Baby Development - Late Preterm Babies

egirl1025

Sorry for the additional thread, but I didn't find a good place for this.

DS was born at 36 weeks 5 days weighing 4lbs 10oz and had a short umbilical cord.  As we are nearing his two month "birthday" I am wondering if I should start being worried about the fact that he doesn't smile at me very much or in general outside of his smiles while sleeping and smiles due to gas.  Should I account for some developmental delay due to him being early?  He has gained weight well, right around a pound a week and does really well with tummy time, lifting and moving his head back and forth.  I may be overly worried about this whole smiling thing because I want it so bad, but he seems to be reaching his other milestones such as looking for mommy when he hears my voice and batting at his toys (however, I cannot tell if he is just doing this from being overwhelmed).

Does anyone else have some insights here?  When should I really be worried?  Dr. Google was super mean when I looked up all this stuff, so I am looking for some real world, "happened to me" kind of info.

PBear93

6-8 weeks is average--so some babies do it earlier and others later.  Most kids walk by their first birthday but my older daughter didn't start walking until 14 months and no one was concerned.  She also never waved goodbye/hello and again there was no concern from her pediatrician. 

Tawny87

I wouldn't worry. This seems normal to me. I have experience with preemies, my daughters were born at 33 weeks and some milestones they hit early/on time and some they were delayed on. Our pediatrician never had any concerns about them and at 2 1/2 they don't even take prematurity into account with them anymore.

purplefan1

You are doing a good job by being aware but don't worry yourself overly much. I've found my baby is most likely to smile at us in the evening when she has been fed and is sitting on our legs-we are sitting with our legs up and she leans against the thigh with her legs up on our stomachs. She seems to have best eye contact this way and will "talk to us" and smile (but not all the time either). Keep doing what you are doing and spend whatever time you can modeling smiles by sitting face to face with him and smiling/talking. Mention it to your pediatrician at his 2 month check up but I'm fairly certain the pediatrician will tell you not to worry and the smiles will come. Sounds like everything else is on track and he is hitting some nice milestones! Every baby truly do hit some milestones at different places for no particular reason.

egirl1025

Thanks for all of the assurances!  I will have to see if maybe he would prefer some different play time activities too...maybe my routine is old and tired lol.  

huskypuppy14

My baby was also born at 36 +5 and is 8 weeks today and it's still hard to tell if he's smiling at me or if it's subconscious. A pound a week is crazy though! Was that a typo? 

egirl1025

huskypuppy14 said:

My baby was also born at 36 +5 and is 8 weeks today and it's still hard to tell if he's smiling at me or if it's subconscious. A pound a week is crazy though! Was that a typo? 

Nope... I guess it doesn't quite equal to a pound a week, but he had more than doubled his birth weight at 6 weeks 5 days. Gaining close to 5 lbs. Coming in at 9lbs 6oz. He really started putting on the weight around week three.

I feel like most of the smiles are subconscious too.  I asked at daycare today and some of the ladies said he had been, but others just said it was gas .  Oh well...

abrigham326

Are you following the Wonder Weeks? My baby was born at 36w3d and I was also concerned about the lack of smiling by 8 weeks. A friend told me to download the Wonder Weeks app since it goes off of baby's due date and once she hit her first leap the smiles and cooing finally arrived. 

KaylaR628

I am an early childhood special educator and we often use an "adjusted age" for development for preemies, which is exactly the same as the Wonder Weeks: based on 40 weeks gestation aka your due date.  Your kiddo may hit milestones based on his actual age, or may hit them according to his adjusted age.  I wouldn't worry as long as he's meeting them close to the adjusted age at least.  Most preemies also catch up to their age according to their birth date as well, though this is different for each child.  Almost 37 weeks is very close to 40 weeks and some dr's would consider it full-term, so I imagine your little man will catch up soon .  
That being said, I would keep a dialogue open with your pediatrician about your son's development just to make sure he continues on track.  Early intervention is always best if there's any concerns!