Can you hear me??

DH has me paranoid that Jacob is deaf. We have been shaking rattle or bells behind him and to side of him and he is not turning head just smiling at who ever holding him.

He does seem to pull of boob when phone rings, or I talk to someone.

He doesnt always startle when loud noises.

was at a function on friday night that was loud and he was grumpy and didnt really settle had a 30 min power nap.

he doesnt chatter as much as other babies bit i put that down to being child out.

OMG i am soooo worried now, he seemed to tuen head when mchn did tests at 2 and 4 months.
I am seeing mchn on thurs for a checkup but now i am soooooooooooooo worried

Other people have told me that there babies dont repond to name or turn head to noises either until later.

am i worrying over nothing??

My DS didn't always startle at loud noises & was often more interested in what was in front of him then any noises. He is hasn't always responded to his name but now does.

Please I know it is hard but don't worry until you have something to worry about it. So wait til Thursday when the nurse will do the tests.

I agree with NJD - until there's something tangible for you to stress over, try your best not to. I guess its possible he may have SOME hearing impairment, but I wouldn't think it was much if he responds to noises, even if its not all the time.

I sometimes wonder with babies how they don't get overwhelmed - they're in a completely new environment, learning new and incredible things every day. Wouldn't it be possible that he's not responding sometimes to noises because he's too busy looking at something he perceives as new? I know if I see something strange and someone tries to get my attention, I'll generally just ignore them until the strange thing has been 'classified' or has gone away!

I'm just kinda thinking out loud :)

If it helps anyway, we were sent off for hearing tests, as DS didn't startle at ALL in the 2 week check (and DH has congenital hearing loss), so I was a bit nervous to say the least. We got a teensy weensy startle at the 4 weeks check then trotted off for the test. Turns out his hearing was absolutely fine and the verdict was that he's just "cruisey". Talking to the audiologist and she was saying that sometimes babies that are used to a reasonable degree of noise around them just don't worry about responding... not that our household is that loud :o but I guess some of them just don't fret about noises.

I hope that your bubba is also a "cruisey" one and just more focussed on what he's interested in than what you want him to be interested in. If you do get a referral or decide you want further hearing tests to alleviate your concerns... I've just added in the details of where we went, cos we're in melb also. We were referred to Taralye in Blackburn - they do all the follow-up tests from the hearing screening that is now in place in the big hospitals (but may not have been in place when Jacob was born), and I gather they're the central "place to go" for thorough hearing testing. The test actually measures brain activity in response to sound, so is more thorough than those ring-a-ding bells. You're welcome to PM me if you want more details :)

Feeb- i thought a similar thing when DD was a few months old. She rarely cried, never startled at loud noises and certainly didn't turn to a noise. But over a few months all that changed. I guess like Belife says she was just 'cruisey'. Hope the same goes for your little man.

Thanks guys.

I rang MCHN this morning and asked to change appt from thurs to asap and told her why and she told me not to stress and wait till then, and she will see what she thinks and if needed send us for hearing test.

will let you know how we go.

fingers crossed i am just neurotic mother !!!!

Hi Feeb
It can be very difficult to tell if a 5 month old can hear. One thing you could try is a loud sharp noise such as a clap or bang 2 pan lids together. Don’t just look for big startle signs also look for small signs such as blinking. Obviously you need to make the sharp noise when your baby is not expecting it

we went thru this with Jack I was so panicked I took to banging saucepans beside him no response, took him to dr and even though he passed his birth hearing test we forked out the $$$ to have another and he was perfect, the audioligist said not startling at loud noises is quite normal as they have a very small attention span and dont seem to notice anything excpet what they are doing :hugs:

Hey hun

I know ive said it before but just wanted to say I hope little Jacob will be ok and im sure he will. You remember how I thought the same about Liam. He is fine. Maybe Jacob is just a easy and settled little man. I will be saying little :pray: for him hun.

Hey feeb, how did you go?
We were worried about DS' hearing too, for much the same reasons.
MCHN said they dont tend to test it at the audiologist until 7-8 months, and even then, when we went, they wouldnt do it becuase DS was not sitting unsupported - they told us to come back later.
By that stage we were well convinced that his hearing was fine and there werent any issues.

How'd your appointment go Feeb?

sorry i didnt get back to update.

MCHN tryed hitting, dropping, shakeing things etc like I had be doing, he responded to some and not others.

She said to wait to 6 months and if still concerned get a hearing test.

I saw pead last wewk re his head tilt and she said get a hearing test if i am concerned or wait.

As it christmas period i am waiting as he does sometimes respond and others not.

Thanks everyone