Our son Chance. Too early to tell? | Autism PDD

hello friends,

my wife is worried about our 3 week old son Chance. When we position our face in front of his to make eye contact he looks away everytime. When we move back into his field of vision he adjusts his gaze away. He always looks away or past us. He never looks into our eyes. He doesn't seem to responds to our voices, doesn't seem to particularly like being held and doesn't smile. Sudden noises don't seem to startle him. He passed his hearing and vision test at the hospital.

I checked the web and it said its common for infants to not look at people or smile until they are 2-3 months old. But since my wife brought it to my attention yesterday, I have noticed Chance does avoid looking at us. I hadn't really noticed because my time has been mainly spent entertaining our 3 year old son while my wife cared for Chance.

My wife breastfeeds and says Chance avoids all eye contact with her then as well. She says that wasn't the case with our 3 year old son Logan and knows in her heart something is wrong.

We called our pediatrician and he said we shouldn't be worried because it was much too early to tell. Despite that, my wife remains distraught. I'm concerned but not sure what to think. I told her its not like we'd love Chance any less.

Do you think we have reason to be worried or is it really too early to tell? How early did you know something was wrong? Were there signs at this early an age (3 weeks)?

Thank you,
Tom, Sara, Chance and Logan. chance39334.8476273148 My daughter would look at me differently. I still can't explain the feeling. She had major sensory issues from birth. She hated the swing, loved flashing lights and cried all the time. She walked early but at 2 she started having social problems and regressed with her speech but still could say a couple of words.

Go to dev. ped.
amberwaves39334.727337963

I would say that 3 weeks is way too early to tell. Babies are still developing their vision and can't really see clearly anyways---depending on how far away you are. I would think they are still very attracted to contrasting colors. 10-12" is where they see the clearest.

A "blah face" or a "bright light" shining to the side of you.

Does he look at you guys when mom's nursing or giving a bottle?

Three weeks is pretty early, but seeing a developmental pediatrician is a
great idea.
I'm the oldest of eight kids, have 3 of my own, and have 20 nieces and
nephews, so I've held a LOT of babies, and I'd have to say they are ALL
different. Sometimes holding eye contact is very tiring for a little one, and
they may frequently disengage gaze to rest. Try to be available for eye
contact, without trying so hard to get, and hold it. Let your baby take the
lead in engaging and disengaging gaze. There are so many new things in
this world that your baby has to learn to sense, it must be overwhelming
compared to the womb! Nursing is also a very tiring exercise, and takes
lots of concentration, your baby is very little, and may not have enough
energy to nurse, feel body contact, smell his mother, hear the sounds of
her body, his own, and the sounds in the room, AND have energy left to
absorb visual inputs too. Congratulations on this new stage of your
family, be gentle with each other, and take it all one day at a time!Its early for the "DR" but you keep pushing.No matter what the DR is NOT always right.For 7 Years the DR said Jr was fine,I was crazy.Now hes 8 diagnosed PDD/NOS and in another state! Believe in you parental instincts.I forgot to add one more thing. My little one would make eye contact at first with everyone but me. I think I was so freaked out about it, he sensed it. Also, he first made eye contact with one of my babysitters who is African American. I think he could see her more clearly.I would see a Developmental Pediatrician. I think there could be red flags and somebody should be following his progress. If he doesn't speak well, is behind in speech, or echoes those are also signs. Children that age are usually eager to show parents what they find delightful and are engaging. They also are very aware of other kids their size. Even though it's hard to get a dx. at such an early age, interventions early are important, so you may as well try.

Hello Tom,

I'm gonna say it's probably too early for you to get any kind of "professional" to agree with anything. I am also gonna say that my oldest son Brendon did all of those things that you describe and he was like that from birth. Jacob was totally different. He made eye contact and was perfectly engaged.

Boy, I could tell you stories. I was exactly where you are 6 1/2 months ago. My baby son was making no eye contact for his first couple weeks. Really, really fussy. Couldn't self-sooth at all. I was FREAKED. I mean freaked. I was a real mess.

I wish there was a 100% happy ending to this story. Don't know the end yet (don't know whether or not he has Autism).

But, he makes fantastic eye contact. (I actually have to sneak around him sometimes b/c he once he locks eyes with me, he demands to be picked up.) Everyone comments on how happy and alert he is.

Do a search for my username (rockys) and you will find my old posts.

Three weeks is really, really early. It is a belief of mine that due dates have sometimes little to do with maturity and ready for the worldness. I think some babies may be "due" but they weren't ready yet to face the outside world. Other babies, take it in stride.

Also, if you or your wife want to email me, I would be happy to.

I had no idea the stress involved in having another child after one with autism.

Raquel

rockys39334.654375http://www.ipan-infant-autism.org/

Someone posted this link before, I think this will have a lot of good information for you. I have pics of my son's arm "stimming" by 9 months old (hugging himself) he still does this today at almost 7 years old. I think there are a lot of things you can watch for from here on out - but DON'T let being cautious/ aware take aware from this special time with your new baby boy! And by the way, CONGRATULATIONS!!!

Try to focus on those ten little fingers & ten little toes, and how amazing it is to have that newborn baby!By the way, some quotes from that site - this sounds like what you are experiencing:

"Autism is a childhood developmental disorder that impairs social interaction, behavior and language development. In infancy, the brain undergoes explosive growth. Social engagement and speech areas in the brain develop rapidly during the first year of life.

IPAN endorses the position that if pre-autistic symptoms are allowed to persist beyond this early period, they become etched deeply in the brain.

Mothers are often first to raise the alarm. A mother may complain that her baby is strangely inactive, almost never cries and won't meet her gaze. Or a mother may tell her pediatrician that her baby cries almost incessantly, is unusually restless and won’t curl into her embrace. These features, according to IPAN, are among the list of behaviors that raise a suspicion of pre-autistic tendencies."Great link, Hope2. I'll be adding the section "Detecting Pre-Autistic Behaviors" to the forum topic "Checklist resources." Thanks.

3 weeks is too early to tell anything. If down the line he misses his developmental milestones -then I would worry.

Laurie

That seems really young to me...I have a 3 week old nephew, and he doesn't make eye contact yet...I can't remember when my kids actually started making eye contact though.

Anyway, it is something you could keep an eye on and if it doesn't start improving, then bring it up...I just have a feeling if you went to a doctor now, they would just tell you it's too early to tell...but by all means if it would make you both feel better, it's worth a try.

Good luck and welcome to the board.

I think 3 weeks is too early to start any big-time worrying. A lot of babies have a pretty low arousal state at that age, drowsy and sleeping. My son's early sign was difficulty latching on to the breast. He also had some early sensory issues (which I didn't identify at the time), but he met his milestones on time.

Problem was, the milestone list I used was pretty minimal and focused on physical achievements like crawling, with only a few others like first smile and first words.

Since you are concerned already at this early stage, it is important that you follow a good developmental milestone list. The best one I know is written by the American Academy of Pediatrics and is included on the Center for Disease Control's website. Here's the link to the first set of milestones, for age 3 months.

http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/autism/actearly/milestones_3months .html

Each list ends with some red flags. The earliest red flags are these:

Does not notice hands by 2 months

Does not follow moving objects with eyes by 2 to 3 months

Keep monitoring the situation and talk with your child's pediatrician. Try to schedule more frequent well-child visits.

Good luck with everything.