Too young for eye contact?

[Georgi]

DS is nearly 9 weeks, corrected age, and does/will not make eye contact with anyone. Is this normal? He definately sees things, just won't make eye contact with me or DH. We follow his eyes with our faces, trying to get him to catch gaze, but he just persists to look past us every time. I'm not concerned he has a problem with his eyes, just concerned this is a sign of autisim as a friend of mine says that was the first sign of her son who is autistic.

[~Trish~]

I'm no expert so I can't say if it's normal or not. Both my DS's made eye-contact from birth, but I'm not sure if it's different for each child.

Maybe you could contact your MCHN and ask for her opinion?

Hopefully some other BB members will have a more useful answer for you

[Arimeh]

Hmm.. I don't know either sorry!! Mine both have done the eye contact since birth... I didnt' think they could pick up autism at such a young age though? But I don't have a lot of knowledge really.

I'd take him to a GP or something to see if they think you need a referral to someone maybe?

[Tinks]

I agree, go and see your MCHN pr GP about it

[Santosha]

Georgi, while lack of eye-contact and joint-attention (looking at what Mum looks at - present in older infants) is an early sign of autism spectrum disorders (ASDs), I have never heard of these symptoms being picked up or being 'reliable' predictors of the disorder at such a young age and I'm sure there are a number of explanations for what you're seeing. There is a new protocol for early testing and detection of ASDs being used by many MCHNs - I think it's called SACS and was developed by Cheryl Dissanyake, Barbaro and Ridgeway (sp?) (these details are handwritten from a professional development seminar I attended and could be misspelt or innacurate). I will google after I post this and if I find anything useful for you I'll pop in again.

Don't fret too much, it's far to early to be drawing any conclusions and chances are, your bubba is perfectly fine. That said, good on you for being so aware and exploring possibilities. As a professional in the area I have come across many parents who have ignored and explained-away blatently apparent symptoms (FAR more than limited eye contact) until their child is in pre-school and in some cases in adolescence.

All the best.

[Santosha]

Georgi, sorry, should have done my research and THEN posted! From what I just read it looks like the SACS assessment was only being trialled in Victoria by MHCN's for now.

Nonetheless, your GP, Pediatrician and MCHN will all be able to chat to you about yr concerns.