Confused,if premature do we adjust age?

[familygirl30]

What I mean by this is my son who is 7 weeks still not smiling, do we look at it as if wouldn't b 7 weeks yet,confused!he was born at 34 weeks 5 days

 

[AP]

Yes thats right, in adjust age terms he would be 2 weeks and 2 days.

 

[familygirl30]

Yes thats right, in adjust age terms he would be 2 weeks and 2 days.

So is it understandable that not smiling yet?

 

[AP]

Absolutely! It's very early days!

 

[familygirl30]

Absolutely! It's very early days!

Thanks! Think hospital jus worried me as we went for my sons follow up appointment last week at neonatal and got the letter from it today sayin developing well although not smiling yet

 

[sunnylove]

Some full term babies don't smile. Why is the NICU concerned about that? A smile doesn't mean anything.

 

[familygirl30]

Some full term babies don't smile. Why is the NICU concerned about that? A smile doesn't mean anything.

I think they wrote it down in the letter as they asked if he smiled yet and I said no,so must b writing everything down!talk about worrying parents

 

[MummyMana]

My health visitor (old one) said about adjusting age, then acted concreteness that she wasn't smiling at 6 Weeks :s

 

[Welshgem81]

Don't worry hun. At 7 weeks check they asked if my lo was smiling and falling me and a toy. She would even look at me for more than a couple of seconds. I made myself ill worrying cos she wasnt doing these things. By 11 weeks she was. My lo was 6 weeks prem. Just adjust otherwise you'll worry. They do get there x

 

[Craigswife]

I've had 2 prem babies. My son was 12 weeks early and did everything by his corrected age, so he smiled at 4 weeks corrected although he was actually 16 weeks old. I've got a little girl now who is 9 weeks old, but 1 week old corrected, so I'm hoping it'll only be a few more weeks until she smiles.
The difficulty I encountered was when my son attended nursery, he started at 2 years old and they monitored his development based on his actual age and although he had mostly caught up there were some things he was still achieving at his corrected age. My sons paediatrician corrected his age up until his was 2 years old.

 

[jandksmommy]

Always adjust to a corrected age... and keep in mind that all babies are different too. My twins were 6 weeks early and one was smiling before his actual due date while his twin sister didn't give me a smile until she was almost 8 weeks adjusted age.

 

[sunnylove]

I've never heard of anyone being concerned or asking about smiling, and I've been in the NICU now almost 8 weeks. My son started smiling at about 29 weeks gestation (3 weeks adjusted)??