# Late term preemie not meeting milestones



## Dream.dream

My LO was born at 35 weeks gestation wieghing 5lbs 1oz. He left the hospital at 2 days old no complications.

I'm a little concerned as now even with him adjusted age he's missing milestones . 

He doesn't make good eye contact or track objects with his eye, and sleeps a lot, doesn't flinch when something comes near his face . He does smile and coo which makes me wonder if it's soemthing wrong with his vision.i don't know whether he can even see or not . 

I'm just looking for whether this is normal or if there is something wrong ? Thanks in advance


----------



## sunnylove

If his adjusted age is only 1 month, this is perfectly normal. It's unlikely that your son will have any problems due to prematurity since he was only 2 weeks preterm. Rest assured knowing that! :) My son was 14 weeks premature and he probably started making a lot of eye contact and "talking" around 2 months adjusted, which I think is perfectly normal.


----------



## Dream.dream

sunnylove said:


> If his adjusted age is only 1 month, this is perfectly normal. It's unlikely that your son will have any problems due to prematurity since he was only 2 weeks preterm. Rest assured knowing that! :) My son was 14 weeks premature and he probably started making a lot of eye contact and "talking" around 2 months adjusted, which I think is perfectly normal.

He was 5 weeks premature :)


----------



## Welshgem81

hi hun. my lo was a 34 weeker. i remember at her 2 month check i was concerned that she made very little eye contact and couldnt track a toy or my face ect. i had a 6 week post discharge appointment with consultant when she was 9 weeks and told her my concerns but she said too early. anyway she was about 13 weeks actual/ 7 weeks corrected before she started making good eye contact and tracking toys. So dont worry. oh and her eyes were also still turning/squinting at that time too. I was convinced there was something wrong but shes completely fine and will spot something she wants a mile off now at 9 months. Dont worry x


----------



## MummyMana

My baby was the same at that age dw :) she's very alert and happy now! She didn't even open her eyes for the first month or so though (save for a few "peeps") so that's probably why :)


----------



## sunnylove

Dream.dream said:


> sunnylove said:
> 
> 
> If his adjusted age is only 1 month, this is perfectly normal. It's unlikely that your son will have any problems due to prematurity since he was only 2 weeks preterm. Rest assured knowing that! :) My son was 14 weeks premature and he probably started making a lot of eye contact and "talking" around 2 months adjusted, which I think is perfectly normal.
> 
> He was 5 weeks premature :)Click to expand...

He was 2 weeks away from being born full term (37 weeks) right?


----------



## Srrme

My second son was born at 35 weeks and hit milestones later than normal too during his first year. He's now 2 years old and above average! I wouldn't worry too much about it to be honest. :)


----------



## misspriss

sunnylove said:


> Dream.dream said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> sunnylove said:
> 
> 
> If his adjusted age is only 1 month, this is perfectly normal. It's unlikely that your son will have any problems due to prematurity since he was only 2 weeks preterm. Rest assured knowing that! :) My son was 14 weeks premature and he probably started making a lot of eye contact and "talking" around 2 months adjusted, which I think is perfectly normal.
> 
> He was 5 weeks premature :)Click to expand...
> 
> He was 2 weeks away from being born full term (37 weeks) right?Click to expand...

40 weeks is full term. 37 weeks may be term, but not FULL term. That would make my guy only 3 weeks early, which would be incorrect.

Was your baby checked for retinopathy of prematuraty? They check preemies for that routine here pretty early. It was part of his hospital discharge.

It could just be too early though.


----------



## Dream.dream

misspriss said:


> sunnylove said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Dream.dream said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> sunnylove said:
> 
> 
> If his adjusted age is only 1 month, this is perfectly normal. It's unlikely that your son will have any problems due to prematurity since he was only 2 weeks preterm. Rest assured knowing that! :) My son was 14 weeks premature and he probably started making a lot of eye contact and "talking" around 2 months adjusted, which I think is perfectly normal.
> 
> He was 5 weeks premature :)Click to expand...
> 
> He was 2 weeks away from being born full term (37 weeks) right?Click to expand...
> 
> 40 weeks is full term. 37 weeks may be term, but not FULL term. That would make my guy only 3 weeks early, which would be incorrect.
> 
> Was your baby checked for retinopathy of prematuraty? They check preemies for that routine here pretty early. It was part of his hospital discharge.
> 
> It could just be too early though.Click to expand...

Thanks I agree 37 weeks is term but not full term and my LO was on the 3rd percentile for his gestational age at birh 

He's being referred to a specialist and sent for vision testing . They are going to do some test where they put electrode over his brain in the vision center and show him a screen and see and they are going to check his eye to make sure they are fine structurally 

We're not sure he can see . He smiles and reacts to sound and has met other milestones but he still doesn't make great eye contact and still doesn't track toys or react to them


----------



## misspriss

Dream.dream said:


> misspriss said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> sunnylove said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Dream.dream said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> sunnylove said:
> 
> 
> If his adjusted age is only 1 month, this is perfectly normal. It's unlikely that your son will have any problems due to prematurity since he was only 2 weeks preterm. Rest assured knowing that! :) My son was 14 weeks premature and he probably started making a lot of eye contact and "talking" around 2 months adjusted, which I think is perfectly normal.
> 
> He was 5 weeks premature :)Click to expand...
> 
> He was 2 weeks away from being born full term (37 weeks) right?Click to expand...
> 
> 40 weeks is full term. 37 weeks may be term, but not FULL term. That would make my guy only 3 weeks early, which would be incorrect.
> 
> Was your baby checked for retinopathy of prematuraty? They check preemies for that routine here pretty early. It was part of his hospital discharge.
> 
> It could just be too early though.Click to expand...
> 
> Thanks I agree 37 weeks is term but not full term and my LO was on the 3rd percentile for his gestational age at birh
> 
> He's being referred to a specialist and sent for vision testing . They are going to do some test where they put electrode over his brain in the vision center and show him a screen and see and they are going to check his eye to make sure they are fine structurally
> 
> We're not sure he can see . He smiles and reacts to sound and has met other milestones but he still doesn't make great eye contact and still doesn't track toys or react to themClick to expand...

I really hope it is just early for him and everything is okay. The retinopaty test they did on LO was much simpler, but we didn't have a reason to suspect a problem other than his prematurity. They just physically moved his eyeball around and looked behind/through it with a special scope.

He is still really young adjusted, I hope that is all it is!


----------



## JJKCB

I think its natural to worry

my son was a late preemie but with a difficult birth (still born and revived) 

I made him sleep in my room with a heart monitor until her was 4 (hes 5 now and I still dont like that I cant hear him ticking away) 

he also didnt talk until he was 2 (not even babbling) and then just after his second birthday started talking at an accelerated level (oddly his first word was Hoover lol)

we also had tonnes of test for everything from crones disease (he started vomiting from repeted stomach bugs at 4 months, it lasted 2 months then vanished) to deafness (runs in all my family and more common in preemies and with the not talking and speech impediment when he started talking we thought he couldn't hear properly) 

so far he only has a speech impediment (the same one my preemie brother had/has) and is luckily very, very healthy but I still sometimes worry

mention it to your health visitor but its probably just extra time needed


----------



## JJKCB

sunnylove said:


> Dream.dream said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> sunnylove said:
> 
> 
> If his adjusted age is only 1 month, this is perfectly normal. It's unlikely that your son will have any problems due to prematurity since he was only 2 weeks preterm. Rest assured knowing that! :) My son was 14 weeks premature and he probably started making a lot of eye contact and "talking" around 2 months adjusted, which I think is perfectly normal.
> 
> He was 5 weeks premature :)Click to expand...
> 
> He was 2 weeks away from being born full term (37 weeks) right?Click to expand...

37 weeks is early term not full term

24-37 is pre-term (although I believe this should be 20-37)
37-39 is early term
39-41 is full term
41+ is late term


----------

