Eye contact in newborn, sibling with ASD

[runikka]

Good morning

I am mum to Daniel, 5 & severely autistic, Rebecca 3.5 & NT and Sophie aged 8 weeks.

Our HV and GP are concerned about Sophie's eye contact (lack of). She has just started to look at us and there is beginnings of a smile but it is fleeting and she is usually looking into space or over our shoulders. During check ups she hasnt demonstrated her gaze and the HV wants to see her in two weeks to check again.

We noticed at six weeks that she wasn't making a great deal of eye contact but thought it was because she was still so tiny and felt we were paranoid. I guess it concerns us that the HV and GP are wanting to see her again.

My question is for those with more than one child on the spectrum, did you have an inkling from a very young age that there may be issue with the subsequent.

We just want to get back to enjoying our newborn but obviously are aware of the odds.

tough one, have they said they are concened about ASD or maybe that her sight might not be great??
We have dd1 who has informal dx of ASD and DD2 who they are assessing atm. I had no clue with dd2 until she hit 2 years then it changed. As babies my 2 DDs were very different, but both extemes, so DD1 would scream for hours and DD2 never cried.

I would say enjoy her, stop worrying if at all possible, she is still your beutiful little girl and we never know what the future hold.

HTH

Same as what lisa said: i also have have 2 dd's on the spectrum, both totally different, dd1 was hard work and was different from day 1, dd2 (who has more severe ASD) was easy going and had great eye contact as a baby but would also fixate on objects.

Just enjoy your newborn and try not to worry.

Same as what Marne said again.

It's hard though isn't it,wondering? IN same placewith ds4 now (2 dx'd already)

Thanks for your prompt replies.

I guess our DD1 had already passed this development stage when our son was diagnosed. We never had any concerns about eye contact in either of them but at the same time, the health visitors would ask if they were making eye contact and smiling etc and we'd say yes and that was the end of it. This time, it is almost that the health visitor needs to see it for herself...which is fine. It's silly really even considering it as relevant as Daniel was the biggest supermarket flirt as a baby, smiling at all and sundry.

We did ask at Sophie's six week check when she should be making eye contact so I guess we inadvertently raised a concern. I just dont want to be analysing every single thing she does and completely missing out on enjoying her. At the same time, if there is a possibility of ASD then I dont want to be burying my head in the sand and missing opportunities to help her/get help.

thing is at 8 weeks there is nothing you can do, apart from enjoy her. The earlist I have heard a child dx is 2 years, but nothing to stop you keeping diary and just keeping at it, HTH

HV's dont al;ways understand alot about asd, so dont worry toomuch about their take tbh, your own instincts will be better

And dont rule out the eyes thing..... yes ds1 had as but he also has pretty amrked vision issues as well and neededglasses to help himseepeoplewell(has gone from 25 % vision to 75%)

I've encountered 18 month old dx's with autism tbh lisa is right there islittleyou can do. DS4 is very high risk (2sibs with asd, 1with undiagnosedisues of the add / dyspraxia type, lots of redflags in ds4 himself aged 21 mnths but not enough yet) and all we have done is keep him gf for first 18 months (we only gave that up becuase of feeding issues), keep him cf, he's still breastfed but not everyone can do that I know (and it means me being cf also), loads of interaction and talking, books etc. I know he ahsn't got autism but red flags for AS are there nonetheless. I have one with AS / FA and one with mioderate asd with severe LI,and I wasscared it would get mroesevere with each case but so far at least we are clear of that.

Goodluck

Hi
First thing I'd ask for is a referral to the hospital opthalmic team, because she may well have vision issues rather than ASD issues. They can check them out quite extensively.

My son (ASD MLD) didn't smile.. at all. When we had his vision checked it turned out he was VERY longsighted and had a maturational delay..basically the eyes were seeing (badly) but the brain wasn't processing it . He had glasses by the age of 5 months! It did take til he was 11 months before he smiled at anyone due to the visual delay but eventually it came

He would smile from about 6 months at whistling sounds or shiny lightbulbs (!!) but not people.. and it was just the brain not quite ready to put it together. While turned out that actually yes he is autistic, when he was small the lack of smile was down to other causes...

Hang in therexxx

all of mine have looked at my hairline (ie well above eye contact lol) for a good couple of months, before realising that faces are the thing to look at. it is a fairly normal developmental thing - i think generally because there is more 'contrast' - same reason they stare oddly off at where the ceiling meets the wall lol.

none of mine have asd btw (well, not dx anyway...)

i'm pretty certain she will start noticing faces soon enough - and that everyone is being ultra cautious because of family circs. it's been discussed before on here that siblings of sn children are often 'expected' to have additional quirks by profs lol. so difficult to deal with normal parental concern and caution when you know too much about these things though.

i can only say that most of the things i have suspected as being potentially sn related have not been, and i have felt slightly bemused by the stress i put myself under sometimes!

fingers crossed, but try not to stress. she's just a tiny - enjoy!

Other thing I would say ias tht whilst it might feel hard, at least p[eople are intreested- theres not been a checkk ofds4 or a chatwith us since we stopped baby weighing at a few weeks!

I think it's far too early to worry ! Easy to say I know

Congrats on your new arrival. I would say don't worry yet. My DS duid make eye contact, but looked away a lot. I think it's too early to tell.

Looking back, there were clues, but not so much with the eye contact. He was jsut abnormally docile and prefered to be left alone. He didn't seek contact, or enjoy being held very much (prefered to be held facing outwards if at all), was happy to sit in his baby chair plonked in front of the tv!