LO's and Eye Contact

AmandaLea26 · April 2012

Call me paranoid, but I've been noticing lately that J doesn't have a lot of eye contact with me.

I told my mom that I was concerned because I remember from my special education course that one of the first cues that a child may have an autism spectrum disorder is that they don't like to make eye contact, but after talking it over with DH I found out that he's looked DH dead on several times and even the grandparents have gotten some good face time. But it's like with me he has no interest in looking me in the eyes!

Mom says he's probably just comfortable with me, my scent, my voice so he's not as interested. But I can't help but think that the best case scenario is that my kid just doesn't like me.

I know not to worry too much til the 3 month mark (he's only 2 weeks tomorrow), but I didn't know if any other mamas had experiences like this.

vtwd40 · April 2012

At this point, most stuff to LO is just a giant blur. The things they will focus on are contrasts. Most babies will focus on your hairline because that's where your light skin meets your darker hair. My DD also really like our curtains with dark designs on them, and the dark fan against the light ceiling. I wouldn't stress about eye contact at this point at all.

angiekay84 · April 2012

It's still too early too worry about that. Their eye sight is still really fuzzy and they won't even start tracking faces until about four weeks, let alone eye contact. You have plenty of time!!

katcarls · April 2012

It's way, way too early to be concerned about autism, especially based solely on eye contact. His behavior is normal for this age and newborns will even actively look away due to over-stimulation.

WildcatPrincess · May 2012

angiekay84:
It's still too early too worry about that. Their eye sight is still really fuzzy and they won't even start tracking faces until about four weeks, let alone eye contact. You have plenty of time!!

This. I get weekly emails from Baby Center and one recently said they're more likely to look over your head or at your moving mouth.

kkfeb04 · May 2012

katcarls:
It's way, way too early to be concerned about autism, especially based solely on eye contact. His behavior is normal for this age and newborns will even actively look away due to over-stimulation.

Exactly. DS is 2 years old and is in EI for speech and OT (sensory). I just asked about Autism yesterday at his 6 month meeting with everyone. He could possibly have markers for it, he has 15 words, he has sensory issues and they just noticed yesterday that while he does interact with everyone he doesn't look at anyone in the eyes. I also mentioned to them that he doesn't even talk to them at daycare even with his limited words, he does a lot at home. They are going to eval more on the sensory things and I am going to ask the pedi for a referrel for him to get evaluated for it. He also even as an infant, if he was touched he would pull away. That is much better with us and his daycare teachers. I'm not sure if that is really a good marker since it was normally at church that this would happen and really to him, they are mostly strangers since he doesn't interact with them daily. I was always told that he was an unfriendly baby...umm, no, he likes his personal space (as do I) and he doesn't like to be touched.