My Baby Has Symptoms of Autism: A New Mother's Experience

Experts estimate that between three to six of each thousand children around the world have autism, and that boys are four times more likely than girls of suffer from it.

Autistic child have difficulties interacting socially, have communication problems, and show reiterative and obsessive behaviors that can range from light symptoms to more incapacitating levels of the disorder.

Frequently parents are the first ones to discover the primary symptoms of autism in their children, as was the case of a family in northern Utah.

Daniela Cifuentes said that she had an inkling that something wasn't right with her son Gabriel, the first of her two children, since the moment he was born, seven years ago.

"He was a very restless baby who cried frequently without any apparent reason and had a hard time trying to go to sleep," said Cifuentes.

Throughout the months, she observed that while others babies the same age began to discover the world around them and were playing with their hands and smiling, Gabriel was in need of a lot of attention and stimulus to remain entertained.

"I knew something was wrong but I couldn't put my finger on anything," said Cifuentes. Her family suggested that with time the behavior could change. She said that her son needed to be in her arms at all the times, even though he was clean, and had eaten. Her concern was that he wasn't distinguishing the difference between days and nights.

Talking with other mothers of babies the same age as Gabriel, Cifuentes learned that there was a time in the development of their infants that they started sleeping for many hours, thus allowing these mothers some moments of rest and calm. But that was not her case at all.

The family life and routine completely changed for the Cifuentes family. "Before Gabriel was born, I used to cook real food, but now I am only making macaroni and cheese or plopping cold cereal boxes on the table," she said.

The family social activities disappeared and she didn't have enough time to dedicate to her husband, clean her home or just chat on the phone. At one point she had to disconnect the phone when the baby was sleeping, even if it was just for a few minutes. The ringing could wake him up.

But these early symptoms were only the beginning of the journey with autism for the Cifuentes. As Gabriel grew, other symptoms appeared and the worry increased as the family could not communicate with their son. At the age of a year and a half he still wasn't talking, didn't understand when somebody was calling his name, and always seemed to be in "another place," very far away.

According to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders, from the first day of life an autistic infant shows symptoms of the disorder and cannot focus on objects, respond to people around him, or progress as a typical newborn should. Daniela Cifuentes certainly knows all about this.