Ten week old not really interested in much

[auburnlizzy78]

Just wondered if I am expecting too much?? My DS smiles ok at me and DH, when he's in the mood, and seems to like being in his vibrating bouncy chair, and staring at lights. He's been doing all this from about six weeks old.

But I thought by now things should have moved forward a bit. I lay him on his playmat and he either stares blankly up at the ceiling, cries and gets distressed, or falls asleep. He doesn't stare at his hands, although he sometimes eats his hands or sucks his thumb when asleep. He won't look at or touch or bash at his mobile or any toys or rattles above him on his playmat or which I wave at him - he either watches my face, or stares blankly through me to look at a plain wall or the ceiling, which he can do for hours, despite best efforts to engage him. And I'm not in his face 24/7, I'm only talking about 5-10 mins at a time so as not to tire him out.

His eyes and ears are definitely working fine. No concerns otherwise over his physical development or "language" for want of a better word - he coos and makes lots of vowels and consonants and "chats" back to me if he feels like it. So, is this normal, or a bit odd? Is it just a boy thing?

Just a normal 10 week old thing. Relax! Soon your darling boy will be asking you questions every 10 seconds and tearing around the house, bouncing off the walls. So enjoy the peace while you still can. Can you tell I am a mother of 2 boys who can never keep quiet?

Ten weeks is still so little, this is perfectly normal. I remember with DS1 wondering why he wasn't showing any interest in his toys - it's only months later that he did. As for playing with other babies - not til well past 1 year old.

The key is when babies learn to sit which frees up the hands for some serious playing, but well before then you'll see he'll discover his own hands and gaze at his fingers in admiration - not quite realising they're part of him of course. And it will take a while before he masters grasping items or swiping at things - all that needs to come before he can start to 'play'. But there's lots happening even now although it's more internal.

I remember reading somewhere about months 1-3 for a baby being the fourth trimester, with the first three trimesters in the womb of course. It's a good analogy, there's still so much growing to do for your little one and he's barely past that stage. Just processing all the lights and sounds and feelings that come flooding in daily is more enough to keep him occupied. So at the moment your DS is still like a little flowerbud and will soon open up but all in good time. It will go by so quickly you'll see.

I do recommend by the way some tummy time for a different way of looking at the world. In short doses at first - literally 3-4 minutes - as some babies really don't like it (mine didn't for a while - propping a little pillow under the chest helps). Also just lying him on your chest is nice too.

Please don't worry auburnlizzy.
It sounds totally normal to me.

I think that when babies are as young as that they don't tend to have very enthusiastic play.
My DD would lie and stare at the wall or the skirting board. And I think that probably to her it was really interesting because it was a new thing. She is 7.5 mo now and rolling around, grabbing toys, etc.

I hadn't heard that theory before about months 1-3 being a fourth trimester but looking back on my DD's development it does ring true.

This is really helpful and reassuring. Thank you for posting.

Normal! To the degree that I'm not bothering with toys, mobiles or playmat for DS for a few months because DD was totally uninterested in toys until she was about 9 months. Even now at 18 months her favourite things are not-toys - for example today she's been carrying round a squeezed-dry toothpast tube since breakfast!

Octavia

Agreed - my DD is the same age as yours - sure she likes toys (for a short time) but would far rather play with the dishwasher tablets and try to put them where they go!