Baby not smiling as often- 12 weeks

[Riven1993]

Hello,

My baby is 12 weeks and had his jabs at 10 weeks due to a GP cock up so his vaccine schedule is slightly out. He was noticeably unsettled for around 5 days and we had an a&e trip due to a very high temperature.

Anyway, since then (it may or may not be coincidental) he has stopped smiling so much. Beforehand, he would beam at my mum, dad and husband when they’d talk to him etc and he was really coming along. He was first smiling at around 7 weeks.

He was very grumpy the week of his jabs and ever since, he only really smiles at me and i have to work quite hard at it. He’s never smiled at strangers, it’s almost like he was getting to that point and something set him back.

I took him to the doctors last Friday and said he wasn’t himself and they put that down to colic (but this has calmed down) and gave him a good check up.

I don’t want to call the health visitor yet as I don’t want to put pressure on him if he’s just doing things at his own pace and I don’t want to worry unnecessarily.

Any ideas? Thanks x

Hi OP sorry to be blunt but are you suggesting that vaccines could trigger autism? I’m only asking becouse I have a colleague with an austistic child who thinks islets becouse of vacinnes - which is of course absolutely crazy to think. Your baby is fine, he probably just isn’t himself after his shots. My 4 month old had his second shots recently and was off for about a week after. He is completely back to his normal self now. I am certain your baby is fine, 12 weeks is very young still and your baby may just not perfected their smiles and laughs yet. Please don’t worry

As young as this I'd think it's more likely to be a grumpy phase. It's too young to be thinking it's developmental.

Hi OP, I distinctively remember this happening to my DS around the 12 week mark. He started smiling at around 8 weeks and then had a couple of weeks where he wasn’t so smiley. I think he must’ve been too busy learning a new skill or was going through a leap.
He’s now 22 weeks and a very happy boy (for the most part). He was going through a bit of a grumpy week last week then suddenly started rolling over! Now he’s happy again.
The jabs do throw them off a bit for a while, every time DS had his jabs he’d be a bit grizzly for a week. I just assumed it was because his immune system was responding to it.
Just give it a few more days and see how he goes.

Mine did exactly the same at the same age. She's now nearly 16 weeks and back to smiling at everyone and everything (plastic bags are her favourite... 🤷‍♀️)

They can find the actual process of the jabs quite shocking and upsetting, depending how good the nurse is or if they had to hold him still or what. He’s probably still processing what happened.

He’ll be his smiley self again soon.

Babies often gain new skills, do them loads, then focus on another new skill, and the one they've learned slips down a bit until they've learned their next skill, etc. Add to that that jabs can make them a bit under the weather.

@Bluemamma I am absolutely not suggesting that it causes autism. I work at within education so I know the jabs have nothing to do with it. I just meant that I didn’t know if I coincided with the jabs and his behaviour was a result of it 😊.

Thanks very much everyone. Will wait to see how he gets on.

Download the wonder weeks app (it costs less than a fiver!) - it’s been so reassuring when I have a grumpy bubba for a few weeks! I now know she’s just doing a developmental leap and it’s totally normal!

@Riven1993 currently noticing exactly the same thing with my little boy. Less smiling and much more difficult to get them. He also had his first set of jabs nearer 11 weeks. Hoping they come back soon because they were so lovely ☺️