Christine McGuinness 'blamed herself' for children's autism struggles
Christine McGuinness has heartbreakingly admitted that she blamed herself after discovering her three children all had autism.
Alongside husband Paddy, Christine has been open with their struggles as parents to the trio, six-year-old twins Penelope and Leo, and Felicity, four, as well as its rewards.
Problems have included the children only eating certain things, not enjoying Christmas decorations and difficulties in communication.
Speaking on the Nappy Days podcast, Christine said: ‘I didn’t know they had autism at first because I didn’t know anything about autism.
‘They didn’t speak – they were non-verbal. They’d walk on their tiptoes, they were sensitive to sound and light. So if there was a sudden noise, they would jump out their skin.
‘I thought they were just softies. I would think maybe it’s because they are twins, two of them, or that I would not be giving them enough attention. So I blamed myself.’
‘It’s hard enough being a mum but when you have children with additional needs – it’s daunting,’ she had previously told host Mia Boardman.
‘You wing it at first. You make mistakes but that’s just natural.’
Since their children’s diagnosis, the family have been raising awareness for autism to help others understand the extra needs needed to help the kids.
Earlier this year, Christine and Paddy appeared in cartoon Daisy and Ollie as parents to an autistic child.
Christine has also opened up about helping their three kids understand why everyone’s in lockdown, admitting they were finding it difficult to understand and struggled to adjust as a result.
She told Loose Women: ‘Their speech isn’t as good as it was, their eye contact isn’t as good, trying to get them to engage in anything at all, even playtime, even doing something fun, they’re not engaging the way they were.’
‘It’s really quite upsetting and it’s difficult,’ she added.
‘There’s lots of positives, we’re spending time as a family that we’ve never done before, but just the way it’s affecting their development, and mentally, they’re really quite anxious.’
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