First Autistic Symptom?

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The first things people noticed that were different about me:

* Not crying at birth.
* Serious feeding difficulties, had to be systematically taught how to nurse. (Something that's been observed in a lot of autistic people.)
* Something "looked different" about my eyes starting when I was born. (Unclear observations like this are sometimes the sort of things parents notice before a kid is at diagnosable age.)
* Being a "quiet baby". (I always asked what my brothers and I were like as babies, and they'd go into all these details about my brothers, including my autistic brother. If I asked about myself, I'd just hear "You were... quiet.")
* Rocking my head side to side in my crib.
* Relating to objects (such as my doctor's stethoscope) while apparently ignoring people.
* Learning to speak around twelve months but then losing it by 15-18 months, then it came back eventually as echolalia
* Hyperlexia (decoding the pattern of written squiggles to spoken noises in words, but having serious receptive language problems in both written and spoken language)
* Delayed toilet training and other self-care skills
* Screaming when other children approached me, but being fine on my own.

There's probably others but those are the ones people keep telling me about.

I started walking late.
I had a speech delay. I started speaking in sentences at the age of 4.
Delayed potty training, still having poop accidents until I was 6 and a half. I became incontinent in that area roughly 4 years and a month ago due to years of holding and straining to have a movement and I've been wearing disposable underpants since than. Don't worry. I won't drive you crazy with that YouTube song.

I did not look at people. I did not share. I developed an early routine which was sleep during the day, be up at night.
I stimmed and lined things up obsessively. I also started my collection at about 3 or 4.
I was a quiet baby until when I screamed at the top of my lungs, usually if the family was about to go out. This trait I notice in my youngest niece, who flaps constantly. Still too young to know for sure if she is autistic.
Late to talk, walk, and read.
Had a crying fit on my first day of school and many times in pre-school when my mum couldn't be there.

My mom said I was always a very picky eater. Then I had intense interests that totally dominated my existence--cars, bottles, etc. Finally, when taken to my first play groups, my style of play showed that I didn't take any interest in or pay any mind to the other kids playing around me. I think they showed up in that order.

Is being an easy baby common for people with ASD?

I was a fairly easy baby. Didn't cry a lot, slept in my own bed, ect.

But I have been early (compared to peers) on self-care skills (toilet trained at age to, never had an accident since, not even at night.), language and walking.

The next autistic traits that I can remember exhibiting were the stimming behaviors. I lined things up all the time. When I was a baby, I had about fourteen stuffed animals which all had names and were lined upin a specific order in the crib. If even one of them was missing, I couldn't sleep and my poor parents would have to stay up late looking for it.

I also got really, really absorbed into stuff. For example, reading a book and being so interested in what was going on that I wouldn't hear my mom yelling at me to get my attention. My parents nicknamed this trait ASD (attention surplus disorder), unaware that ASD stood for something else. A bit ironic, isn't it?

I didn't settle into a normal sleep schedule, cried constantly, and didn't calm unless I was being rocked. My mom solved the problem by "wearing" me in a baby sling for most of my first six months of life--the constant movement kept me calm, but she still ended up sleep-deprived.

My son was not a difficult baby except for the fact that he did not start sleeping through the night until he was 3 yrs old! I thought I was going to lose it from the sleep deprivation! He is now 5 though, and sleeps pretty good!!

- Not much of a crier. I fussed a lot, but crying seemed to be my last resort.
- Trouble nursing. Fortunately, this was quickly resolved.
- Very easy baby - in addition to being quiet, I had regular sleeping and eating patterns
- Didn't react much to different facial expressions and tones of voice.
- Lack of eye contact. I also didn't follow my parents' gaze.
- Disliked being held by anyone other than my parents
- Fascinated by certain stimuli. I could stare at some things - or nothing but the wall - for a long time.
- Hated other stimuli. I was very fussy about certain sounds and textures.
- Picky eater
- Advanced verbal skills. I said my first word around 6-7 months.
- Trouble pronouncing the R sound until I was about 4
- Skipped crawling altogether
- Walked at 10 months
- Potty trained at 2 1/2
- Started learning to read also at 2 1/2
- Little to no interest in the neighborhood kids or kids in school
- Began hand-flapping around age 3
- Followed routines. I had to use the same sippy cup, walk the same routes, do the same bedtime rituals. Sometimes I would insist on reading the same book at the same time every day. Each day my mom explained to me what we'd be doing that day, and at what time. In preschool (I went to pre-preschool at age 3) we sometimes rode tricycles, and it was unthinkable for me to ride anything but this one yellow trike.
- Extremely well-behaved. Had a total of three temper tantrums in my entire life. Two involved sudden changes in routine.
- High pain tolerance, very calm when injured
- Slow to reach milestones like tying shoes, riding a bike, etc.
- Some difficulty learning to tell time
- Did not often look at people's faces
- Enjoyed playing alone
- Occasionally tolerated but did not seek out or enjoy hugs and kisses

I used to scream day and night as a baby, I was constantly uncomfortable and had colic. Now I have IBS and I always get itches over parts of my body

Whenever I had a melt down, back when I was like 2 years old, I would faint. Scared the crap out of my mom.
Another thing was late talking, I'd just sit on the floor and expect people to give me things, why bother saying it if they bring me food without the harass of imprecating it?

I was always mad at people, didn't yell at them, just would give a huge frown to people, not look at all at people's face and not speak at all!

And whenever the melt down was not as severe as to make me faint, I would, well, have a melt down!