How often does your 9 months old look at you / respond when calling name?

[isitcrazyzzz]

Not sure if just my LO, DS2 is so busy with his own stuff, doesn't look at me as often as I would like. He does look at me when I go down to his level or when he finds I'm doing something funny or interesting. But most of the time, he's looking at where his interest lays. (But then again, I'm not brilliant at eye contact myself.)

When I call his name, he only responds less than 50% times.

My older son had similar issue but a lot less severe. He has ADHD. I'm just wondering if this is normal or indicates of something...

Can he hear ok?

@JiltedJohnsJulie, I think so. He does obviously react to noises around him. My older son's voice can wake him from sleep easily. He learned to enjoy banging kitchen pots too.

bump.

His dad says DS2 always responds to him when DH calls him...

My almost 2YO is still touch and go and percentagewise it depends entirely on what she's doing. If she's truly engrossed in something I've got no chance. I've always been told too that if they're really engrossed in something (eg emptying and filling a box) that they're in the middle of a 'learning cycle' and that it's best not to interrupt them until they stop or look at you voluntarily as they'll do this when they've finished and commited this learning cycle to their memory if that makes sense. After this you could share their interest and say something eg; 'oh wow you poured all your blocka on the floor' At 9MO it's really pointless worrying about any diagnosis as so much can change in the first 2-3 years of life so what they're like now might have no bearing on their later personality or abilities. Regardless of whether there's any emerging problems or not with any 9MO they will all benefit from a good chunk of time every day engaging in talking, singing and face to face activities and playing with a caregiver. Just enjoy him and spend as much time playing and talking with him as you can and then revisit your concerns in a few months if you're still concerned but chances are your concerns by then are going to be that he doesn't shut up and won't give you a minute to yourself

@Jannt86, I appreciate your advice full heartedly! Quite a few good points spot on.

I didn't think about the learning cycle concept. But it makes great sense! Thanks for pointing it out.

Half way through all these months, I realised the more I devote to spend proper playing time with him, the more secured he feels and the more independent he becomes. It does make sense from human feeling aspect. So I will do my best - bad singer and little idea on what to say as it just doesn't come naturally to me - but regardless I will keep trying.

With DS1, I remember I was always trying to predict his personality from when he was a baby. It turned out that I was massively wrong! Good point on this as a reminder too!

Much appreciated!