8 week Baby not yet smiling

[Amy5261]

My DS is 8 weeks old and we still haven’t had the ‘unmistakable smile’ - some little smirks and windy smiles but nothing definitive!

I have made the rookie error of googling and have now convinced myself he has developmental difficulties!

Anyone else’s baby take a little longer to smile?

He was born at 37+3, not sure if the slightly early arrival would make a difference?

That's full term so babba didn't come early! The smile comes from 6 weeks it's not supposed to be bang on. I know plenty of friends whos babies took up to 10-12 weeks to smile! Don't panic yet and enjoy the newborn snuggles, such a precious time .

I know you're not meant to correct age after 37 weeks but I've seen stark differences in speed of development between my 37 weeker and my 42 weeker but I guess they are all different.

My DS came at 37+5 and didn't smile until nearly 9 weeks. I'm sure it's just around the corner

My son didn't smile really until 10 weeks (also born at 37 weeks). A few glimpses before then.

I agree with the above - 37 weeks is technically term but practically there are differences between 37 and 42 week-ers. My DS (also born at ~ 37 weeks) was horrendously colicy and didn’t properly start smiling until about 15 weeks. He does it all the time now at 10 months (when he’s in the mood ) I’m sure your DS will be fine x

I had similar with dd2. DD1 did the open mouthed grin at 5 weeks and then did it consistently.
DD2 I still wasn't confident at 6 months that she'd smiled, she smiled exactly as you describe, little windy ones. Sometimes I'd think "oh yes, that's a smile" then doubt it afterwards because it was very small. She was a very smiley toddler, and definitely nothing wrong-she just didn't do the baby smile.
She did a great glare (especially at people wearing hats)

My first born came at 37 weeks . I was told by my midwife and my health visitor that newborn milestones like smiling could come a few weeks later than average .

37 weeks is full term but so is 42 weeks and that’s a 5 week difference 😯

My DS started the odd smile around 6 weeks but I couldn’t tell if it was social or gas 😝 . Same with my second DS . Neither were consistently smiling daily until closer to 12 weeks though .

My wee guy didn't start social smiles until he was 13 weeks :).

My second boy didn’t smile until 12 weeks old and was totally deadpan apart from a brief window of 10minutes a day post bath when he’d enjoy being tickled. He didn’t laugh out loud until he was 6 months old when he witnessed me drop an entire plate of food. Despite the fact he was my second child and I am a doctor, I spent hours in internet wormholes convincing myself he had developmental problems due to his apparent lack of engagement or joy. Apart from anything else it’s so hard being so exhausted and only receiving negative to at best neutral feedback for all your mothering efforts 😆. Long story short he’s 2 years old now and is utterly hysterical, very articulate and still possesses a deep love of slapstick. The irony being my 4.5 year old son who was belly laughing from 8 weeks old is the one with neurodevelopmental differences. Still belly laughing from dawn till dusk though 😂. Hope that helps.