9 week old not smiling

[Natalies85]

My 9 week old DD has not socially smiled yet. She was born 2.5 weeks early and not sure if this is relevant. She will track a brightly coloured toy, appears to look at faces and to have good eye contact. She also seems to show signs of enjoyment when we interact with her (kicking legs, excited facial expression). When does not smiling become a concern? Has anyone else had similar experience and what was the outcome for your baby?

Sounds like she's doing some really positive things in tracking and eye contact which is great. My DD suffered problems at birth and wasn't smiling at 8 wks. I think it was about 11 weeks when she started smiling consistently - she slept a great deal after her birth and I'm sure this impacted on her initial development.

Are you getting any follow up from the hospital?

Hi mumsnit, we're not under hospital care as the birth was normal (but slightly early). We had a post natal check and gp said to come back at 12 weeks if still a problem but not sure why this might be? She did sleep a lot for the first few weeks so this may be part of the reason

I don't think you should worry. My little girl didn't smile til 12 weeks I didn't worry and she's 'normal' for want of a better word she was just late smiling

dd2 didn't smile until about 6mos, but she has brain damage. It's just muscle function - she has no learning disabilities or emotional difficulties. If she's feeding ok, I wouldn't worry - bet you get some brilliant grins in the next few weeks.

At that age you do adjust for being born 2.5 weeks early. So 9 weeks would be late side, but not worryingly so.

I had concerns with dd2. Dd1 smiled on the dot of 5 weeks, very definite smile, she came off the breast during the night feed and smiled and smiled. She then did the same the next night-obviously remembered the attention she'd got the previous night!
But dd2 never did that. She would give little half smiles that I wasn't sure if it was wind or not. At about 4 months I would do all sorts to try and make her smile, and every now and then I'd think "oh maybe that was one" and then later think, "hmm not sure it was really". There was no point she looked at something and smiled at it to be a definite first smile.

At 5 months she started crawling, so I decided it probably wasn't one to worry over. But she just wasn't a smiley baby and toddler. I didn't get a photo of her smiling until she was nearly 3yo. But by the time she was 5yo (and even now at 11yo) people mention how smiley she is. Whereas dd1 and ds who were very smiley babies and toddlers are much more serious as older children.

Ha, how funny, I just opened this thread to post exactly this question... in what sounds like exactly the same circumstances! I have an 8 week old who hasn't socially smiled yet and at our postnatal check with GP we were told to go back if he doesn't smile by 12 weeks. Reassured by the other posts on here.

Thanks for all the reassuring comments! I was thinking I had the only baby that hadn't smiled by 8 weeks. I'm going to take the advice and just enjoy being with her, she'll smile when she's ready. I think milestones can be a bit of a double edged sword - it's good to know what should be going on development wise but all babies are unique and won't do everything to schedule! Missesandmuddles hope you get a smile soon too!

My DS first smiled at 10 weeks, though it was at 12 weeks when he really properly smiled. He was 3 weeks early, but it never actually occurred to me that that was the reason why, or even that he was particularly late smiling. He was my first so I had no idea. My now 6 month old DD smiled really early (or so I thought) and it wasn't wind! She definitely properly smiled at 7 weeks but I'm are was smiling before that.

I'm sure your lo will smile soon! I'm sure you're prob right, maybe it takes them longer if they're. Born early. All the other signs sound really promising.

Just an update to say that my daughter is smiling now :-) but for anyone who comes across this thread my advice is don't stress about milestones. When dd hadnt smiled I was scared to ask friends and family when their little ones first smiled. I have now and several smiled well beyond the 4-8 week timeline quoted as normal.