Shy baby or cause for concern?

[prudey6]

My baby 10mo is a happy chappy at home, very vocal with her yayas/babas/mamas etc., lots of giggles and smiles... but, when we are elsewhere she is so straight faced and rarely cracks a smile. She just spends the whole time staring at people and not interacting the way she does with us at home. This is even the case with familiar places and people such as grandparents house.

Is she just a shy baby or is this something I should be bringing up with a dr/health visitor?

I think sometimes we forget that babies are born with personalities. We tend to categorise them and expect them to always be happy, smiling and friendly (maybe it’s because that’s the way babies have been portrayed to us - after all most adverts include smiling happy babies etc).

I remember when I had my son being shocked because he would cry at people, didn’t talk to them, was shy etc. I, like you, struggled. He’s almost a teenager now and now understands the need to be polite if someone speaks to him etc but he’s still not overly sociable with people he doesn’t know. That’s ok.

As parents we sometimes expect our children to be perfect and when they understandably are not - we blame ourselves and our parenting. It doesn’t help that sometimes people feel the need to make “comments” about our children that make us feel rubbish. But you have every right to correct them. It’s ok to say “baby isn’t very confident around people they don’t know. They’ll come round when they’re ready.” Don’t feel you owe anyone an explanation and don’t feel rubbish or that you’ve done something wrong.

Love your child for who they are. Keep on keeping on ♥️

My DS is exactly the same. He's like a different baby when we're out. Everyone comments on how serious he is but at home he's so smiley and babbles a lot - he's 11 months.

From a tiny baby he always just seems to sit back and watch and take everything in.