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Eye contact/smiling/stranger anxiety

1 reply

Rosecoast17 · 05/11/2025 09:49

Hi there
I was hoping for some insight or others’ experiences with their baby’s temperament and development.
My baby is almost 6 months and there are a couple of things I am not sure about:

  • He doesn’t smile too often and is usually in response to singing, talking, tickles, etc. I was never too concerned about this until I recently found out that babies are supposed to always smile back to you in response to yours. He does this sometimes but is often pretty fussy/tired (I struggle with his catnapping) so is often quite serious.
  • No eye contact when held. Will make eye contact when lying down or bottle feeding but not when held. I read on here that this is often due to overstimulation?
  • Stranger anxiety early. From around 4 months he started recognising certain people as strangers and will just stare at them or cry if they hold him or get too in his face to make him smile. To be honest, we don’t have family nearby so he rarely sees people outside the household but again, I have recently learned that babies generally smile at everyone.

I was wondering if others have experienced any of these in their children. Also wondering if he maybe has an overall shy temperament or if there is a bit of a social delay. He is not yet rolling back to front, sitting, or babbling consonants but as he’s just under 6 months, I thought there is still time for him to do these.

Thanks

OP posts:
Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
Fluffyjumpertime · 07/11/2025 20:35

When my DS was 5/6/7 months old we had to go on a train journey every week. Strangers would try to make him smile and he just did not respond! It led to all sorts of horrible comments from them, ‘is he always like this,’ it got me so concerned! I felt like I was always making excuses for him, that he was tired or hungry or had just woken up. Even my own mum commented that he seemed sad etc. It was awful!

Fast forward to his ten month check, when the HV was absolutely bowled over by all the smiles and connection seeking he was doing.

And today, 13 months old. I cannot take him to a cafe or a supermarket without him actively seeking out people to smile at and wave to, he is such a socially inquisitive baby.

He rolled properly at about eight months I think.

The sitting and babbling will come over the next 4-6 weeks or so. Your baby will get there OP 😊

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