Baby not tracking or interested in faces

[NOL2023]

Hi everyone, I am wondering if anyone else has ever had a similar scenario and their baby turned out developmentally ok. I am currently worried sick.

My LO is 12 weeks (8 weeks corrected) and still not tracking objects. She will focus on her black and white sensory cards and follow those if we move them, most of the time. However she has zero interest in objects. It’s impossible to get her attention when you wave something in front of her face. She doesn’t turn to the sound of a rattle either.

Even more worrying is how little eye contact she gives. She glances at us now and again. She’s just not interested in looking at our faces and is generally much more interested in what’s on the wall etc. She never looks at me when I pick her up or hold her out in front of me. I do think see can see fine but will get her vision assessed asap.

She will occasionally give a social smile and makes happy, excited noises on her playmat. She’s not overly fussy and generally a happy little thing.

I know this could be something serious I guess what I’m really wondering is if there’s any hope/positive stories out there of people who have gone through this.

Really appreciate any response!

You could have been describing my now 2 year old. At her 8 week GP check she was referred for having no eye contact and not tracking anything. She was bottle fed and wouldnt look at me when feeding, or follow any object or toy that we showed her.
She had an MRI scan at 10 weeks, followed by a very detailed eye test. They couldn't find a reason for it and suggested it could be that her eye sight was taking longer to develop. We were told to wait until she was 6 months old so see if things improved. She also had a squint in one eye. We spent lots of time with her using the black and white books and toys to help her track.
By 6 months she was completely different and had started tracking well and looking at faces and toys. She became a really smiley baby who loved people.

She's now 2 and her eye contact is perfect and she's a very sociable child.

Have you had the 6-8 week GP check yet?

@Bluedragon86 Thank you so much for taking the time to reply, you have given me some badly needed hope. Your experience sounds exactly like what we are currently going through. I am so delighted to hear your daughter is doing so well!

She has just had her 8 week check but the doctor wants to push any investigations out another month, which I have mixed feelings about. The plan is an opthalmology review and MRI if she’s still not tracking at 12 weeks corrected. It’s a scary thought so very helpful to hear you had the same investigations.

Do you mind me asking was it a very gradual improvement with your daughter or more sudden? Do you have any particular advice or should we just keep going with the black and white cards?

Thanks again!

I completely understand how you are feeling as we were just the same. I spent so much of her first few months worrying rather than enjoying her.
We found she made sudden improvements with tracking objects, eye contact and interest in people and faces was more gradule. It was good by 6 months and by 12 months she loved people and getting a reaction from them, in supermarkets she would wave at people until they waved back. People often commented on how social she was.

We used online baby sensory videos, they are mostly black and white moving objects. Not great to be using screen time at such a young age, however we were told to use anything that she would focus on.
We also spent time showing her different toys and objects. I found her eye contact was best laying down on her back, I would pull faces and make noises to try and get her to look at me when changing her.

The MRI was horrible but they let me stand by the machine and reach in so I could touch her which helped, I also asked them to play her some music. As part of the eye test they waved a toy with flashing lights right in front of her, she didn't look at it once.

One thing that I did a lot and now really regret was to compare her to other babies of the same age. I became obcessed with every milestone rather than enjoying her.
My daughter is great now and doing really well. She attends nursery and they have never expressed any concerns.

You could go back to your GP, say how worried you are and ask for the referral to be started. Hopefully it won't be needed by the time you get the appointment but it gets things started.

@NOL2023 any visual stimuli is good, little babies only see about 40-60cm out clearly, so things close too ideally. But high contrast is optimal.

And no sling - the visual system needs experience to develop, so everything they see helps to stimulate it.

Having said that - little babies don't see that well, their eyes often drift inwards a bit and they don't see well long distance. As long as your doctor has checked their red reflex and they don't have any nystagmus (which is like a flickering movement of the eyes), I'd just wait a couple of weeks.

@Bluedragon86 it is lovely to have heard from someone who understands what I’m going through right now. The worry is immeasurable.

Thats interesting the tracking improved first. I would have assumed eye contact would come first. I actually get the best eye contact from her on her changing mat too. It’s only started in the past week so hopefully we can build on that. Thanks for letting me know about the sensory videos.

I’m already doing exactly as you said and comparing her to other babies. We have multiple friends who have had babies within a couple of weeks of her and I’m almost afraid to meet up with them. I definitely do need to try enjoy her more. It’s the uncertainty that makes it all so difficult.

I most likely will go back to my GP again in two weeks time if no improvement, another month feels very long right now.

Again very grateful for you sharing your experience and I’m so delighted to hear your daughter has done so well. Have a lovely Christmas!

Thank you for your input @underneaththeash much appreciated. Yes red reflex definitely present and no nystagmus. I will keep going with her black and white cards and get some high contrast colour bits too.

Hello, what was the outcome for your baby please?
my son is 13 weeks, 9 weeks corrected and follows this exact pattern.

thank you x

Hi @Lsg95 firstly I hope you’re doing ok. It was the hardest, scariest time of my life when my little one was that age and not on track.

Thankfully she is completely exceeding all my expectations I had for her at that time. While she still doesn’t give eye contact to the person holding her and that does worry me, she has made enormous progress in every other aspect.

She started tracking very suddenly, somewhere between 3-4 months. By 6 months you wouldn’t have been able to notice any difference between her and another 6 month old. Her eye contact is good when changing, sitting in her high chair beside us etc.

Her auditory tracking was on the cusp of being delayed but excellent by 6 months too. It was around that time she became really interested in everything and very engaging. Same with her language, almost delayed but not quite. Didn’t mama, dada etc until the end of her ninth month. Now is very noisey and babbles loads!

Shes about to turn 11 months, almost 10 corrected. Shes cruising, waves, gives kisses! Shes lots of fun and a very happy baby. We last saw a developmental Paediatrican at 6 months and won’t see her again until 12 months. She wasn’t concerned at that time. She felt it was most likely she had isolated delayed visual maturation. If that ends up going hand in hand with a neurodevelopmental delay, I do not know yet. That concern of course remains in my mind but overall I am incredibly grateful how well she is doing.

Hello everyone. I am going through one similar situation. I have a 10 weeks old son who does not seem to track any object I move or place in front of his eyes. He keeps his head turned to one side when laying and keeps looking on the ceiling or wall. Even when I call him or use some rattle from the other side, he doesn't turn his head towards that side. Although he makes good sounds and smiles when I call him (with his head turned to the other side) but makes no eye contact. He also doesn't blink when I wave or move my finger very close to his eyes. One thing that bothers me a lot is when he was 6 weeks old, I would move a toy with a sound in front of his eyes and he would follow the sound and the toy from one side to another. But now he isn't...have anyone gone through a similar situation?

Hi @Hadii sorry to hear you’re going through this, it can be very scary.

My daughter was the same in terms of no eye contact, not tracking, not blinking when something in front of her and most interested it what was on the wall or ceiling.

I wouldn’t worry that he’s not turning to sounds yet. That would be very very early at 10 weeks. She didn’t consistently turn until about 5 months. Now she turns to the smallest of sounds in the distance.

Given that your baby has such a strong preference for which side he looks to, he may have some torticollis. Would definitely be worth brining your concerns to whichever nurse/doctor you are linked in with in the community.

Ps it’s brilliant he is making sounds and smiling!

Did you find any reason?

@FairPeachGuide are you just curious or have you personal reason for asking?

Personal reason.. i am able to see similar kind of things with my baby.. she is 2 months today

@FairPeachGuide She had Delayed Visual Maturation (DVM) and was 5 weeks premature which likely contributed to her being on the late side with some milestones

Hi @NOL2023
I appreciate it’s now a few months on but I wondered if I could follow up on your post as we are having very similar issues to the ones you describe above with our 4.5 month old at the moment (no eye contact, poor tracking, and her eyes don’t seem to be able to focus on us or toys other than fleetingly and extremely close up). We do think she can see something as she will try to grab a toy held in front of her. Did your LO ever have issues with seeing you across the room or noticing you as you approach her? Our LO doesn’t seem to be able to see anything more than about 30cm away from her face so I wondered if this could also be a symptom of DVM. We will be having her eyes assessed next week but would really appreciate any insight as I am driving myself mad with worry over this!! Thank you so much.

Hi @SWLondonReno sorry to hear you are going through this. I always try to reply to posts on this thread as the worry I felt at the time was like no other.
It sounds as though your daughter is behaving very similarly to mine at that age. I do remember being so worried at that age that she just wasn’t reacting as I expected her to when coming into the room etc. She was tracking at that age but I would say it wasn’t excellent until she was almost 6 months. Her eye contact still isn’t great but it has steadily improved.
Overall we are very happy with how she is doing at the moment. She claps/waves/points and is now very interactive, vocal and communicative. Far beyond what I ever could have imagined for her when she was 4.5 months! Her development really took off and started to catch up with peers around 11 months and has been exponential since then. She’s now 13 months.

Please do keep the faith! Best of luck with your appointment and feel free to DM me.

Hello! My baby will be 4 months old in a weeks time and I'm really worried as she doesn't seem to be tracking anything or giving any eye contact. She does the occasion smile otherwisw she crys alot of the time, this may be to do with her silent reflux which is a struggle for her. She also doesn't like to be put down to sleep and always wants to be in your arms. I really want to enjoy her so that I can bond properly with her. Any advice would be much appriciated x

Hi @Hopefullisa did your little girl have her initial 6 week check? Visual tracking is checked for at that so if no issues were raised I’m sure she is doing just fine. Its sounds as though she is really struggling with reflux, I’d imagine that’s decreasing the amount of eye contact she’s giving and makes it very understandable why she would want to sleep on you rather than completely flat.

If you’re worried about her visual tracking start off practising with large black and white cards, moving to smaller ones, then eventually large to smaller objects. If she’s definitely not tracking please do link in with your GP. Our daughter started tracking very all of a sudden so keep trying even though it’s hard when they don’t follow.

I’m afraid I don’t have any magic answers as to how to enjoy the newborn phase while also holding concerns. It’s very, very tough and I ended up with PPD. So please mind yourself and reach out to friends/family/health professionals.

My 6 week old is doing the exact same, i’m so worried! how is your son doing now?