Nikki did your baby improve? My lo is 13 weeks and is not tracking objects and does not notice things waved in front of her however she does smile sometimes and catch your eye. I too am rather stressed about it x
Hi there...we confirmed with the neurologist as well as the eye specialist that so far things seem fine. So I assumed it might be slower development and not a sight/brain issue. I then spent many hours with my son, trying to get him to connect with my eyes as well as objects. I did so with him looking at me while being propped up on my knees and my face being about 40cm away. I made sure I had a plain background behind me so that he would not get distracted eg a plain wall and not a window. At times I cupped my hands on each side of his eyes so he didnt have much else to look at except me. I also didnt make any noise, so that I could make sure he wasnt just responding to sound. I then got him to lock eyes with me and made lots of facial expressions. I did this quite a lot. And he suddenly started responding. I kept on doing this and found he was most interactive at his bath time while on his changing mat. I think it has been 2.5 weeks now and we have some good interaction time every day - his eye contact, smiling, responding and tracking objects. Sometimes he has off moments when he is not interested but then he has some good time again. I am now not sure what is normal for 11 weeks but Im just going to keep on giving him stimulation time each day, because we have seen tremendous progress each day which seems to be a result of focussing a lot on spending this stimulation time with him. But one thing that seemed to happen (hope its not just my imagination!)...but after spending those initial 2 days with hours of stimulation time and trying to get the eye contact going and moving objects in front of him...it was like a light suddenly switched on and suddenly he was seeing things...and then they progressed positively from there Well, that is my story so far! Let me know how it goes with your little one
I'm slightly gate crashing but just wanted to share my experience although it is slightly different.
I see nikki you said it wasn't a sight problem. With my dd she seemed to gaze in to space and always at lights. Ww realised at 6 weeks she had a slight squint so we werw referred to the opthamologist and they reviewed her several times but couldn't really examine her sight as she was so young. At 8 months she was under review by the hv as her eye contact wasn't good and she had delayed development. The delayed development continued and at our eye appointment at 20 months they said she has extremely long sight. She now has glasses and her development has improved immensely. She's recently been reviewed by the pediatrician and he was very happy with her stage of development. My poor dd could hardly see anything but now that they've caught it, her eye sight should improve.
I hope your lo's are just slightly delayed and catch up soon x
Gingerpoodle, so great to hear that you were able to identify what the issue was and that your dd is doing great! There are so many things that could be causing these issues and it is such a relief once you are able to narrow it down. She must just be loving life now that she can see clearly
Mamae2013, to answer your question about where I am at now with my son. Well after noticing what seemed to be a problem, getting his eyes tested to confirm that things looked ok (you cannot test for too much at that age though) and there were no obvious signs of what could be causing it, I got online and spent hours and hours going through websites to see what it could be. This one seemed to be my lifesaver and I truly believe that in my case, it was DVM (delayed visual maturation). After spending quite a few days with my son, really dedicating every interaction with him by making eye contact and trying to connect with him, there was that moment that he seemed to "click" with me. Every interaction after this was longer and we connected more each time. I think I kept on with this for a month and then I realised, he was 100% fine and I didnt need to worry anymore. He started interacting perfectly at about 3.5 months and when I took him for his 4 month followup checkup at the neurologist , she signed him off as completely fine. He is now 1 year old and for months now he does what I dreamed of when I went through that scare - he stares deeply at people and has constant eye contact.
The important thing that I learned from this was - even though in a lot of cases, there is a proper cause for concern, there are other cases when the baby's development is just simply delayed a little and they just take their time. It was almost like his sight was "switched on" when he was ready and after this there was no turning back.
So in your case, you are not guaranteed that there are no issues. However, I think that it is possibly too soon to be that worried. My advice would be to spend some time moving black and white contrast objects in front of your baby, trying to make eye contact as much as possible and spend lots of focused time with them etc (as per my above post)...and if it is still a real problem after about 4 months then possibly see a specialist (eye and maybe neurologist). But until then, just invest in your baby and see if you notice some changes within a couple of weeks.
Please please put updates on this post about your progress. I was dying to hear feedback from other people that helped me from this post (e.g. simsim), but I don't know what happened with their babies in the end.
I think my son at 8 weeks seemed fine in most ways except the fact that he did not make eye contact, he didnt follow objects and he didnt track me moving in the room. He knew I was there and knew who I was, but he didnt lock eyes and react to me. He smiled and made happy noises but even though he was looking in my direction, he was looking through me or past me and not responding to me.
I sat a lot with my knees up and had him propped up against my legs facing me directly, sometimes cupping my hands around the corners of his forehead so he was forced to look at me but if your baby doesnt like it then it doesnt matter. I made sure I had a solid background so he was not distracted e.g. a plain wall and not a window. I just made lots of facial expressions and chatted to him the whole time. I had a white paper plate and pasted black shapes on it (i.e. contrast between black and white) which I moved from left to right across his vision, as well as had some colourful tinsel that I dangled in front of him. I did this for a 2-3 hours a day. So I just repeated this and I saw real changes a few days later and he completely caught up by 3.5/4 months old. I found that the most eye contact I got was after his bath in the evening and he was lying on his changing table and looking up at me - this is when I started to realised that he was making proper eye contact. Since then he has been on target or ahead of all the baby milestones and has no issues at all - very active healthy happy. I dont think its a formal condition (DVM) but my neurologist knew what I was talking about.
I breastfed him for 8 weeks and went on to formula after this - same as with my daughter.
But don't stress - I would try doing some exercises and be patient and keep on interacting with him. And see if there is any progress in a couple of weeks. If you are worried about it, you can always take him to have his eyes tested to rule out any obvious vision issues. But give it a few weeks before getting concerned, it could all be completely fine and he could just be deciding to do things at his own pace.
Just the last questions. Did you son looked at other's faces, like when people came close to him to talk, did he use to look away or to the other side?
did he like cot mobiles or the playmat?
When you looked at him, he used to look away and not turn his head towards you, so you had to go towards him to catch his attention and start the exercises, right?
So sorry for the late reply! Yes he enjoyed his play gym. I cant remember if he noticed the mobile but he didnt track it when it moved in circles.
Yes when I tried to get him to look me in the eye he would look somewhere else - so I had to constantly try to move in front of his vision until he started to slowly look at me more and more.
I saw a paediatrician today and he thinks is the same thing, a delayed progress. He does not seem to see any issue with his eyes or brain development.
I'm doing the exercises everyday and I did notice some difference. he can already track the black and white cards for few seconds and my face moving also... but is not all the time, you have to really engage with him. I will keep doing that and I hope in a couple of weeks he will be better.
Do you remember when did your son started looking at other faces that got close to him, was also about a couple of weeks after you started the exercises?
Im also seeing a osteopath on monday, maybe it will help to switch him on...
I do remember it taking a lot of hard work, I needed to work on it for a long time each day, but I did see progress every couple of days and then after about 2 weeks I saw proper results. After I think about a month he was totally fine and I didn't need to do anything extra, I could just interact normally with him like any baby at that age (3.5 months). So you just need to persevere and not stress about it for a while as you continue with the exercises. I think it is great that you took him to see the paed, just to rule out any obvious issues and to also put your mind at peace. I cant remember what his interaction was like with other people over that time but it initially was the same as with me - initially no eye contact but after a couple of weeks started to interact properly with other people - but my husband and I got the most interactions, I guess because we spent so much time with him
Just to know if I am on the right track and the switch on has started..
I has been a week since I started with the daily stimulation and I have some moments with him where he look me in the eye and follow my eyes, smiles. He can also follow the black and white pictures from side to side but does it a couple of times and lose interest.
I really need to engage with him as he does not look at me or the pictures spontaneously.
I just wonder if this is how it starts? In the first few days he didn't look at me at all or the pictures and now I have few minutes of it everyday but not an awful lot, definitely improving though. Is that your experience too? I stay with him for several periods of 30 min and I have few minutes of interaction every time,
the rest of the day he does seem to switch off and look to the nowhere again. He seems sometimes as he is sleeping with his eyes closed. Did you notice that on your litte one at the time?
Many thanks for your response, I just want to ensure Im on the right track as I truly hope he has only DVM and he will be better soon.
Apologies for the late reply, I only received the notification now that you had updated the post.
??
What you are describing is exactly the same as my situation.?? It was a slow process and progressively got better.?? It feels like it takes forever, but things start getting better and faster.?? I found that I got my hopes up because my son would be quite interactive (same as your situation) and then later in the day he would just switch off and I would feel like I lost all the momentum and I was back to where I started (quite an emotional rollercoaster).?? But it took a few weeks and when other people started commenting about how he seemed completely normal and was looking at them and interacting, then I started to see that he was completely on his milestones again, and we have not looked back.
Not sure what date you posted your update on (it shows as the end of November even though I only got notified now)??? How have things been since then?
it is sooo comforting reading your posts... my son is going through the same phase as well. hH is 7 weeks old and does not follow me and avoids eye-contact. how is your son doing mamae2013? I really hope he is doing fine by now. Its comforting knowing that there is light at the end of the tunnel. I started this intensive stimulation today and just hope that it will get better soon. Thanks again.
I have twins - one baby girl and one baby boy. They were born on 17.09.2013 premature. Both of them were in NSICU for more than 40 days. The corrective age is now 6 months and as per DOB they are now 8 months.
The baby girl is not following the Objects. Her ROP is Ok and the retina is also OK. We got the VEP test done but it was abnormal.
Her one pupil seems drooping....
We have started some stimulation exercise.
Sometime we feel that she is looking at us but we now think that she not used to look at us or any objects.
Her other parameters are perfectly fine.
Can anyone in the forum help me out what to do as we are very much worried and tensed.
Tomorrow we are going to chennai to a one of the best eye hospital to get both of them checked up.
Hello .just wanted to add to this for those like me surfing a few years later.
I was very concerned about lack of contact and saw a gp at 5wks, due to suspected nystagmus and not following a pen light we were referred to a pediatrician who then referred us to the eye team at the hospital who reported all looks healthy .
Josh would look above our heads, round us and it was worrying. By week 8 he started to glance at us and now at 9.5 weeks he'll lock on for a good few seconds and he's improving. It's frustrating but they all develop at different speed. I fretted because my little girl was great at eye contact within 4 weeks.
Anyway I thought this might help people like me who was searching old forums to get advice.
Me again, here at 12 weeks the focus and concentration is much developed. A real transformation over the last 3-4 weeks. He also registers smiling and returns it and is very responsive to voice. I no longer have concerns 🙂
Replies
Hello Niki Jensen. My LO is doing the same at 9 weeks old. Can you please tell me how your baby evolved?
Im very worried with my little one who does not seem to be interested in the world yet, no eye contact, no tracking objects...
I really appreciate your response.
Thanks,
Hi ladies
I'm slightly gate crashing but just wanted to share my experience although it is slightly different.
I see nikki you said it wasn't a sight problem. With my dd she seemed to gaze in to space and always at lights. Ww realised at 6 weeks she had a slight squint so we werw referred to the opthamologist and they reviewed her several times but couldn't really examine her sight as she was so young. At 8 months she was under review by the hv as her eye contact wasn't good and she had delayed development. The delayed development continued and at our eye appointment at 20 months they said she has extremely long sight. She now has glasses and her development has improved immensely. She's recently been reviewed by the pediatrician and he was very happy with her stage of development. My poor dd could hardly see anything but now that they've caught it, her eye sight should improve.
I hope your lo's are just slightly delayed and catch up soon x
Hi All
Gingerpoodle, so great to hear that you were able to identify what the issue was and that your dd is doing great! There are so many things that could be causing these issues and it is such a relief once you are able to narrow it down. She must just be loving life now that she can see clearly
Mamae2013, to answer your question about where I am at now with my son. Well after noticing what seemed to be a problem, getting his eyes tested to confirm that things looked ok (you cannot test for too much at that age though) and there were no obvious signs of what could be causing it, I got online and spent hours and hours going through websites to see what it could be. This one seemed to be my lifesaver and I truly believe that in my case, it was DVM (delayed visual maturation). After spending quite a few days with my son, really dedicating every interaction with him by making eye contact and trying to connect with him, there was that moment that he seemed to "click" with me. Every interaction after this was longer and we connected more each time. I think I kept on with this for a month and then I realised, he was 100% fine and I didnt need to worry anymore. He started interacting perfectly at about 3.5 months and when I took him for his 4 month followup checkup at the neurologist , she signed him off as completely fine. He is now 1 year old and for months now he does what I dreamed of when I went through that scare - he stares deeply at people and has constant eye contact.
The important thing that I learned from this was - even though in a lot of cases, there is a proper cause for concern, there are other cases when the baby's development is just simply delayed a little and they just take their time. It was almost like his sight was "switched on" when he was ready and after this there was no turning back.
So in your case, you are not guaranteed that there are no issues. However, I think that it is possibly too soon to be that worried. My advice would be to spend some time moving black and white contrast objects in front of your baby, trying to make eye contact as much as possible and spend lots of focused time with them etc (as per my above post)...and if it is still a real problem after about 4 months then possibly see a specialist (eye and maybe neurologist). But until then, just invest in your baby and see if you notice some changes within a couple of weeks.
Please please put updates on this post about your progress. I was dying to hear feedback from other people that helped me from this post (e.g. simsim), but I don't know what happened with their babies in the end.
Look forward to hearing your updates!
Nikki
Dear NIki,
thanks you so much for your reply. You are right, the best thing I can do is to try to work with him on his focus.
What is the solution for delayed visual maturation, the docstors recommend something?
Did you son tracked you around the room at all? My son does not seem to do that much, although I feel he does notice my presence.
Did you brestfeed him? Do you have any strategy for him to look into your eyes while doing so?
How long per day did you do that? You need to find a quiet time, right?
Did he use to coo and smile at you at all? My baby does coo and smile but not looking at me...looking away.
After he clicked, did he have any delayed milestone on his development later?
Many thanks for your response!
HI Niki,
just another question: How was your son's symptoms at 8 weeks?
I tried to get him on the focus exercise but every time I close is vision with my hands, he cries... How did you do about it? Any tips?
thanks,
Hi mamae2013
I think my son at 8 weeks seemed fine in most ways except the fact that he did not make eye contact, he didnt follow objects and he didnt track me moving in the room. He knew I was there and knew who I was, but he didnt lock eyes and react to me. He smiled and made happy noises but even though he was looking in my direction, he was looking through me or past me and not responding to me.
I sat a lot with my knees up and had him propped up against my legs facing me directly, sometimes cupping my hands around the corners of his forehead so he was forced to look at me but if your baby doesnt like it then it doesnt matter. I made sure I had a solid background so he was not distracted e.g. a plain wall and not a window. I just made lots of facial expressions and chatted to him the whole time. I had a white paper plate and pasted black shapes on it (i.e. contrast between black and white) which I moved from left to right across his vision, as well as had some colourful tinsel that I dangled in front of him. I did this for a 2-3 hours a day. So I just repeated this and I saw real changes a few days later and he completely caught up by 3.5/4 months old. I found that the most eye contact I got was after his bath in the evening and he was lying on his changing table and looking up at me - this is when I started to realised that he was making proper eye contact. Since then he has been on target or ahead of all the baby milestones and has no issues at all - very active healthy happy. I dont think its a formal condition (DVM) but my neurologist knew what I was talking about.
I breastfed him for 8 weeks and went on to formula after this - same as with my daughter.
But don't stress - I would try doing some exercises and be patient and keep on interacting with him. And see if there is any progress in a couple of weeks. If you are worried about it, you can always take him to have his eyes tested to rule out any obvious vision issues. But give it a few weeks before getting concerned, it could all be completely fine and he could just be deciding to do things at his own pace.
Let me know if you need any other info
Nikki
Hello Niki,
thanks a lot for all your answers.
Just the last questions. Did you son looked at other's faces, like when people came close to him to talk, did he use to look away or to the other side?
did he like cot mobiles or the playmat?
When you looked at him, he used to look away and not turn his head towards you, so you had to go towards him to catch his attention and start the exercises, right?
Many thanks,
Yes when I tried to get him to look me in the eye he would look somewhere else - so I had to constantly try to move in front of his vision until he started to slowly look at me more and more.
Keep me updated on your progress!
Thanks so much Niki!
I saw a paediatrician today and he thinks is the same thing, a delayed progress. He does not seem to see any issue with his eyes or brain development.
I'm doing the exercises everyday and I did notice some difference. he can already track the black and white cards for few seconds and my face moving also... but is not all the time, you have to really engage with him. I will keep doing that and I hope in a couple of weeks he will be better.
Do you remember when did your son started looking at other faces that got close to him, was also about a couple of weeks after you started the exercises?
Im also seeing a osteopath on monday, maybe it will help to switch him on...
Thank you so much for your help!
I will keep you posted on the progress.
xx
Hi Nikki,
Just to know if I am on the right track and the switch on has started..
I has been a week since I started with the daily stimulation and I have some moments with him where he look me in the eye and follow my eyes, smiles. He can also follow the black and white pictures from side to side but does it a couple of times and lose interest.
I really need to engage with him as he does not look at me or the pictures spontaneously.
I just wonder if this is how it starts? In the first few days he didn't look at me at all or the pictures and now I have few minutes of it everyday but not an awful lot, definitely improving though. Is that your experience too? I stay with him for several periods of 30 min and I have few minutes of interaction every time,
the rest of the day he does seem to switch off and look to the nowhere again. He seems sometimes as he is sleeping with his eyes closed. Did you notice that on your litte one at the time?
Many thanks for your response, I just want to ensure Im on the right track as I truly hope he has only DVM and he will be better soon.
Lots of love, xx
Apologies for the late reply, I only received the notification now that you had updated the post.
??
What you are describing is exactly the same as my situation.?? It was a slow process and progressively got better.?? It feels like it takes forever, but things start getting better and faster.?? I found that I got my hopes up because my son would be quite interactive (same as your situation) and then later in the day he would just switch off and I would feel like I lost all the momentum and I was back to where I started (quite an emotional rollercoaster).?? But it took a few weeks and when other people started commenting about how he seemed completely normal and was looking at them and interacting, then I started to see that he was completely on his milestones again, and we have not looked back.
Not sure what date you posted your update on (it shows as the end of November even though I only got notified now)??? How have things been since then?
??
Thanks,
Nikki
hi mummies,
it is sooo comforting reading your posts... my son is going through the same phase as well. hH is 7 weeks old and does not follow me and avoids eye-contact. how is your son doing mamae2013? I really hope he is doing fine by now. Its comforting knowing that there is light at the end of the tunnel. I started this intensive stimulation today and just hope that it will get better soon. Thanks again.
Klo279
I have twins - one baby girl and one baby boy. They were born on 17.09.2013 premature. Both of them were in NSICU for more than 40 days. The corrective age is now 6 months and as per DOB they are now 8 months.
The baby girl is not following the Objects. Her ROP is Ok and the retina is also OK. We got the VEP test done but it was abnormal.
Her one pupil seems drooping....
We have started some stimulation exercise.
Sometime we feel that she is looking at us but we now think that she not used to look at us or any objects.
Her other parameters are perfectly fine.
Can anyone in the forum help me out what to do as we are very much worried and tensed.
Tomorrow we are going to chennai to a one of the best eye hospital to get both of them checked up.
Hello .just wanted to add to this for those like me surfing a few years later.
I was very concerned about lack of contact and saw a gp at 5wks, due to suspected nystagmus and not following a pen light we were referred to a pediatrician who then referred us to the eye team at the hospital who reported all looks healthy .
Josh would look above our heads, round us and it was worrying. By week 8 he started to glance at us and now at 9.5 weeks he'll lock on for a good few seconds and he's improving. It's frustrating but they all develop at different speed. I fretted because my little girl was great at eye contact within 4 weeks.
Anyway I thought this might help people like me who was searching old forums to get advice.
Me again, here at 12 weeks the focus and concentration is much developed. A real transformation over the last 3-4 weeks. He also registers smiling and returns it and is very responsive to voice. I no longer have concerns 🙂