Should we be concerned?

Our grandson is one year old.  He rarely smiles, almost never laughs.  Photographs of him show a blank expression in his eyes about half of the time.  He rarely cries, and is a good baby. He is growing normally, and is a good eater. He has started walking and can be very focused on where he wants to go. He shows great interest in his toys and books.  But the lack of smiling is worrisome to us.   If anyone points a camera at him he stares at the camera without smiling.  He is loving and sweet, but we are concerned that something may be wrong, and don't want to bring it up to our son and his wife.  Are we being anxious over nothing?

[Kevin Kennedy, Ph.D.]

If your grandson displayed an absence of smiling and any evidence of overt happiness I would suggest reason for concern. However, children vary greatly in their fundamental temperament, and he may simply display somewhat of a phlegmatic temperament in the context of otherwise normal development. It's perfectly OK to discuss your observations with his parents and see what they think. By the way, the experience with the camera per se is absolutely nothing to worry about. We are so socialized to think that people smile when faced with a camera that we begin to think that any different reaction is abnormal.

[Mesosilly]

Maybe.  Babies should be smiling in response to your smile by only a few weeks of age.  Try this: give him 2 blocks, one in each hand.  Then you have 2 blocks, one in each of your hands.  Say "look at this" and bang them together. Then add "You try" See if he will immitate you.  If he does, I wouldn't worry, he "gets it" he's just really serious.  If he doesn't immitate you I would call your Ped and ask for a referral to a Developmental Ped.  Better safe than sorry.

[lmroswell]

When my little one was 'little', and had a camera pointed at her, she would get wide eyed and purse her lips a little.  I called it the fish face.  She was just concerned or wondering  what that thing was (camera).  She had no idea a picture was being taken.  Smiles in pictures were not common.  At one year of age, I don't think there is a concern.  Could it be that the parents see most of the smiles because of time spent together?  If the baby doesn't visit or have contact with an individual on a consistent basis, they may be more reserved in expressing themselves.  If the baby seems happy, he/she might just have a serious personality.  If you live close by, you could accompany your daughter-in-law to the baby's next well-visit to the pediatrician and ask the doctor.  At that age, babies go to the doctor about every 6 months for a well-visit, or for immunizations.

[MissT]

I have boy/girl twins.  He would smile at everything and anything, but she would always have a very serious expression on her face.  I put a mirror down at their level and encouraged her to make faces into it.  I would  ask her to smile, frown, or look silly into the mirror.  She is almost 4 and she smiles and laughs at her funny faces.   I wouldn't be too concerned.  My daughter was over a year old before we got a picture of her with a smile or something close to one.  Now we have smiles galore.