Not a smiley baby

[MommyDe]

Hello,
First of all sorry for my english as it's not my mother tongue.

I am a FTM to a lovely 5.5 month old girl.
Since she's 2 months I have had quite few concerns about her behaviour.

She is not what we call a smiley baby.
Don't get me wrong, she DOES smile in response to me or father saying something, singing or dancing but not all the time.
She very rarely smiles in response to a mere smile.
She also smiles when she sees us after we left the room for some time and return but not all the time though (depends on her mood).
She is also much more smiley in the morning.

She will never ever smile to a stranger no matter what he/she'll do . She instead stares at him...
I noticed her stranger anxiety kicked in very early on. From about 2.5 month she melts down when meeting new people.
It takes her some time to warm up to them eventually and give some smiles if they talk to her.

Do you find it worrisome that she's not responding to smiles and not smiling all the time like babies are supposed to?

TIA

I don’t think babies are ‘supposed’ to just smile at everyone. In the same way that you wouldn’t naturally just smile at everyone who gives you attention. If someone you didn’t know just randomly came over to you and tried to be funny, you may not find it funny at all. Just think of babies as little people with their own likes and dislikes and personalities. Some babies are super sociable and will smile at everyone, others are more reserved or like to work out who someone is before interacting.
Your baby sounds very normal.

I don't think you need to worry about your daughter not responding to smiles and not smiling all the time like babies are supposed to.
Some children begin to smile in response to smiles earlier than others. Other children tend to be more reserved in expressing their emotions than others.

I think some babies are just more smiley than others. DC was very smiley to everyone when he was a baby and now he frowns at new people whereas niece was never smiling as a baby and is now social butterfly!

She sounds fine. Baby’s have personality just like adults and some are more smiley than others! My daughter was like this, we now joke that you had to practically stand on your head while singing and dancing to get her to smile. She’s now 3 and thriving, a gorgeous happy and smart wee cookie! She definitely still has a tendency to be a bit grumpy though 😂 my son who’s currently 9months old is the most smiley baby ever, just totally different personality, both fine.

My baby is also very much not a smiley baby! She NEVER smiles at strangers and rarely smiles at wider family and friends. She never used to smile much at my wife and I, either, but she is now 14 months and gives us lots of smiles and giggles, which is lovely.