Worried sick about my 8 month old and it’s truly destroying me. Please help.

Hi r/NewParents

I am reaching out to the subreddit for some comfort and to hopefully share my feelings with someone else. I’d like to preface by saying that I do have an appointment with my paediatrician and will be bringing up my concerns, but it’s still several days away and I don’t think I can deal with the anxiety on my own anymore :(

I am a proud FTD to a beautiful 8 month old girl, and she is the absolute love of my life. I genuinely feel so complete with her and want nothing more than her to be happy, healthy and feel all the love that me and my wife can provide.

Unfortunately, I am starting to feel that I am robbing myself of the joy of my daughter’s infant-hood. I am so so so worried about a few behaviours she has presented, starting around 6 months old:

firstly, she seems to “stim” *a lot*. when she is getting fed in her high chair , playing with toys, when I’m holding her upright on my chest. Her elbows are always tucked in, arms raised and constant movement of the fingers(they seem to be repetitive). she also does this rapid intense short breathes while tensing her body up when playing and feeding.

second, I’ve noticed that she has been doing these weird intense lowering of her chin into her neck. it almost feels spontaneous, but i feel like I’ve noticed her doing it primarily when getting over stimulated. I’ve also noticed it when she is laying in my arms, where she will suddenly jolt into a crunching position as if she felt a sharp pain in her tummy.

now googling either of these items on my end was a mistake. I had originally chalked these items as normal development and teething pain, but the google spiral is continuing to destroy me.

I would absolutely love if other parents could share their experiences and help me find the comfort and joy that I keep robbing myself of.