Baby suddenly doesn't want to look at us?

Hmm, that doesn’t sound like normal behavior, to me, but I’m not a specialist. I feel that you should definitely tell your pediatrician that – have them check her hearing as well, sometimes when babies have problems with their hearing they don’t explore their environment, they don’t look around – have them check her eyes as well and if you want you can have a developmental specialist come to your house and do a check for disorders – there is usually an organization around that does these check-ups for free – they just watch your child for a day and are really good at picking up issues.

@Simone_De_Beauvoir Thanks for the advice. I do want to point out that normally she will look around at different bright colors, watch the cats, smile at herself in the mirror – but sometimes she will just stare at the wall, anywhere from once a day to three times a day. I will definitely mention the problem to my pediatrician, but hopefully nothing is wrong with her hearing or vision – she turns her head to me if I talk to her from across the room. Bad eyesight does run in my family, though… I can’t even see the big E at the eye doctor, LOL.

@stemnyjones oh, well maybe that’s just the way she is, nothing to worry about – maybe she’s a weirdo like her parents, :)~

Maybe she just gets “in the zone” when eating. That’s what we call it when my son eats. He’s 2½, and isn’t much of a talker at the table. It really depends. He used to just sit there and eat, and not say a word to me..and I’d talk to him or read to him while he ate. He still sometimes dazes out of it when he eats, just eats and stares into nothing…like straight through you.
My son doesn’t have any problems, and I never really thought anything of it. He always hit his milestones, and is extremely social and active…no signs of any developmental issues whatsoever.
So, it could possibly be nothing at all. But, at her age, you see the pediatrician pretty often so I’d just mention your concerns. That’s what they’re their for.

I’ve heard that staring at the wall or into space is a red flag, but I don’t recall for what exactly. It may be nothing, but you should definitely ask the pediatrician.

I found a discussion here (ignore all the weird religious/paranormal responses and read the long answer about the possibility of autism)
http://www.mamapedia.com/article/baby-stares-into-space

@Simone_De_Beauvoir Thanks for the link. I read the response about autism, and she doesn’t seem to have any of the other red flags for her age… she goes back and forth with us when we talk to her, and she smiles and laughs at us – hopefully it’s just nothing, but like I said, I will mention it to her doctor.

I think if a mom thinks there is a sudden significant change in behavior of her children it counts. Mom’s know. If it keeps up and you continue to be concerned see a doctor maybe.

@stemnyjones I know, good – just wanted you to see if there are other signs you might have not mentioned – I’m glad she doesn’t have the rest of ‘em.

Maybe you’ve been playing too much Where’s the Baby? with her. ;-P

According to my mother, my siblings and myself would always stare at something odd for a long time “zoned out” like what you describe when we were babies. We turned out okay, though.

I’m not saying don’t have the baby checked, but it’s possible it’s just a weird thing some healthy babies do

I wouldn’t get very alarmed but I would talk to your pediatrician. He/she will be able to let you know if there is cause for concern. Don’t wait and stew about it.

Autism is the obvious concern here, but its entirely possible she’s just zoning our or day dreaming. She can’t be engaged all the time, none of us can.

It may be that she’s incredibly precocious, and she has already entered her teenage years. If you can get her to sleep til’ noon, then that would be confirmation.

But seriously, I like the advice to talk to your pediatrician.

To add some perspective to this, my son (the firstborn) was high-strung, nervous, unhappy when separated from “Mom” as an infant, active and into everything when he started crawling and then walking. And yet… it has taken him over 20 years until he got to a point in his life where he’s starting to be interested in intellectual pursuits of any kind. Which surprised me, considering how “interested” he was in everything as an infant.

My daughter, on the other hand, born 1–½ years later to the same mother, was nearly as quiet and “reserved” as you describe your own daughter. She would “look” at everything, and she seemed interested enough, but she just didn’t seem (as an infant) to have that “spark” of interest that I thought should be so vital. (I don’t recall from that far back ‘exactly’ how she interacted with us on a daily basis.)

And yet… as the kids grew, she was the more active, athletic, curious, clearly and obviously “intelligent”, humorous, etc. She has always enjoyed intellectual pursuits, puzzles and games—she challenges me at Scrabble™ now when we do manage to get together, and she’s the only one of the two to have completed college.

So it’s just like Roseanne Rosannadanna used to say (you may have to Google her)—“It’s always something.”

I’m no expert, but have read everything I can get my hands on about autism spectrum ever since I was diagnosed several years ago. Three months is likely too early for autism symptoms to manifest. You should get an experts opinion on this though.

If this is a sudden and exaggerated change from her normal behavior, I’d be concerned and take her to her pediatrician. However, it may be too early to tell anything. Not just because of her age, but because the new behavior is so new. She could just be going through a phase of some sort. There are some real concerns to contemplate, but it’s best to wait to see a doctor before getting too upset.

My heart really goes out to you. I wish you so much luck in this, and I hope you’ll keep us updated.

@everyone Thanks for all the information, I really to appreciate it.

@ubersiren I’ll definitely update everyone when I find out if something is wrong or not.

She may just be figuring out what a blank wall is! Maybe she’s waiting for it to do something or look different!

Maybe you have a ghost in the house that she is staring at.

I have to agree with @Val123. Up to this age, your face was all she could see, and that kept getting more and more in focus. Perhaps she is staring at the wall trying to figure out why she isn’t seeing more there, since other things have appeared out of the blur that she knew before. Babies at 3 months are still seeing sharp contrasts. Is she tracking movements and sounds in the room? Follow voices and sounds? Do things startle her or make her jump? If you touch her cheek, does she turn towards the touch?

There’s a lot of brain connections being made in infants, and perhaps her spaciness is a result of the increased brain growth. My oldest had horrible periods of temper tantrums right before she would demonstrate a new skill. My pediatrician suggested that she could “feel” the brain activity insider her head, and it was irritating.

If it’s really causing you concern, keep a log of the episodes – time, length, preceding activity, movement, etc. so you can give your pediatrician a clear picture of what’s causing you concern, and talk to them about it.

I agree with @Val123 too and @PandoraBoxx as well. Her eyesight is developing and her brain is working to make connections and she’ll be doing a lot of things she hasn’t done before as she learns to cope with these things and more.

I would take her to be checked out sooner rather than later.

What you are describing sounds a bit like Absence seizures or petit mal seizures.

One of the causes of seizures in infants can be tape worms.

Didn’t you post about having cats with untreated tapeworms a while ago?

I don’t mean to alarm you but there is a possibility of a connection.

I hope everything is all right.

@jamielynn2328 Ahhh haha don’t say that… I never believed in ghosts but recently I saw a commercial for that psychic kids show and I looked over at her and she was smiling at the ceiling, it freaked me the fuck out haha.

The smile is gas bubbles.

@Merriment I thought about seizures in the shower and then forgot about it. Thanks for posting that. :)

@Merriment At first I thought petit mal, but then I realized the OP described it lasting for 5 minutes to an hour. Petit Mal is usually much shorter in duration. I think the baby would need to be having them over and over again in a row for this to result. I am not an expert though.

@avvooooooo thanks

@JLeslie Unfortunately in infants especially it is really hard to tell when a seizure begins and when it ends so it could look like a long period when it is actually a series of them.

I’m no expert either but I thought it worth mentioning when I remembered the cat connection.

@Merriment Cat?

Yeah, I agree, it is probably worth mentioning. SInce I thought it unlikely I felt like it might just make her more worried.

@JLeslie – The “cat” connection is that her cats had tapeworms and fleas. I remembered answering her question about it around the time I joined.

I don’t want to worry her more. I know what it is like to be freaked out about your infant ,who can’t tell you anything about what’s up, acting “off”.

http://www.wrongdiagnosis.com/t/tapeworms/complic.htm
One symptom is “lack of attention to people and surroundings.

It isn’t that rare, stranger things have happened and there is a baby’s health at stake so…

@PandoraBoxx She’s old enough to where the smiles aren’t gas bubbles anymore. She smiles in response to us and laughs and everything.

@stemnyjones, if she were a middle-aged man she’d still smile with gas bubbles. Maybe it’s something we grow back into. I’m just sayin’, is all.

@Merriment Interesting about the tapeworm. Don’t you get them from food? I think the baby is breast feeding. I don’t know much about it. But sure, I agree, strange stuff happens all of the time.

@JLeslie – you can get them the same way an animal does…ingest a flea. Fleas on the cat and carpet, baby on a blanket on the floor and suddenly it seems feasible.

I can’t find that original link but I think she indicated it was a fairly serious infestation at that time.

@Merriment & @JLeslie Yes, at least one of my two cats had tapeworms, but I did get it taken care of. I also took her to the pediatrician and had him test her stool for any worms, and she doesn’t have any. Still, I will look for any signs that she may be having those seizures..

@stemnyjones Siezures can start up seemingly from nowhere. It is very common for infants to have seizures with high fever, Has the baby been sick recently? I have a friend who’s daughter had petit mal seizures after having had convulsions with a high fever. She ewas around 2 at the time The petit mal seemed to persist after the illness passed, they actually had a lot of trouble being sure whether she was having seizures or not. Eventually it subsided.

@JLeslie She has a cough and sneeze because of the weather, but no runny nose or high fever, so I don’t think any illness could be causing a seizure.

Honestly, now that I’ve been watching her more carefully, I’m leaning towards the other mother’s whose kids sometimes just daydream or turn themselves off when they are bored with you.

@stemnyjones I agree. I guess you can test it. Next time she is spacey try to get her attention. I would assume if she is in the middle of a seizure you will not be able to “snap her out of it.” I don’t think it is seizures though, remember I was hesitant to suggest it in the first place. I think she is just becomeing more aware and learning to enjoy moments, starting to think more. I stick to what I said at first, mom’s know if something doesn’t seem right. If you still have some worry in a few weeks take her to the doctor. Meanwhile, this is the worst time of year to go to a pediatrician anyway, unless you are in the southern hemisphere…bunch of sick people in the docs office right now, there are some bad colds flying around, a lot of people with bronchitis.

@JLeslie I’m in Louisiana and it’s 17 degrees outside… trust me, we’re not going anywhere :P

@stemnyjones I am in Memphis, I am so tired of the cold.

Floorida here – 38 F. Phooey!

@janbb All of my friends and family down there are dying. I would do anything to be living down there again right now. I heard Melbourne got snow! That is the most southern I have ever heard snow falling. What part of FL are you in?

@avvooooooo You have seizures in the shower often? Hmmm. Sounds like a Country and Western song!