10 1/2 month old NOT BABBLING...sign of autism?

[annda122]

My son is 10 1/2 months old & does not babble at all.  He does not point/gesture(wave bye bye, blow kiss etc.)
He will imitate making a funny face when I do it or if I ask if he is sick, he will cough. That is all though.He does play w/toys normally. He doesn't spin anything inappropriately & is not fixated on things. If I show him how a toy works, he will try to do it on his own. When I call his name, many times I have to repeat it several times before I get his attention. If I say his first & middle name, he starts to get aggravated & grunts & gets mad( I always use his first & middle name when I tell him "no no" for something. (he does understand "no no" & will stop doing something(hitting the tv screen)when I tell him) If I just say his first name & repeat it a few times, he does the same thing(gets aggitated and grunts angrily at me) I wonder if he thinks I'm ready to tell him "no no" for something & he gets mad. He isn't in his own world. He hears everything that goes on & has always been alert & inquisitive. If I sit him on my lap, its always hard to get him to stay there & pay attention because he is always reaching for something, wanting to get down & play etc. He never wants to sit still. He has been cruising for 2 months & has started taking steps a few days ago .As soon as he hears a noise in the house, he jumps up & listens. He is social & loves to be played with.Again though, he doesn't babble/gesture/point. He is quiet most of the time besides squealing when he is excited. He will roll a ball back & forth to you & also loves patty cake, ring around the rosie, & he anticipates certain activities we do every day(like when I take his socks off he immediately starts laughing because I always smell his feet and say stinky feet!)I have so many worries about this because both my brother & sister have autism. Perhaps I am overanalizing everything he does b/c I know I have an increased risk of having an autistic child & I worry terribly over it.

[888mom]

I think 12 months is where doctors start to monitor things and ask questions about developmental milestones where babbling is concerned... 10 1/2 months would be too early for doctors even to consider early intervention therapy.  It is still within the normal developmental range.  It is frustrating, I know to wait... the big thing is to keep track of his development and to keep asking questions.  At 18 months of age, pediatricians are supposed to screen for autism.  If your son isn't showing a lot of signs of other developmental delays, I don't think the pediatricians would show concern.  I know as a parent, pointing and babbling are big things.  I missed those with my daughter.  She didn't do them at 24 months of age.  

one web site lists for 12 months of age:

Babbling with 6– 7 different consonant sounds such as m or d
Imitating sounds and saying a few words
Responding to simple words such as no and bye
Gesturing and vocalizing to request
Creeping, crawling and cruising
Sitting alone
Pulling to a stand
Picking up small objects and banging objects on the table
Playing pat a cake or peek a boo
Holding out objects to "show"
Feeding self small bits of cereal
Playing with caregivers
Exploring and touching a variety of textures

[Sally44]

You are bound to be concerned if it runs in the family.
Have you mentioned your concerns to your paediatrician?
Worrying about it isn't going to make a bit of difference though is it?
I think you should talk with your paediatrician about it so that he is especially monitored by the health care workers that regularly see children.
I presume you know what the diagnostic criteria is.
Your paediatrician should be able to advise you about what behaviour is typical for each stage of development.
Raise the concerns you have now that you have posted here, so that you get answers.
If he begins to not meet milestones, doesn't begin saying words, doesn't being to develope social interaction then obviously you would be right to be concerned.  But you will probably have to wait to see if those things develop.
But in the meantime your paediatrician should be able to give you some advice.