Hello!!! this may seem crazy, but my 1 year old son has stopped looking at the camera or smiling at it. He was always smiling at the camera when we took his picture and was a huge ham!!! But I have noticed that he looks away everytime. I really noticed this weekend when we tried to take his birthday pictures--I just thought he was grumpy, but it has contiuned. Is this normal? Do they go through a stage where they don't want their picture taken? Am I being paranoid?
Don't panic, it's probably fine and it's good that you are so attentive that you noticed.
On tv this a.m. they showed a video for parents to tell if they're young child may have autism. And it's only a "maybe" if they exhibit any similarities to the video, not a guarantee.
Anyway, here's the link.
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/health/2007/10/29/intv.n...
My daughter stopped wanting her picture taken around that same age because we would always try to get her attention and try to get her to smile at us. I think she got annoyed with us and therefore didn't want to cooperate any more. As long as he is smiling and looking you in the eyes when there is no camera in his face, he is fine.
I would have his vision checked, very strange. I always was taking pictures of my son and he always looked at the camera ! they do not go through stages where they don't want there picture's taken ! they are too young for that !
Just to be safe, have his vision checked & hearing !
Good Luck !
M.,
There are "lots" of different "symptoms" of autism, but one of the biggest "symptoms" is the change in smiling and interacting. My 2 1/2 year old son has been diagnosed with a form of autism, and I have had to FIGHT to get the dr's to listen to me. Fortunately, we now have insurance that does not require our primary care provider's referral to specialists (aka, "self-referring" policy), so we made an appt with a neurologist who specializes in Austism Spectrum Disorders (ASD).
I agree with Stephanie...while babies go thru a lot of "stages", "hamming it up" for the camera or not, is NOT one of them! Your son is very young to be able to get a correct diagnosis on these disorders, but I would start paying attention to changes such as changes in eating habits (is he getting very "picky" for particular foods?), speech (losing words....my son has a limited vocabulary, and does not say very much, which he should be saying more than he does). Our son expresses himself mostly by throwing MAJOR fits when he doesn't get something (more so than a normal 2 year old), or laughing "hysterically" when he is extremely happy, which is really fun to watch. This usually means we have to GUESS at what he wants, which is frustrating for all of us! When he was a newborn, he would *scream* at the top of his lungs when his diapers were being changed, or when we put him in the tub for his bath (these are signs of his condition).
Anyway, it's too early to "freak out" about his behavior, but I would start paying attention to things that just don't seem "right". I would also make sure that each of his vaccinations, including the flu vaccine, from now on do NOT contain Thimerosal, which is a preservative. As I've stated on other postings, I don't believe it's the vaccines that are causing austism, but the preservatives in them (backed up by research I've been reading).
Feel free to contact me anytime if you notice something "peculiar" and you want to talk about it. My phone # is ###-###-####, and my email is ____@____.com.
Blessings to you and your family!
~J.~
My daughter did the same thing, I think it is a phase that they go through. She did this for about three months, then she learned how to say "cheese" and now I have smiley pictures again. I think it is a phase and it will eventually pass, you just have to get sneaky about pictures now.
Well, I would say that he may be bored with it. I'm sure he used to love it because it was something new and now may be just another old "toy" to him. Keep an eye out though to make sure he is still making eye contact and smiling at people...especially you and other close friends or family that he is used to interacting with.
If he stops interacting or making eye contact with you, you should mention it to his Dr. right away. I was just reading that loss of language or interaction (eye contact) is a warning sign for autism. I am not by any means saying this is the problem (as a mom...the last thing I want to do is freak you out for no reason), but just be paying close attention to the changes that he is going through that don't seem right to you. He may also need his eyes checked as your other responder mentioned. I'm sure it is just a phase...my daughter says "cheese" to the camera, but doesn't really smile or seem interested in it. She only says it because we tell her to. :-) Good luck. Try taking some more candid shots of him smiling when he doesn't know you have the camera! Those can be even better than the posed ones anyway.
My son is 21months old, and used to pose like a pro for us. But when he got alittle older I did notice him not likeing the camera as much. Maybe cause of the flash? Maybe your son is scared of the flash from the camera. Every baby is different.
