Eye Contact / Smiling regression

[Belle82]

Hi All,
I'm really worried about something (even more after looking at google :( - really neee to stop looking there) and I was hoping I could ask for some advice on here from real life experiences.

My baby is 12 weeks on Friday, and she was quite delayed with her eye contact and smiling (started about 8/9 weeks) but up to a few days ago it was pretty easy to get a smile and eye contact, but the last few days she's been avoiding eye contact again sometimes, and although I'll get some smiles from her it's no where near as much as we were before a few days ago.

Of course I should never have looked at google but since I have I can't stop thinking this is an early sign of autism.
Has anyone experienced this regression in eye contact and smiling without it turning into autism?
Or is there a development stage I'm not aware of that would mean she is likely to be a bit more subdued?

Any advice would be massively appreciated as I'm out of my mind with worry.

Thank you.xx

Please please don't worry. My ds was really sparing with both. I don't remember exactly but it wasn't a daily occurrence that early on. He definitely wanted to look at pictures on the wall more than me.

He's now 7 months and smiley, laughing, clapping.

I'm sure it'll be absolutely fine. It's so hard not to obsess when they're your sole focus but I promise it's normal development. I may be wrong but I'm under the impression they "drop" or shelve skills when acquiring others. For example, some days my son does nothing but chat and some days he's quiet and all about the rolling!

Ps 8-9 weeks for eye contact and smiling definitely not delayed in my book! So stop right there

It's common for babies to seemingly forget a skill when they are working on the next one.

Remember that smiling is a feeling. Do you smile the same amount every day? Try not to worry.

With regards to looking at everything but you don't worry! Babies have tiny attention spans. Remember that when she was born she couldn't even see your face clearly so her improved eyesight and stronger neck will make her want to check everything out.

My LO is now 5 months. I was also worried that she wasn’t smiling/making eye contact/ grabbing toys etc when she ‘should be’. However she does everything in her own time. Remember she hasn’t read the same manuscript you have! She is developing how she should be.

I have now learnt not to read too much and just let my girl figure things out in her own time. Sometimes she will do something all the time and then she will go several days without doing it again (i.e cooing) and then she will do it again (I can’t get her to shut up now 😊).

Also as parents we worry about autism all the time, autism is still very rare (1% of children). It is more likely that your LO is just taking her time.

lack of idea contact isn't really a sign of ASD. It is not a diagnostic criterium either. I have s child with severe ASD who had good eye contact.

if eye contact is your only worry at that stage and development is fine otherwise, I would really chill out (and I am saying this as a mum of a child with autism).

Your baby is really young and easily overwhelmed by new stimuli. It might be that when she was a little bit younger, she was still "taking in" a little bit less of the surrounding world, and she didn't get overwhelmed as easily. And now she notices more and "shuts down" when overstimulated. My child would start looking away from me when he had had too much interaction and he wanted a break.

Thank you so much to you all. You really calmed me down when this was all I could think about. Since the weekend her smiles and eye contact have come back and then some. So I think she might have been working on a new skill or been feeling under the weather perhaps but she seems ok now.
Thank you all again.xx