- 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. (upbeat music)
