Communicating with and understanding your baby
We’d
all love to be able to get inside our babies’ heads and understand them better.
What’s upset her all of a sudden, when she was so happy a moment
ago? What’s she laughing at? What’s so fascinating over there? It’s sometimes
frustrating not being able to communicate with our babies, or understand what
they want. However, even from a very early age there are certain ‘cues’ you can
pick up on and ways in which you can communicate with your baby at a basic
level, before she masters the art of talking.
Baby cues
Small
babies can indicate a lot through certain behavioral cues. Generally these fall
into three categories: ‘approach’ cues, which show that your baby is ready to play and interested in what’s going
on; ‘withdrawal’ cues, which show she’s tired and doesn’t want to engage with
you; and ‘feeding’ cues, which indicate that she’s hungry.
Examples of approach cues…
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Making face-to-face contact.
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Reaching out her hands.
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Turning her eyes or head towards you.
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Smiling.
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Babbling and cooing.
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Raising her head
Examples of withdrawal cues…
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Turning her head or eyes away or closing her eyes.
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Crying.
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Arching her back.
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Squirming or kicking.
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Pulling away.
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Yawning.
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Wrinkling her forehead.
Examples of feeding cues…
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Chewing on her fist or fingers.
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Poking out her tongue.
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Crying.
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Sucking movements of her mouth and tongue.
Crying
For
very small babies, crying is the only way they have of
communicating that something isn’t right – they have a dirty diaper, they’re
hungry, they’re tired or just plain bored. They soon learn that mom and dad
come running when they do it! For the first couple of months, crying will be
her primary means of communicating with you, and to begin with, finding out why
she’s crying is going to be largely trial and error. Gradually, you will start
to distinguish between the ‘tired’ cry and the ‘hungry’ cry as you become more
attuned to your baby, and after a few months she’ll start to learn other
methods of communicating with you and will cry less (see identifying different sorts of cry to find out more).
Smiling
During
the first month, any smiles your baby makes are likely to be reflex actions.
However, from around four weeks onwards, babies start to smile in response to being spoken to
and smiled at, and these smiles will increase as your baby gets used to
interacting with other people and objects.
Baby signing
Baby
signing uses simple signs to represent simple concepts – for example ‘where?’,
‘all gone’, and ‘more’. ?Many parents feel that because it gives their baby a
means to communicate it means you can bypass a lot of the typical frustration
of pre-talkers. It’s also been claimed that it speeds up the development of
verbal communication too – once your child has a taste for communicating, he’s
keen to try out new ways of doing so more effectively. Also, while signing
you’re repeating the words and phrases associated with that particular sign or
gesture, so your child is learning both ways of communicating simultaneously.
Reading to your baby
You
may feel silly reading to a young baby, but babies will love to hear your voice
from a very young age and this can help to foster their love of reading as they grow. There are plenty
of books that are suitable for very young children and as your child develops
the grasping reflex she’ll love to reach out and
touch them. As she listens to the words you’re saying she’ll start to respond
by babbling. This is why it is important to
read and talk as much as possible to your baby.
The information in this feature is intended for
educational purposes only. If you have any concerns about your health, the
health of your child or the health of someone you know, please consult with a
doctor or other healthcare professional.