Anybody else's baby "blanking" particular people

[duchesse]

My nearly 8 month old is a happy, sociable little flirt thing, who will smile and chat to virtually anyone who cares to give her the time of day.

Except for our neighbour. This neighbour is a lovely person in her late 40s, who has been ill a lot and is still cheerful despite being in a lot of pain on a daily basis. And the baby just looks away when this woman tries to talk to her, and resolutely refuses to smile or make eye contact with her at all. It's all most odd- she's the only person the baby's ever done this to- she'll smile more at random people in the street. Does anybody else have an experience of this? Any idea why?

Terri (the neighbour) thinks that maybe the baby is "seeing" her physical pain. What do you think?

Babies can certainly "pick up" on emotions etc so maybe she senses something is kind of wrong/different with Terri?

My DS has blanked people in the past, people he saw most days too.

He doesn't anymore. He's a super flirt!

DD did it with her grandmother - from about the same age till over 2.

If she was spending the whole day there she would be ok by end of the day - but boy she made her grandma work for it.

My niece (14) was sick when we visited NZ recently & DD made her work for it too - but I thought maybe she picked up on the being ill vibe?

usually DD is totally gregacious - but she makes some folk work really hard.

Luckily her grandma coped well!