Hello everyone,
This is my first posting on a website, I hear that Mumsnet is the creme de la creme for giving other Mums out there great advice and support, so hear goes...
I am a new Mum to a lovely little baby boy. He's 8 weeks and 3 days old and the thing that I'd really like to hear from you guys about is when I might expect a big gummy grin and some proper eye contact.
He's given us maybe 3 or 4 half hearted kind of smiles over the last week or so and I'm not even sure what we were doing to get these, but if i try to stimulate him, singing, talking or grinning maniacally at him, he just looks right through me with no interest whatsoever. He also avoids eye contact at all costs, preferring to look at anything at all, rather than our faces.
Occasionally, I'll get his attention and he'll stare at me, but that only lasts for a few minutes, and it certainly isn't accompanied with a smile. If I approach him in his crib to lift him out instead of looking lovingly up at me, he shifts his head an looks away, which is starting to really upset me.
Having done a little research online as to what milestones he should be reaching, I'm aware that babies 'should' be smiling and making eye contact by 6-8 weeks, so I'm getting anxious that my little one is not achieving this...it is also worrying that i keep reading about autism when researching this subject.
I just wondered if anyone out there may have experienced a similar thing with their little babies. It does seem that little boys seem to take a little while longer to get into the swing of things, but how much longer is acceptable, and when might is become a cause for concern?
Anyway feedback would be really gratefully received, thanks for you time in reading this, I hope you're all having a relaxing weekend.
x