8-month-old avoids eye contact up close - should I be concerned?

[Lilly212]

Hello, our little boy is 8 months old, and we notice that he avoids eye contact. (We thought he had eye contact because he follows us and from a slightly greater distance he looks us in the eyes and sometimes laughs and smiles at us)
However, we notice that when we place him in front of us in our lap, or simply pick him up in our arms, he often shifts his gaze away and almost never looks us in the eyes. If we stand in front of him and talk to him, he will look at our mouth (because it moves) but not at our eyes.
We went to 2 pediatricians, but they said that in their opinion he is fine. He almost never turns to his name. He doesn't imitate us and very rarely makes syllables (da-da, ba-ba). If we enter the room, he will notice and follow us, from a distance it seems like he looks us in the eyes quite a bit, but as soon as we get closer to him, his gaze immediately shifts and he starts looking at other things.

Sounds like a perfectly normal eight month old.

Hello @Lilly212
this sounds exactly like my 7m old, I know this was only posted a couple of months ago, but has there been any progress? Has he always had ”issues”with his eye contact like you describe?

my LO has always had terrible eye contact (have had eyes checked and they’re fine) so am always searching the internet for others experiences

Sounds normal.

@usedtobeaylis - what no eye contact @ 7m old? Never given eye contact, always avoided it? As everywhere I look says this is developmentally concerning ?

I mean it's probably nothing but no one can tell you at this stage anyway so just try to enjoy your baby.

All these things are 100% normal in an 8 month old. Eye contact is always little glimpses, even in adults. Too much eye contact is too intense and baby is very sensibly looking away.

In a 14 month old doesn’t imitate or make syllables then you could start to ask questions.

@Lilly212 how is your little boy doing now?

He seems fine, we've been to several doctors, including a psychologist. They say he has very good eye contact. There's a slight lag in his physical education, but nothing more.

@Lilly212 thanks for replying! My 8.5 month girl sounds similar although has started doing lots more babbling, mamama, dadada etc and copying some sounds over the last week. She's just so focused on moving!

Constant worrying being a mum isn't it!

Don’t worry — the fact that he’s babbling and copying sounds is great! Around one year old, he’ll start responding to his name more consistently, even if right now he does it only from time to time. Everyone says it’s better for a child to be active and have good muscle tone; it’s important for him to explore new things and not be interested in just one…

Yes things like this are really just 'watch and wait' he might just be turning away because he feels too overstimulated up close perhaps.

Yeah I said that because actually one of my children is severely autistic with gdd but you wouldn't have known when he was a baby! He had great eye contact, met his milestones etc. And tbh I'm thankful that I had that time of enjoying him as a baby without the weight of his diagnosis. I love him with every fiber of my being but I do worry now.
So I say enjoy your baby, cross the autism / disability bridge when you come to it. And honestly it's a different path but full of joy too.

All the best for you and your baby xx