7 week old eye contact and smiling

[Mumtopoppyandarchie]

I gave birth to my beautiful little boy (7+3 weeks ago) at 38+4 gestation. The birth was quite traumatic with forceps and my boy was born shocked and taken to NICU but recovered quite quickly.

Since then I have been watching him and milestones incessently and driving myself a bit mad (def have some post natal anxiety which I am receiving support for!)

Ive noticed though his eye contact isnt very good at all...he will look at me some of the time (sometimes at the start of a bottle feed if in the right position or if I sing to him) but its very fleeting. Most of the time he just likes looking around. He also doesnt really look or notice my very loud 2 year old girl.

He also isnt social smiling. I got what I thought was one social smile from him at 6 weeks but then nothing since. He does little smiles in the bath and in his moses basket with a toy above.

He is very good at tummy time and can hold his head up really well. Has also been a really good feeder and has gained a good weight. He also coos in the morning, loves bath time, a cuddle, responds to sounds and can track objects (although a bit sporadic depening on his mood/ object).

I am so worry the birth might have caused some delays. Has anyone had anything similar and it all been ok? I keep googling and get myself in such a panic! I just want to enjoy him!

Hello, congrats on your new baby. I would try not to worry just yet. My son now two was a little delayed with the above but now is a healthy loud lol boy.
Wishing you the best.

@Dgxx thanks so much for replying and very reassuring to hear. Can you remember when things started turning around? Xx

No problem at all I am going through an issue with my daughters hearing at the moment and the worry is just awful!
He ended up seeing a community doctor who kept an eye on him on and off but at 4 months he improved alot.

@Dgxx awww hope your daughter is ok! These babies dont half test us! With your little boy did you notice eye contact? Did he have a difficult birth at all?

Eye contact wasn't really the issue it was more smiling. I was induced and he was born by vacuum it was a little panic stations just before he was born and he ended up in physio and with a community doctor for his first year due to bad upper body strength and the not smiling

Bump

I'd really try to put it at the back of your mind for a couple more weeks. I know 38+4 is 'term', but compared with a baby born on their due date, he's effectively only 6 weeks 1 day. Compared with a baby born at 40 or 41 weeks, he's effectively even younger. (When you think about it, it makes no sense that a baby born at 36+6 gets three extra weeks for milestones and a baby born at 37+0 gets none – they don't squeeze in 3 weeks of development in that one extra day in utero!)

There's also a range for all milestones. I think the commonly quoted range for first social smiles is 6-8 weeks, and that's still only 'most babies' – there will still be quite a few babies who don't smile until after 8 weeks, but go on to develop completely fine.

@skkyelark thanks so much for coming back and it is true with the gestation dates! I think its just the smiling combined with the eye contact that has me really nervous but I wonder if the eye contact is slowly improving!

Bump

My HV terrified me by doing Worried Face when mine wasn't smiling at 8 weeks. Google and forums taught me that plenty don't smile until closer to 12 weeks. Mine smiled at 8 weeks and 3 days. I hate my HV.

@teaandkittehs thanks for letting me know! What about your baby eye contact?

I must admit i don't remember really looking for eye contact at that age, so I'm afraid i can't remember! But i gather there are long windows for so many developmental milestones that i just try not to sweat it provided she is hitting some of them. My friends baby didn't crawl until 14 months but he scribbled with crayons by a year, my nearly 14 month old crawled at 8.5 months but still shows little to no interest in crayons or chalk etc. I think my little one gave smiles and eye contact to my husband more when she was tiny, i was ignored by her largely until i stopped breastfeeding, had to do a lot of reading to find out that is relatively common, apparently they can take their primary caregiver so for granted, that we aren't worth smiles. . . . !

I'm feeling the same way, my boy is 17 weeks. Did things improve?

@Mommmyof3 I used to hate it when people didnt come back to these posts as I would spend hours reading them! But please please dont worry yourself. I feel a bit ridiculous for every writing this as my little boy is the smiliest most giggly little guy! He is so friendly and much better eye contact now! He can still get disctracted with things and not stare into my eyes on occassion but I think he is just really nosey! Is there anything you are particularly worried about? I think 3/4 months was such a turning point for us!