[jean b]

please take the time to help me with my sweet new foster son. he is only seven weeks old and we have had him for 3 days. i have noticed that he does not make eye contact with anyone when they talk to him or sing to him during feedings. i can call his name and he will not look in my direction. yet he looks at the lights and people walking past him watches at the tv and things like that. he startles when there is a loud noise or something. his eyes dilate when he goes outside and hates the bright sunlight in his eyes. he seems to "have muscle spasms" in his legs. and arms.
his ** has cerebel palsie, blindness, and deafness. the father in blind in one eye? is their a chance he could have inherited any of their special needs?
my fs has been tested before he came to us and passed everything. but i am still going to take him into children's hosp for an evalutation?

do you think i am being overly concerned or do you all think he has something wrong with his sweet little body and needs intervention now?

do babies at his age not look at those talking to him? please give me any information you have or web sites i am not stopping until i get the proper medical attention for our foster-adopt son. lots of love jean b.

[lucyjoy]

Sounds like a sign of previous neglect and fear of being in an unknown environment. There may be medical conditions there as well that can be addressed with the pediatrician. I would spend lots of cuddling time with this child and talk softly to him a lot and see if his responses begin to change.

[Kelly Rae]

Was he drug or alcohol exposed? If so he could easily be over stimulated from noises, light, and even touch. This is a common problem for exposed children. We have adopted three little ones. One came to us at 3 days and he needed to be worn 24/7. If I put him down he screamed in total terror. He lived in the sling and slept next to me. At about 8 months he gradually was able to adjust to being more independent. It was a lot of work, but now at almost 2 years old he is the most confident of my 5. Another of my adopted children has sensory integration and auditory processing problems. He was removed at birth due to drug exposure.He had 3 placement before he came to us at 8 months. He had poor eye contact, wouldn't cry,seemed depressed, and appeared to have given up on life. He to thrived on being carried in a sling. I always took him in a quiet room to feed him. I stayed home most of the time and kept the house calm and quiet for the first six months. He is a delight now at 6 years and has come so far. This was a child I wasn't sure would ever carry on a conversation and be able to be understand or be understood. Now he is very social, bright, and loving son. Early intervention is so important. If your mothers instinct is telling you something is wrong find out what it is so he can get the help and you the tools that can make a huge difference in his outcome.

[Barksum]

Neglect does much more than we realize to little babies. If he has been trained that there is no reason to look at the face above him, he won't do it. If crying doesn't get his needs met, why cry?

I try to go to the dr. as soon after a child is placed with us as possible so that we can establish a baseline (weight, height, general appearance, social interaction, etc., and yes, they can tell some things about how the child interacts socially even at 7 weeks)

When we have little foster babies come to our home I usually go to the pediatrician that they have been seeing with their bio family. (If there was a pediatrician and the medical card covers that dr.) This provides continuity of care while the child is with me, and also the bio mom might continue to use the same dr. if/when the baby goes home to bio family. Additionally this increases the possibility that the child might have a professional who has built some relationship with him. (Ok, best case scenario there, but I live in hope.)

Additionally infants do grieve, do recognize a change in care givers, etc. They have to learn to adjust, too. It often takes about 2 weeks for my little foster babies to become accustomed to any kind of routine that we have in our home. Many of the foster children (infant through teen aged) have never had meals on a predictable schedule, let alone snacks, naps, play time, social interaction with the adults in the family, etc. These are huge adjustments for them, all at the same time.

It is good that you are aware of how your new little foster baby is/is not reacting to his environment. I would suggest that you journal all that you are noticing and see what happens over the next couple of weeks. He may start to look toward you as you consistantly offer him his bottle, smile and interact in a positive way with him.

Our oldest son was seriously neglected and has had many issues relating to that early neglect, including dysfunction of sensory integration. You can google "dysfunction of sensory integration" or just "sensory integration" and get some info about that.

Your little guy will appreciate it if you start doing developmentally appropriate games with him. I've googled "infant development" to get an outline of developmental milestones and activities to do wtih babies to help them reach those milestones.

For your little guy these activities could include lots of smiles, cooing with him, positive interactions, particularly at feeding time, lots of holding (wearing the baby sling is an excellent suggestion), all the things that you would do with a newborn infant, only with more awareness on your part. Also rocking (yes, this enhances brain development!), singing, humming, looking at picture books, etc. You could also check into Early Intervention in your area. They may be able to help you determine ways to interact with the baby that will help his particular areas of weakness.

You will want to provide as enriching an environment as possible, which at this stage is just as Kelly Rae has described. I also second her suggestion of prenatal exposure. Since most of my foster babies have come to me due to parental drug abuse I go with the assumtion that my foster babies are prenatally exposed; they usually are. Drug exposure can cause muscle stiffness (hypertonia) or lax muscle tone (hypotonia). It can cause tremors, weakness on one side of the body or in one limb. Also general developmental delays, particularly in the first two years. There is tons of information available on the web so have fun looking around.

Duh! Just re-read your post so now have to add to mine! If bio mom is blind, she most likely was not making eye contact with baby, no matter how much she was with him. Given her level of disabilities your baby probably has been under-stimulated. CP is not an inherited disease; the blindness and deafness may be, but if your little guy has been evaluated for those already then try getting him stablized into a routine with your family before you have him re-evaluated. He needs to learn how to interact, so give him a little time to meet your family.

Additionally he is probably too young to determine if he is mentally retarded; again, don't have him evaluated for that until he has been with your family for awhile. Autism is not usually diagnosed before a child reaches the toddler years.

[jean b]

Thank you all for your responses. he actually smiled at me today more later lots of love jean b

[lucyjoy]

Cool! I love baby smiles!!