Milestone anxiety - help!

[Ms. Cellaneous]

My baby is seven weeks old and already I'm worried about hitting milestones!
I think I'm just being a neurotic freak and I need someone to pat me on the head gently and tell me to calm down. At least I hope so.
According to the books, DS is supposed to be social smiling and also tracking me & dad with his eyes. He is doing neither. He smiles, and it's absolutely adorable and melts my heart, but his smiles don't seem to bear any relation to me or anything I'm doing.
And he looks at my face and into my eyes sometimes, especially when I'm wearing glasses (maybe helps him find my eyes better?). But he doesn't really track my face with his eyes, and mostly when I hold him (and I hold him most of the time) seems to be looking over my shoulder or just staring off to the side.
Should I be worried? And if so, what should I do about it?
To me, he seems like a perfectly happy normal-developing baby. And he can do other developmental-milestoney stuff like lifting his head up and grasping (mostly at my hair/clothes) and even supporting some weight on his legs. But I'm a first time mom so what do I know??

[aet.tea]

Don't worry! Sounds like your baby is doing just fine.

Every baby has his/her own schedule on the milestones. I don't think DD was giving social smiles we could positively identify at 7 weeks (there were hints) but by 9 weeks I was sure she was smiling at us.

[_betsy_]

Totally normal.

I don't think my DD2 starteed tracking us around the room till closer to 3 months, but you know what? She walked at 10 months. And not cruising the furniture, either, flat out walking without holding on to anything for 10-12 feet or so. She also rolled early, crawled early and sat early, so try not to worry too much about what he's doing or not doing at 7 weeks!

[Bena]

I'm a first time mom too, so really have no more experience and am just as lost as you, but your baby sounds exactly like mine and they are very close in age. I noticed mine seems to like new faces more than mine (is she bored of me?!?) and that she also seems more interested in me when i wear my glasses. Maybe it's because she likes the colour (they are bright green) or because I wore them for the first two weeks of her life, when I didn't have the energy to put on contact lenses!!!

[annekh23]

I wouldn't worry, a lot of these numbers are averages, if you ask a doctor they are often using a completely different set of numbers as to when they actually get concerned a baby isn't doing something.

Our 3rd, now 6mths, was a late smiler, at her 2 month visit the doctor ran through a whole list of questions all of which were yes then "is she smiling?", to which I answered no, she just said oh and carried on! She was surprised, but not concerned, as it happened, she was doing it within a couple of weeks.

[Carhootel]

*gently patting you on the head*

calm down

sounds just like my ds at that age - those timelines about what your baby is "supposed to be doing" are stupid and that is my (un)professional opinion

[odoole]

Originally Posted by Carhootel

sounds just like my ds at that age - those timelines about what your baby is "supposed to be doing" are stupid and that is my (un)professional opinion

agreed. worrying serves no purpose. if something were really wrong with your child, you would find out soon enough and deal with it then. but always anticipating what *might* be wrong just takes all the joy out of parenting, in my opinion.

(this is coming from someone who is a bit of a worrier. i constantly have to tell myself that i'm missing out on everything in the present by always nervously looking ahead to the future)

just be patient and before you know it DS will be full of smiles for you and it'll be a thrill to see!

[Kelly1101]

Take a deep breath, and let it out.

7 weeks is NOT a hard-and-fast rule. Some babies are just funny about milestones. Mine (7.5 months now), will seem like she is NEVER going to do something, then suddenly overnight it's mastered.

Give it two more weeks.

Keep in mind that with smiling, especially that young, sometimes you won't know why, and you won't always be able to make them smile. Sometimes they'll smile because they have a full belly of milk, sometimes because they see a color they like, who knows why else. As long as he's smiling "with his eyes," (as opposed to sleep smiles, which are more just mouth-stretching) it doesn't matter why or to who.

Visual tracking takes time. If you want, you can try dangling bright or interesting things above his head, in his sight-line, slowly moving them from side to side, and see if it catches his attention.

As for not looking directly at you, also normal for such a young baby. Give it some time.

[tayndrewsmama]

This is my third and I am having anxiety about the tracking as well. My ds is just about 6 weeks and sounds exactly like yours in that area.

[Ms. Cellaneous]

Thank you everyone! You have set my mind at ease. I know I need to not get worried about these so-called milestones ... it's just reassuring to hear from other mamas. So thank you. And, I think I might have gotten some smiles today!