, it's all just speculation. I have seen almost all of my babies rock back & forth. They are learning to control their bodies, testing their limits, getting ready to move. :hug:

 

he also rarely plays with his brother. but when friends bring their children over, he plays with them and laughs, laughs, laughs! he's never met these kids before!

 

I am a preschool special educator...so I have had many children with asd (autistic spectrum disorder) come through. Because of this I am a constant worrier when it comes to my own. Your child really is too young to read into any of the behaviors you are describing. They all sound very typical of a baby, and not red flags. They may be flags later (after the age of two) but he is far too young to speculate. I have found that babies at times exhibit odd behaviors, which are normal for babies, but in an older child indicate problems. Your son sounds fine IMO