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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

to think my 2 week old can smile

50 replies

moogy1a · 29/12/2012 06:16

No really.. I swear he's smiled since day 2, and last night he made eye contact with me 3 times and gave a proper big smile each time.
He's not a PFB and DH is just assuming I'm sleep deprived ( which I am) and imagining it ( which I'm not!).
Is this possible or am I having a weird exhaustion hallucination?

OP posts:

RandomMess · 29/12/2012 06:31

Nah my youngest smiled at a few days old, just mimicking/accident at first but of course got such a huge reaction she carried on doing it!

vvviola · 29/12/2012 06:43

I think I read somewhere that very young babies can "accidentally" smile - i.e. use the right muscles by accident, before they smile "with meaning".

Both my DC used to giggle in their sleep from a very young age, long before they did it awake. Nobody ever believed me either

ApplesinmyPocket · 29/12/2012 07:13

I think it is, myself. My youngest smiled a full-on smile making eye contact right at me when she was days old, and it didn't stop, she carried on doing it appropriately. People do say 'oh it's wind' until they are six weeks or so when it's officially OK to say 'Yes! a smile' but WE know better - don't we :)

EverythingsNotRosie · 29/12/2012 07:20

Mine definitely did- the midwife wrote 'very smiley' in her book at 2 and half weeks so it must be true!

BrianButterfield · 29/12/2012 07:24

DS did it - I brought him into work when he was 3 weeks old and everyone commented on him smiling at them. Also lifted his head and made eye contact very early. You know if they can do it!

ChristmasJubilee · 29/12/2012 07:26

Yes, my ds2 (now 15) did, witnessed and agreed by others. He was born at 42 weeks so I always wondered if that made a difference. However don't get too excited. He stopped smiling by the time he was about 18 months, was a very glum child and a smile from him now is as rare as hens teeth.

I have had to ask photographers to stop trying to get him to smile as it makes him look odd. We are more used to the natural look

ArfAPandaTreacle · 29/12/2012 07:27

Both mine smiled at two weeks. Lots of witnesses, all suprised.

But both stopped for a week or two before starting again.

But then babies do that, they stop learning words or 'forget' certain ones when they start to crawl, and again when they walk.

Its the difference between using the left, or right side of the brain. Babies can only concentrate on developing one at a time.

BeaWheesht · 29/12/2012 07:30

Dd smiled appropriately at a few days old. Was born late though?

FergusSingsTheBlues · 29/12/2012 07:31

No, it can happen that early. I was sceptical, but the next day i took him over to watch a fountain and he actually laughed in delight....it was the most precious sound I've ever heard. So i decided the smile had probably been for real....he was about two weeks.

BluddyNora · 29/12/2012 07:33

I read somewhere that newborns can immediately copy facial expressions such as smiling and sticking their tongue out so if you think he's smiling then he probably is!

RedHelenB · 29/12/2012 07:38

Mine did, smiled up at the consultant before her operation!!

EugenesAxeChoppedDownANiceTree · 29/12/2012 07:43

No, I'm sure I have a book with developmental markers in that says smiling is 'normal' from birth.

From your description and the fact you'll have experience of wind smiles, it sounds like the real thing!

Congratulations by the way.

shoppingbagsundereyes · 29/12/2012 07:55

Mine was doing proper gummy smiles at me by two weeks. The midwife said they were real smiles. Dd was something like 10 weeks old before she smiled much and I was starting to worry.

merlottits · 29/12/2012 08:05

Mine did. DC1 smiled at 7 weeks. DC2 smiled at 2 weeks. DC3 smiled at 2days even the midwife agreed and wrote it down. DD2 could focus really well, maybe that's why?

EverythingsNotRosie · 29/12/2012 08:59

Yes, my DD was 15 days late, perhaps that made a difference. She certainly didn't look 'newborn' for very long in any case!

MrsReiver · 29/12/2012 09:27

You can see babies smiling in some 3d scans, the idea that it is "just wind" is outdated. Ignore DH and enjoy your smiles

peaceandlovebunny · 29/12/2012 10:32

can't see why not. try wrinkling your nose - hold it there for a long time, takes newborns a while to copy as they have to find the muscles. tongue out is another one they can do early. my grandad swore i mimicked his cough when i was three weeks old.

scrumpkin · 29/12/2012 10:43

Dd2 (2weeks late) smiled at a week old. I wasn't sure so said to hv that she was making faces as if she was smiling and she said "that's because she is, every time you look at her"

LiegeAndLief · 29/12/2012 11:08

My dd started smiling just before 3 weeks. They were definitely big proper smiles and she was my second so was not being pfb! Maybe if babies are born a bit late or with good muscle tone they can smile earlier?

Ds was prem and didn't smile until 13 weeks, so I think she was making up for that!

GrumpySod · 29/12/2012 13:19

2 days old is stretching it, but 2 weeks I can believe. We have video footage of DC4 to prove he smiled (in response to something nice) just before 2 weeks old. I was astonished.

ShowOfHands · 29/12/2012 13:27

Both of mine were slightly early and both smiled early so I don't think gestation is anything to do with it. They smile in the womb don't they so the ability is there? I also have 'very smiley' written by the hv in ds's red book at 10 days old.

DS used to laugh in his sleep from day 1. Proper Mutley giggles with hunched shoulders and shaking body. It was ridiculously cute. I started a thread at the time and did some research and it's believed that it's not 'proper' laughing in that they're not amused but a sign of them being wholly content.

SugarplumMary · 29/12/2012 13:51

DS was very well developed - very muscular and strong - MW who delivered him said he immediately tried to hold his own head - was also smiling at 2 days.

Other two took few weeks.

Everyone would say it was wind - till they were holding and DC did it to them usually in response to them smiling.

They were all good weights ? 9lb + and 10 lb for DS ? not fat but just big and well grown don't know if that was a factor.

YANBU.

MrsMelons · 29/12/2012 13:53

My nephew smiled in his 3d scan and was smiling properly quite a lot by 3 weeks. He is a very smiley baby now still (4 months).

BoyMeetsWorld · 29/12/2012 15:48

Moogy did you happen to study a very random language at university? (this isn't an insult, just establishing if I might know you! :p)

BoyMeetsWorld · 29/12/2012 15:48

Congrats on Smile-Genius child btw

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