10 week old baby not responding to sounds/sight need a hand hold 😔

[Sheepsheeps]

Hi everyone,

This is my first baby so I really have no idea what to expect etc.
She is 10 weeks tomorrow and is absolutely perfect in every way other than she just stares into space, doesn't follow you with her eyes or respond to any sounds. Loud noises don't make her startle etc and I'm unsure of she even recognises my voice.
Had our 8 week check up and vaccinations last week and raised my concerns.to GP. I have since been referred to paediatrician consultant whom we saw today. Pretty useless appointment as she just weighed, measured her and shook a rattle/bell.next to her head either side!
She's now being referred to the ophthalmologist and audiologist. I'm so worried I feel sick to my stomach. I can't begin describe how upset I am that my little girl might be blind and deaf.
She also has really bad colic/silent reflux but that's a whole other worry.....
I need a hand hold please and if any of you have any similar stories with positive outcomes to share, please do xx

Did she pass the hearing test they do after birth?

Don't have any experience of this but didn't want to read and run. I'm sorry you're going through this. Did she have a hearing test before you were discharged from hospital?

Did she pass her newborn screening checks for hearing when she was born?
If you put something bright and interesting in front of her eyes does she look at it or follow it at all?? What happens if you touch her? Especially her face? Does she respond if your boop her on the nose for example? Is she smiling?

No real advice but my ds failed his newborn hearing test but passed the rattle test after months wait. Try not to panic just yet

Try not to catastrophise before you know if there's a problem or not. (I know this is easier said than done).

And if there is a problem it might be able to be sorted easily.

And if not there are many people who have hearing and/or sight issues and still have great lives, just with some differences.

And try not to google, it will make you feel worse. (I know this from experience).

(I'm responding as I have an incurable eye disease which was initially devastating to find out about, but I have now come to terms with. Life is great, although, in some ways, different from how I expected it to be. There is so much now to help in terms of medical treatment, technology and better understanding).

But you know, it's most likely that all is fine.

Sending hugs and flowers. xx

Thanks everyone so far for replying.
Yes she did pass her hearing test in hospital with no concerns.
She's started smiling and cooing over the past 2 weeks.
She just doesn't respond to or follow anything visual. Doesn't follow toys, black and white cards, a light, my face etc. This is what I first noticed.
I then started making loud noises near her to see if she would jump or looking in that direction; again nothing.
She doesn't startle/jump if I touch her face/nose etc
I'm just so upset. I feel as though along with the colic and terrible silent reflux and now this, I've not been allowed to relax and enjoy any part of motherhood xx

I'm really pleased you have got your referrals, you should be able to find out lots more then.

My little boy had delayed visual maturation: he was very unresponsive, far beyond the age of your little one, but his sight is basically normal now. It took a few months for his processing to catch up and now he sees very well indeed.

And he has also a hearing impairment and, while this is obviously not ideal, the testing they can do now is fantastic. They can do a sedated brainstem-response test (though my boy is almost 1.5yrs now; when he had the similar test at birth, he didn't need to be sedated, just asleep) and check exactly what is going on and even apply things like grommets under the same sedation. Audiology have always been very responsive with us and we have hearing aids and visits from a specialist teacher for the deaf, plus potential surgical interventions possible if needed. All this was put in place within about three months of diagnosis. So in the worst case (and I am only giving you this for info, not because I believe you will have this!!), there is so much support out there.

I am very hopeful you won't need any of my info in any case! Wishing you the best of luck.

Smiling and cooing at you is a great start!

I believe that babies cannot look in the direction of sounds until they are a fair bit older (though happy to be corrected on this!) so that might be a worry you can cross off for a bit.

It sounds like you are doing all the right things. It's entirely natural to worry, and the waiting for answers sucks. I hope you get your referrals soon.

Thank you for your reassurance.
Surely though babies will just coo of their own accord rather than at you so to speak?

Thank you for your reply.
How long did it take for your little boy to start looking at things and follow them with his eyes?
It does seem as though they've done a great job for his hearing. Did they say what the underlying cause was?
Your reply has made me feel a bit more hopeful than I was, thank you xx

I'm not sure of the "official" milestone with that but DS1 cooed happily at your LO's age whereas DS2 would just cry, and that only occasionally, and that was part of the puzzle with his hearing impairment. He is 16 mths now and still doesn't use syllables, and has only just started playing with his voice, shrieking and growling and imitating and so on. So all of his sound production has been hugely delayed. Only my own experience, though.

His sight improved by approx 9 months and the initial finding was at approx 6 months. The ophthalmologist and orthoptist (at the same appointment) were able to check how the eyes worked together, look at retina, even work out that my boy was slightly long-sighted - it was really impressive and not invasive aside from some drops.

DS has an underlying chromosomal disorder causing his hearing issues BUT had issues clearly seen from the initial eight week check plus a NICU stay under his belt and all his milestones were severely delayed. You would have all sorts of red flags and a genetic screen started by the paeds team if this were suspected, I am sure! So I hope that doesn't serve to worry you. We were told that things like glue ear are startlingly common and exceedingly treatable in the population as a whole.

My DS was deaf until 14 months but it turned out he had glue ear which resolved with an operation. He started taking really suddenly after that and was reading all his alphabet by 18 months. So there is hope, and senses can develop really fast if you can figure out what the problem is and remove the barriers.

I remember he recoiled from sunlight very early but he has a lot of sensory sensitivity now, so I'm not sure I can tell you what is "normal".

also btw - I had terrible eye development problems that weren't diagnosed until I was 29 years old, but then they were still fixable with exercises, so please do keep hope. You'd be surprised at what human developmental processes can do to make up for a few misteps at the beginning.

Take care there. I know it must be hard and I definitely send hand holds, and also flowers and tea.

My husband apparently did not react to noise as a baby and he was referred for further tests. Turns out there was nothing wrong, he just was in his own little world.

Fast forward 10 years, baby brother arrives and is exactly the same. Mil wasn't worried as she thought oh , ok family trait he's obviously like his brother. Turns out not so much, he needed grommets.
Husbands hearing is fine , but you might have to call him several times if he's in the middle of something.

10 weeks is so little. Some babies don't respond to stimuli until much older.

FWIW I failed a hearing test as an infant and was referred to the auditory clinic - turned out I just couldn't be arsed to stare at this silly woman clapping and clicking her fingers at me. I hear perfectly now.

I was deaf as a child. Simple adenoids and tonsils out resolved it, apparently I had underlying infections.

i still struggle with realise someone’s speaking- unless I’m actively “listening” it’s all background noise to me.

if she’s smiling then she’s responding to something. Plus it’s at the correct milestone. One of mine didn’t start smiling until she was about 10 weeks but caught up pretty quickly.

@AgainandagainandagainSS
Thank you for your reply. I wonder what age they start responding to noises then? I can clap as hard as I can next to her head with her looking in the opposite direction (so she doesn't know it's coming from me) and it doesn't even make her flinch?! I'd have thought she would jump slightly or something surely?

@Whatamitodonow how interesting that it was as simple as your adenoids! Do you remember not being able to hear?
I suppose if it was speech or crawling etc, it wouldn't bother me as much if she was lagging behind on the milestones but because they are such essential senses that are absent at present, it's absolutely terrifying for us as parents. We will of course love her dearly if it's the worse case scenario but all every parent wants it's for their children to have happy and healthy lives with no additional challenges

Thank you to everyone who's taken time to share their experiences and support. It really has helped to settle my anxiety over this a little. I'm still absolutely heartbroken at the prospect of her not being able to either see or hear properly but you've all given me some hope xx

I think it is a big leap from what you are describing to assuming deaf-blindness which I think (I may be wrong) often comes with other conditions - I hope you get some reassurance soon.

I'm sure you're right amd I sincerely hope that I am wrong but it's absolutely terrifying attending consultations and watching doctors ring bells, shine lights etc and not see your baby respond in any way shape pr form. You can see the look on the doctors faces when they discretely gesture to each other that they couldn't see a response either....
I don't they're not allowed to give false hope or anything like that but none of them so far have tried to reassure us that it's highly unlikely to deaf/blindness. We're just told she requires future tests and we need to wait to see specialists

My mum was worried that I wasn't speaking at all and it turned out both my ears were completely blocked with wax! Once that was removed I was grand.

My daughter didn't smile or respond to sounds until 17-18 weeks. We had an audiology referral sent at 16 weeks having first raised it at 8 weeks. She had concerning scores in all areas at her 4 month development check
A week before she started to smile and respond to sounds I removed dairy and soya from my diet and she started on high dose omperazole and as much gaviscon as i could get into her.
She was perfectly average when the HV came to do a 5 month development check. The thought is she was in too much discomfort from the under treated reflux and undiagnosed food allergies to engage with the world. She's 4 now and still needs medication for her reflux and hasn't outgrown her allergies

No I don’t remember not being able to hear. I remember little rooms and beep tests, and a fair bit of earache, and lots of banana flavoured antibiotics- still can’t look at a banana now!

it was only as an adult when I started to get a bit short sighted and got glasses I put two and two together. I thought my hearing was going but realised I couldn’t “hear” without my glasses on!

went for a hearing test and my hearing is still excellent, but apparently I learned to lip read due to my hearing issues as a toddler when language develops. So now my brain needs the visual cues to process what it hears.