u/Designer-Wheel9317

My little boy is 2 years 4 months and is non-verbal. He has very little babbling and has never really gone through the typical “bababa/dadada/mamama” stage.

His understanding is good and he communicates really well non-verbally — pointing, signing, gestures, good eye contact and joint attention. He’s very social and engaged with us, but producing speech sounds seems incredibly difficult for him.

I’d really love to hear from parents whose child was similar at this age, particularly children who had little or no babbling as well as no words.
Did your child eventually start talking? If so, at what age, and did you ever find out what was causing the difficulty?

Positive stories especially welcome ❤️

Looking for some advice/experiences regarding a 14-month-old.

He seems a little behind across several milestones and was later to consistently respond to his name. He’s very active, always on the go and quite difficult to engage in sitting/playing together — he generally prefers doing his own thing rather than actually playing with you.
However, he is socially engaged in other ways. He often turns to look at you, points things out to share them, shows/brings things to people and interacts with you. He also notices other children and will offer them things (sometimes rather enthusiastically!).

His older sibling is autistic, so naturally there’s a question about whether these could be early signs or simply his individual developmental pace/personality.

For anyone with experience of autism or developmental delay at this age, what were your children like around 13–14 months? Did anyone have similar traits who later caught up, or did they eventually receive a diagnosis?

My son is 2y4m and has essentially no spoken words. He seems to understand around 90% of what we say and communicates really well through pointing, eye contact, gestures, signs and noises. He has good joint attention, affection, pretend play and social interaction, but has always babbled very little and rarely attempts to copy speech sounds.

He also seems to get overstimulated quite easily. When excited/overwhelmed he can run around a lot, and he can have meltdowns or “shutdowns” where he cries, goes floppy and doesn’t want interaction. He has some strong interests/preferences (hats, particular TV programmes) but isn’t particularly rigid about routines or change, doesn’t have much repetitive play and generally copes well with noises/textures.

His fine motor/problem-solving skills seem good, although his gross motor development has been slightly slower (walked at 18 months and isn’t quite properly running/jumping yet).

Has anyone had a child with a really similar overall profile? Did it eventually turn out to be a speech/motor-speech issue, autism, sensory/regulation differences, general developmental delay or something else? And how are they doing now?
oh and yes he had had hearing checked and is in regular speech therapy

I wondered if any parents of autistic children could share what their child was like at around 2–2.5 years old.

My little boy is 2 years 4 months and essentially non-verbal. He rarely babbles and communicates mainly through pointing, noises and signing. He did previously make a few animal sounds but stopped around 14 months.

I’ve never been sure about autism because socially he has lots of strengths — good eye contact, responds to his name, points to share things, has joint attention, waves/claps/signs, copies us, is very affectionate and understands most of what we say. He also does some pretend play.

However, he doesn’t really approach other children, struggles a lot with transitions and can have long meltdowns or “shutdowns” where he becomes floppy, withdrawn and doesn’t want comfort, sometimes for around 45 minutes. He also flaps his hands/runs and jumps when excited, has some sensory quirks and tends to focus most on cars, building towers and sorting colours.
He’s been referred to the Early Years specialist team because he’s non-verbal, so we’re getting professional input.

Did anyone’s autistic child have similarly strong eye contact, joint attention and social connection at this age? Does any of this sound familiar?

My child is 6 and recently diagnosed with level
1 autism.

She is very verbal, adventurous, exuberant and social. She doesn’t have any anxiety.

She does have sensory issues and can miss social cues and bodily cues etc which we’re working on.

She used to get very disregulated when angry but since we’ve seen an OT and included supplements / avoided sugar etc. she’s a lot better. She also sleeps well.

I’m concerned things are good now but this difficulties will start to
Manifest as she grows or whether with the support and early diagnosis we’re on to a much more promising future?

Thanks 🙏

My child is 6 and recently diagnosed with level
1 autism.

She is very verbal, adventurous, exuberant and social. She doesn’t have any anxiety.

She does have sensory issues and can miss social cues and bodily cues etc which we’re working on.

She used to get very disregulated when angry but since we’ve seen an OT and included supplements / avoided sugar etc. she’s a lot better. She also sleeps well.

I’m concerned things are good now but this difficulties will start to
Manifest as she grows or whether with the support and early diagnosis we’re on to a much more promising future?

Thanks 🙏

I’ve had it quite a few times before and tend to feel groggy next day but that’s about it.

I had 1500mg yesterday and would like same about today as have a lot of social etc to get through?

Thanks

Parents of kids with very large, open, expressive eyes — did they stay that way as they grew up?

My 5-year-old daughter has very large, open, expressive eyes, and I’m curious how much this tends to change as children grow.

If your child had particularly big/open eyes at around 5, did they retain that feature into their teens or adulthood? Or did their eyes eventually look much smaller in proportion as the rest of their face grew and matured?

My 12-year-old had her first 2mg melatonin last night. She said she got to sleep really quickly, but then kept waking up throughout the night — around 4 or 5 times, which is very unusual for her.

Usually her problem is getting to sleep in the first place, but once she’s asleep she doesn’t wake until morning.

Has anyone else experienced this when first starting melatonin?

Did it settle after a few days, or did you end up adjusting the dose?

Has anyone had a keratin/smoothing treatment on very dense curly hair where the aim was to KEEP the curls but reduce the overall volume/bulk?
My daughter has very thick, dense curly hair, particularly around the crown and front, and we’re not looking to straighten it. Ideally we’d like to:
keep her natural curls/ringlets
reduce frizz and puffiness
make the hair sit a little closer to the head
reduce some of the overall volume/width
avoid ending up with straight roots and curly ends
I’d especially love to hear from anyone with a similar hair type who has had a gentler keratin/nanokeratin/Brazilian-style smoothing treatment.
How much did it reduce your volume? Did your curls stay intact? Did they loosen much? And what was the grow-out like?
Before-and-after photos would be really helpful too if anyone is comfortable sharing. Thank you! ❤️

What and how did they eventually start? How are they doing now?

Has anyone used SaffroSun Calm (saffron extract) for persistent anxiety and low mood as an adult?

I’m interested in hearing from people who have actually used this particular product, especially for ongoing anxiety rather than occasional stress.

What dose did you find most effective? Did you take it once a day or split the dose morning/evening?

How long did it take before you noticed a difference? Did it help more with anxiety, low mood, or both? Did increasing the dose make a noticeable difference? Did you experience any side effects, and have you been able to take it longer term?

Thanks 😊

Has anyone used SaffroSun Calm (saffron extract) for persistent anxiety and low mood as an adult?

I’m interested in hearing from people who have actually used this particular product, especially for ongoing anxiety rather than occasional stress.

What dose did you find most effective? Did you take it once a day or split the dose morning/evening?

How long did it take before you noticed a difference? Did it help more with anxiety, low mood, or both? Did increasing the dose make a noticeable difference? Did you experience any side effects, and have you been able to take it longer term?

Thanks 😊

Has anyone used SaffroSun Calm (saffron extract) for persistent anxiety and low mood as an adult?

I’m interested in hearing from people who have actually used this particular product, especially for ongoing anxiety rather than occasional stress.

What dose did you find most effective? Did you take it once a day or split the dose morning/evening?

How long did it take before you noticed a difference? Did it help more with anxiety, low mood, or both? Did increasing the dose make a noticeable difference? Did you experience any side effects, and have you been able to take it longer term?

Thanks 😊

I’m looking for advice from parents who have been through something similar.

My daughter is 12 and has recently had a comprehensive neurodevelopmental assessment. The conclusion was that she does not meet the criteria for autism or ADHD, but she has been diagnosed with Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD), so I’m really looking for experiences from families of children with severe anxiety rather than suggestions that she may be neurodivergent.

Over the last 5–6 months she’s gone from being a happy, sociable child who loved school to becoming extremely anxious, unable to attend school and emotionally overwhelmed.
The last few evenings have really frightened me. As soon as bedtime comes and she has to go to her room, she seems to fall into what I can only describe as a deep emotional hole. She sobs hysterically, says she feels lonely and desperately sad, withdraws, and on one occasion repeatedly banged her bedroom door while crying. During these episodes she seems completely overwhelmed, but once they pass she often goes back to being herself, almost as though nothing happened.

During the day she’s generally still able to laugh, enjoy things, spend time with us and engage in activities she likes. It’s these intense episodes that are becoming more frequent and worrying.
She hasn’t started her periods yet, so I’m also wondering whether puberty could be making everything much more intense.

Has anyone else’s child with anxiety had emotional episodes like this? Did they come in waves rather than being low all the time? Did therapy (particularly CBT), time, puberty settling down, or anything else make a noticeable difference?

I’m feeling quite overwhelmed and would really appreciate hearing from parents who’ve experienced something similar.