- Even though our babies can't talk,
there are lots of newborn body cues that can help us
understand how they are feeling and what they need.
But as a new parent, it can be really difficult
to know what your little one is trying to tell you
if you don't understand what these subtle facial
and body cues are and what each of them mean.
So in this video, I'm going to teach you
how to understand what your baby is trying to tell you
using these subtle cues.
Once you learn to read and understand these baby cues,
parenting a newborn becomes significantly easier
and it helps to strengthen the relationship
between you and your little one
and this will help your baby feel less stressed
and more safe and secure.
A strong relationship with you is vital
for your baby's social and emotional development.
And research has shown
that a newborn who had a parent who was responsive
to their needs and correctly identified their baby cues
were less likely to cry in the future
and were more confident in their interactions with others.
So in this video we're going to cover
what newborn baby cues are and what it all means.
But before we do make sure you click
on that free PDF document in the description box below
which covers the developmental milestones
you can be expecting for your little one
in their first year of life.
This will give you an invaluable piece of mind
as you'll know when to be expecting certain skills
and when to be concerned.
Also, if you wanna make parenting significantly easier,
make sure you start now by subscribing to my channel
and hitting that bell where you'll learn the tips
and tricks I've learned over the last 10 years
practicing as a pediatric occupational therapist
and being a mom to two children.
Baby cues are how newborns communicate to us to tell us
if they are tired, hungry, wanting to play or need a break.
So let's talk about the baby cues
your baby may use to say, I'm tired.
When your newborns first starts to become tired,
you will notice they start to lose interest in you and toys.
So they'll start to look past you
and their body will become really still.
They'll start to yawn and rub their eyes or their ears.
And they might also start to suck their thumb.
Now, when you notice these keys, it's a really good idea
to start getting your baby ready for bed
because if you keep them up
longer than they're going to become overtired,
and that's when they start to get really fussy
and start to have really large jerky movements
with the arms and legs.
And it's really hard to get them to go to sleep
because you first need to settle them and calm them down
and then get them into bed.
So it's a longer process all around.
Remember in the first two to three months
newborns will sleep anywhere
from 15 to 16 hours in a 24-hour period.
And then when they're three to four months of age
that reduces slightly to 14 to 15 hours in a 24 hour period.
Also during the day zero to four month old babies
tend to only be awake from 45 to 120 minutes.
And after this, they're going to need a nap.
If you want tips on how to promote newborn sleep,
then make sure you check out my video on that
which will be linked above and in the description box below.
Now, let's talk about the newborn cues your baby will use
to tell you that they are hungry.
Generally newborns feed every two to three hours
but it's better to look for baby's hunger cues
rather than wait a set period of time
before offering them a breastfeed or formula.
Newborns give lots of subtle cues that they are hungry
and ready to feed long before they start to cry.
In fact, crying is a late hunger cue.
Early signs of hunger are stirring,
turning their head and opening their mouth
in an attempt to try and latch on to anything.
Now, if your baby has moved on from I'm hungry
to I'm really hungry what you'll notice is your baby
has an increasing kind of body movements
and they'll start to really stretch their arms and legs.
You'll also notice that they'll bring their hands
up to their mouth and start to suck it.
Now, if we still don't pick up that our babies are hungry
at this point, they will move to I am extremely hungry
and get quite agitated.
So this is when you'll see that they really agitated
in their body movements.
So there's lots and lots of body movements.
They also start to cry and they start to turn red.
Now, if you wait until your baby cries to feed them,
you are going to notice that it is really difficult
for them to latch because when they're crying,
their tongue tends to be at the top of their mouth
which means it's difficult to latch on in the first place.
They will also have a kind of disorganized feed
because they're so stressed at that point
that they're not able to coordinate the sucking
and the swallowing.
And you'll also notice that because they're being crying,
they start to fatigue really easily and quickly.
So the feed itself is generally really short.
And then they're going to need to feed again
pretty quickly afterwards.
So do try and pick up on your baby's early hunger cues
which is where they start to stir.
They'll turn their head and open their mouth
to try and look for that food source.
Now let's talk about the newborn cues your baby will use
to let you know that they're ready and keen to play.
When your baby wants to play, you will notice
that their eyes are nice and open and really bright
and they will follow you when you're coming close
or they'll turn their head towards the sound
or if they're really young or that newborn stage,
they just start to look with you with their eyes.
They'll also keep an eye on some toys.
So if you're holding it above their head
that will be kind of following the toy with their eyes.
Their body is generally really still
and their breathing is very slow and content.
And at around three months of age
they'll start to reach out to you with their arms
to try and bite your face and touch your face
or the toy that you're holding up above them.
You'll also notice that around four to eight weeks of age,
your baby will start to kind of make some noises
and they'll start to smile
when you're interacting with them.
And this all tells you that they're loving that interaction
and they're really happy to play.
When your newborn is telling you that they're keen to play,
what you can do to make this play experience
really enjoyable for your newborn is dim the lights
in the room that you're in,
whether or not that's turning them off
or lowering the blinds,
just because when that's low a lot,
your baby's able to open their eyes fully and focus.
You can also bring them closer to you
so they can see best about the distance you hold them
when you're breastfeeding them
or feeding them in the bottle.
So if you bring them up in front of you
so that they can see your face and nice and close,
then you'll be able
to have a really lovely interaction with them.
Now, if you want any more ideas
on what you can do with your newborn to play with them
and foster that gross motor, fine motor,
and communication skills, then make sure you check out
the video that I've done
on zero to three month old activities.
What you will notice is when you are playing with your baby
or they're being passed around a lot, you will notice
that they start to send you some really subtle facial
and body cues to let you know
that they need a break and they're a bit overwhelmed.
So the cues that your baby will show you is firstly,
they start to look away from you.
So if you're playing or talking to them,
what you'll notice that they start to look away from you.
So remember when they're a newborn,
their head naturally falls to the side
because they're not able yet to hold it
into the middle of their body.
That happens at around three months of age.
So when your baby's head is naturally falling to the side,
as parents, we often get into their face
or we hold from toys in front of their face
but you'll notice your baby starts to look away from the toy
or your face by turning their eyes away from me.
They can't actually move their heads.
So they look and follow their eyes.
If their eyes start to look away from you
then that's them telling you that they've had enough
and they need a bit of a break.
Now, if we persist and continue to play with our little one,
you will notice that they start
to get a worried look on their face.
And then their arm movements and leg movements
start to become really jerky and quite wild.
And then if we continue to persist and interact with them
when they're signaling to us that they need a break,
they will start to arch their back.
And then they'll start to cry.
When your newborn is signaling to you that they need a break
and you're interacting with them by talking to them
or holding a toy above them
and like a rattle and moving around their face,
it's a good idea to stop that activity
and kind of change it and give them a break.
So instead of doing that,
you might put them underneath a play gym
or put them near a window
so they can look outside and have that quiet time.
You could also try reducing the environmental stimulation.
So that might be dimming the lights
or putting the blinds down
or changing the lighting in the room.
It might be reducing the noise.
So if the TV's on, you could turn it off or reduce it.
Or if you're talking really loudly
and there's lots of people,
you might want to start to reduce that noise
or take the baby into another room where it's a bit quieter.
And if they're being passed around
from one person to another,
your baby is signaling to you
that they actually find that a bit too much.
There's too much touch at that point.
So it'd be better if you would just hold them still
and give them a bit of break or better still
they might wanna go onto the floor.
If your baby's also displaying these cues
that they need a break,
it would be also good to check the temperature
and ensure they're not too hot or too cold.
And also that they haven't soiled themselves
or got their clothes a bit twisted.
And they're signaling to you that they're uncomfortable.
Now, if you continue to engage with your newborn
when they have shown you those early cues
that they need a break,
what you will notice is your newborn will start
to have increased arm and leg movements
so they can become quite wild.
You'll also notice an increasing tremors and startles.
Your baby's skin color will also start to fluctuate.
So it might go from rosy to pale or really flushed
and there'll be a change in breathing pattern.
So it might become a bit more irregular
and your baby will start to hiccup, sneeze, cough, or gag.
Then if you continue to persist with these,
then your baby will definitely start crying.
So those are the newborn baby cues to let us know
if babies are hungry, tired,
wanting to play or needing a break.
Remember all babies are very individual.
So just watch your baby and you'll start
to identify the particular cues that they use
to tell you what their needs are.
And as you can start to interpret their needs,
you're going to be responding to your baby
which in the long run means that they're going
to be crying less in the future.
And they're going to be comfortable
in the interactions with others,
as well as promoting an environment
which is positive for that social and emotional development.
Make sure you click on that free PDF document below.
And hopefully I'll see you next week
where I'll share more parenting tips and tricks.
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