Social anxiety in toddler

My daughter goes to nursery every day since 7mo and in general she is fine with other kids but whenever she sees adults she is not familiar she became really shy too. I would think it’s a normal behaviour that they would feel uncomfortable with someone stranger to them. Even at nursery, we were told when another teacher came to the room to cover she used to get upset and look for cuddles from her key person. Now she is 2.5 and doesn’t get upset anymore but still whenever a friend of mine she doesn’t know comes it takes a while for her to be her usual chatty self. Personally I wouldn’t worry too much and just reassure them whenever someone else is around that is ok and not pressure them to open up with someone they don’t want to, they will at the end when they feel ready

This doesn't sound like autism from what you've described (although it is only a snapshot!!). Your son interacts in what sounds like a neurotypical way with people he knows. If he hasn't had much exposure with other kids it's no wonder he isn't responding to them as you might expect a child who spends a lot of time with other kids. I would not throw him into situations that make him anxious, but try and build his confidence in being around strangers- particularly other children. Are there places he enjoys to go where there are other children, like the park or soft play? Increasing time spent there and ideally with another child he can get to know regularly on play dates? But 2 is still quite young - it may be something you find he grows out of.

It's behavior that is in the range of normal. Probably moreso if he just turned 2 rather than is almost 3, but still fine. I wouldn't jump to autism unless you had other concerns. There should have been a set of general autism screening questions at his 2yo well check. If your pediatrician didn't do them, make an appt with your new doc and ask them.

I think it’s normal. Our LG is super shy. She does wave to strangers if I tell her to but I have been taking her out shopping with me since she was a newborn basically and we do go almost every day to various activities. She is still shy, she almost always need to hold my hand at all times of be at a distance of few feet. Some kids just take longer to grow out of it and I do t think it’s bad. It’s safer that way

@mara yes . He was shy with strangers from beginning but couple of months ago some 4 years kid pushed him hard on playground. My husband was at hand distance and he saved him to fall down from the top of slide . After that incident , he just starts running away if there are kids in playground . We do not force him to go to other kids but we are trying to play in playgrounds with few kids playing .

@Bonny yes I also think same , his communication and other things are much better than his age . He is generally calm and understating kid. My doctor asked us thats why we got worried .

Ah that incident a couple of months ago might be feeding into this and reinforcing that strange children are dangerous! Be patient with him as it sounds you have been. Try and give him positive experiences with other kids but don't push if he isn't ready. Bless him I bet he'll grow out of it 💙

That incident could be it. I suspect my daughter is very shy with kids because when she was around 15 months we had some family visiting with 1year old cousin and being a boy he was quite rough with her like trying to pull up on her (he was starting to walk) occasionally slapping etc. I think that’s when she got scared of other kids