is this weird?

[LionsnTigersnBears]

I was at my dd's swimclass today and i couldn't help noticing that my baby hardly ever makes eye contact with me. She stares at everything other than me. I breastfeed her and though she reaches out with her hands to my face, she doesn't look at me. Mainly she just pulls at my hair or puts her hands on my lips and twists. I've been feeling really uneasy for a while but today, having to get her attention to make her aware I was going to dunk her under as all the other babies were, really crystallised my feelings. I couldn't get her to look at me.

She smiles at everyone else, and goes mad with smiles when her Dad comes home, but she sort of doesn't seem to with me. Should I be worried? She's 19 weeks old.

perhaps she just takes you for granted, as she should! i presume no queries over vision?

I can remember having exactly this fear! I'd take my DS1 into shops and he would smile at random strangers yet couldn't even look at me. He literally never used to look me in the eyes. I particularly remember a trip to Homebase when he gave the biggest smile to a shop assistant yet I couldn't get him to even catch my eyes long enough to know if he even registered that I was there! Fast-forward to 6 years later and I had forgotten about all that until I read your post.
What I now believe was happening was since I was the person he spent all day with and had spent 9 months inside...it was almost like he hadn't yet worked out that we weren't the same person!! I think he genuinely didn't know where he ended and I began, I was just too familiar. That soon passed and I can't even remember when I knew it had passed...but he had no problems...and I am sure your baby is totally fine too. Enjoy the time and try not to worry, it won't be long before she won't let you out of her sight and will scream the house down if you dare leave the room to go to the toilet!

Baby swimming classes have an awful lot of distractions. I presume she is looking at other babies/mums/the water/the light patterns etc. I take ds2 swimming (now 16 months) and it was nearly always impossible to get his attention until he realised that when I said 'Go' he was about to get dunked.

If she is making eye contact with other people well enough I wouldn't worry. I used to wonder about ds1 as I could never get eye contact with him at that age - don't know if it's really true but I was told that babies sometimes find it overwhelming.

Agree if she is smiling at others and making eye contact then i wouldn't worry!!

As said - her eyesight is ok do you think? I mean does she only smile at things at a distance? Just wondered with you being so close to her and other people being further away? IYSWIM?

it's normal and will pass - as long as she is making eye contact with some people that fab. There is so much going on for her to look at. Maybe try to be a bit more silly with her and playful to get her attention.

Thanks everybody. I think she can see ok. I guess as some of you have said, its just that everything is more interesting than mummy, huh?

thanks again