4 month old smiling/cooing concerns

my son will be 16 weeks on Friday and I've noticed in the last few weeks that he hasn't been smiling or cooing as much as he previously did. When he was 2.5-3 months old he was all smiles when I smiled at him and would have cooing "conversations" with me and lately it seems I really have to work to gets smiles out of him and he doesn't "talk" back to me as much. Has anyone else experienced this with your LO? Should I be concerned?

4 month old smiling/cooing concerns

I wouldn't worry just bc he's doing it less. At 4 months our ped was a little concerned when we said DD was hardly ever cooing. Fast forward to 6 months and she was saying her first words. By a year she probably had a hundred words and forget it by the time she was 2. I think as long as he's doing it at all I wouldn't be worried. Same for smiling. I remember having to work so hard to get DD to laugh as an infant and praying for the day she'd be laughing all day long. It will happen!

Re: 4 month old smiling/cooing concerns

I wouldn't worry. Babies are always learning something new and new milestones. When they learn something new some of the other milestones they've done already aren't done as often. Believe me your DS will be smiling and chatting with you more but still learning to juggle all the new and fun things to come.

Re: 4 month old smiling/cooing concerns

At that age their rate of learning is so rapid, he might be regressing in that area because he is more interested in other things. I wouldn't worry too much, but continue to note things like this and tell your ped at routine appointments.

Also note progress in other areas. How is his eye contact/gaze? Also is he reaching other milestones? Lifting his head reacting to auditory stimuli, responding to rattles and other toys?

Message edited 1/27/2015 2:57:49 AM.