Moms, especially new moms, often seem frightened or helpless in front of their babies because they can’t figure out what their babies need. In the past, it was thought that babies did not understand anything, but the latest research shows that babies are born with the ability to express their preferences or feelings. As long as moms are careful to observe, the baby’s smile, a move, that is, the baby’s body language contains thousands of information, moms can accurately understand the baby’s psychological needs, and timely to give the baby the most intimate care.
If moms are sensitive to baby’s body language, they can correctly understand baby’s body language and actively respond to it.
Then, the baby is very satisfied with the mommy and the baby looks very comfortable. The baby uses body language more and more in response to the mom’s positive response and becomes more intelligent and active as a result. But if the mommy ignores the baby’s body language. The baby will be very disappointed with the indifference of the mother, lose interest in “talking” and become increasingly quiet and dull, and may grow up to be introverted and withdrawn.
If the mother is very sensitive to the baby’s language, but because of the inability to correctly understand the baby’s body language and seem frazzled, the response to the baby seems very inappropriate. Then the baby looks very unhappy and increasingly irritable because his or her needs are not being met. So how to read baby’s body language, that is, to fully understand the little secret hidden in baby’s expressions?
Body language includes facial expressions and body movements. Scientists have studied thousands of babies with great interest and found that the changes in facial expressions and body movements are not accidental, but have psychological significance.
The book “Infant Facial Expressions and Psychological Activity” by Skover, a professor of infant psychology in the United States, analyzes the language of infant facial expressions, which are broadly summarized as follows.
Crying with deflated mouth indicates needs
Infants’ cries are the first mental language. Since infants before 6 months of age cannot use words and actions to express their needs and wishes, crying is associated with emotions, feelings and physiological needs, and is used as a way of expression to indicate their physical state and various wishes in order to draw the parents’ attention and to meet their various physiological and psychological needs.
The baby deflates his mouth as if he is aggrieved, which is the precursor of crying, followed by a small to loud cry, and this expression and cry are actually telling the adult about his needs. For example, hungry to eat milk, lonely to be entertained, bored to be carried by adults to change the environment or change a position. At this time, attentive parents will observe the baby’s different cries, figure out the baby’s requirements, timely or timely to meet his needs. Feed him milk, make fun of him, carry him outside to watch, or let him lie down, help him sit up, crawl, change his position of lying on his back for a long time, etc.
Holding the mouth and smiling, indicating excitement and happiness
After 2 months, babies like to be caressed by their mothers and entertained by their fathers, and when they are satisfied, they will dance around and show excitement and happiness, showing a “social smile”. “This reaction is a kind of initial socialization. This reaction is a preliminary form of sociability.
The baby’s smile form is issued suddenly, briefly and quickly, the corners of the mouth tugging, smile suddenly, accompanied by full glow, two hands shaking, stretching the charm, then the smile immediately stop, waiting for the adult’s encouragement.
At this time, the mother should smile and gently touch the baby’s cheek with her hand, or give him a kiss on the face and forehead to show encouragement. At this time, the baby will also smile to express satisfaction with the parents’ behavior. A baby’s smile is extremely beneficial to its physical and mental development.
Pouting and grinning are signs of peeing
According to research, male babies usually pout to indicate urination, and female babies mostly grin or close their upper lips to indicate urination. If parents can observe the change in the baby’s mouth shape and expressions when urinating, they can figure out the pattern of infant urination, so to guide, and help gradually develop baby’s self-control and good habits.
Red face and crossed eyebrows, is the signal of stool
The baby first eyebrow tendons burst, then the face is red, dull eyes, there is an obvious “internal emergency” reaction. This is the signal of stool, at this time, parents who can immediately make the appropriate response can often put to the baby’s stool.
Playing with the tongue, lips spitting bubbles, that they can play
Most babies will play with their lips and tongues, spit bubbles, suck fingers, etc. when they are well fed, clean diapered, and not yet sleepy, and at this time, he likes to play alone for a long time, adults should not interfere with him.
These are the body language that infants usually show before 6 months of age.
After 6 months of age, due to the development and enhancement of perception and movement ability, in addition to facial expressions instead of language to express their will, they will also be accompanied by various movements and forms of body language to express their thoughts and feelings. As the baby grows older, he/she will show different expressions.
Open arms to welcome, turn head to avoid to reject
Six-month-old babies will open their arms and fling their bodies at their relatives, asking for hugs and affection; if a stranger wants to hug him, they will turn their heads and avoid their faces, indicating that they do not want to interact with strangers.
Clap and smile to show happiness, shake head and cry to show boredom
At 7 to 8 months old, infants clap their hands and smile to express their happiness; when they accept their favorite candy, they nod their heads to express their thanks under the instruction of their parents; they avoid their faces and shake their heads to express their dislike of food they do not like.
Pointing with fingers to indicate requests or gestures
At 9 to 10 months of age, infants can use their hands to point out where they want to go and where they want to go, or pat their heads with their small hands to ask adults to put a hat on them and take them out.
Making sounds to indicate willingness
In addition to body language such as facial expressions and movements, 11- to 12-month-olds make a variety of sounds, such as “beeping” (for cars), “squeaking” (for ducklings), and simple word sounds to indicate their the baby’s will.
For example, babies are easily disturbed in a noisy environment, but they cannot speak, so they scream and cry to express their troubles. Adults can take the child for a walk in a quiet place or give him or her something tasty and fun to calm him or her down. At the same time, adults should also be a good example, how to worry and angry, but also not in the home to talk or noise, the baby’s learning ability is amazing Oh!
Body language is the initial way of baby interpersonal interaction. Baby interpersonal interaction is first reflected in the baby’s interaction with mommy, and body language is the initial way in which babies begin to learn interpersonal skills.
We can train baby interpersonal skills from body language. The earlier you train your baby’s interpersonal skills, the better. So how can you do this?
First, be a sensitive mommy. Mom can usually observe the baby more, in the process of getting along with the baby carefully experience the real meaning of the baby’s various body language. And make a positive response to the baby’s body language. The mother’s positive response will promote the further development of the baby’s body language, but also to better mobilize the baby’s interpersonal enthusiasm.
Secondly, the power of a smile should be valued. This is one of the basic means by which babies interact with people. Babies especially like to see the smiling face of the mommy, so the mommy can often make the baby laugh in the process of communication with the baby, so that the baby can feel the pleasure of interpersonal communication, but also to enhance the parent-child relationship and promote communication with the baby.
Finally, do not rely too much on body language. 0-6 years old is the baby language development sensitive period, therefore, in the baby development of body language at the same time to pay attention to training the baby’s oral expression ability. After all, language is the most effective tool for interpersonal communication. If a mommy keeps communicating with her baby mainly with body language, it may affect the development of her baby’s language skills.
Experts suggest that while carefully reading the baby’s body language and responding to it enthusiastically, the mother should always speak to her baby from birth with a slower pace, intonation and rhythmic phrases, and find ways to guide her baby to express his thoughts in words. Although the baby will not respond as she expects when she says more words for a long time before she learns to speak, her efforts will be surprisingly compensated for at some point.
Up to the age of one, babies have thousands of messages to convey to their parents through their body posture, and each baby transmits them in different ways, so parents need to observe carefully, talk to their babies, and read their children’s psychological needs.
When the baby suffers from various diseases or in a special physiological situation, often accompanied by special expressions, parents or caregivers who find abnormalities, should be promptly given medical attention.
I. Baby involuntary tongue extension with salivation
Infants 1-2 months after birth, reflex tongue, if this situation has been persistent after two months, or older children often involuntary tongue, accompanied by cognitive impairment, most of the brain damage, should be early to let the doctor to do a comprehensive examination.
Second, stuffing things into the mouth with salivation
When the baby is in the teething period, salivation increases, often wetting a large part of the chest clothes. A different action from before is stuffing messy things into the mouth, biting and gnawing, and making a fuss if not given, and will not stop until after the teeth have grown. Indeed, the itchy and painful feeling of teething is really hard to bear. Babies scratch and bite whatever they can, which is a way to escape the pain. Never put glass products and such or sharp things around your baby to avoid him hurting himself. You can give your baby some cookies such as teething cookies available in supermarkets, these foods can help your child teething and are also very safe.
Third, the baby’s eyes stare, eyes without light
A healthy baby’s eyes are always bright and alert, turning freely. If you find that your child’s eyes are dull and sluggish lately, it is probably a sign that he is not well, or perhaps he is suffering from a disease. It’s best to take your child to the doctor at this point. Don’t hesitate!
If the child looks dull, indifferent expression, eyes often fixed gazing into the distance, the surrounding environment also do not pay attention to, this is a morbid performance, mostly seen in intracranial hemorrhage, meningitis, encephalitis, brain abscess and other central nervous system infections.
Fourth, the baby’s eyes appear “sunset phenomenon”
If the baby’s eyes are often turned downward without the upper eyelid drooping, this phenomenon is called the “sunset phenomenon”. If this symptom is obvious and lasts for a long time, it is pathological and can be seen in children with hydrocephalus, intracranial hemorrhage, cerebral edema, etc. If the child has hydrocephalus, the head circumference increases progressively, the fontanelle bulges, the cranial suspicion splits and widens, the frontal and temporal veins become angry, due to the increased pressure in the anterior cranial fossa, the black eye can be brought down, presenting the so-called “sunset” sign. The eyeball is often turned downward, and the upper sclera is exposed.
Five, baby facial expression or head position abnormalities
If the child’s facial expression is found to have obvious sluggishness and dullness, along with a compulsory head position, larger children often complain of headache, commonly due to intracranial occupying lesions and tuberculous meningitis. If there is an occupying lesion in the brain, there is often a compulsive head position with headache, vomiting and other intracranial pressure because the lesion is compressing the brain tissue.
The above list is just some of the common body language of babies that is not easily understood by new mothers. The truth is that every baby has a different way of sending messages, so whether you are raising one baby or many, the birth of each baby is a new experience for the mom. Babies always try to convey certain messages to mommy in some strange and different way. Therefore, it is important for the mother to observe the baby carefully and gradually understand the unique psychological needs of the baby in the process of parenting. At the same time, it is important to monitor the baby so that they can be detected and seen in time for any illnesses or special physical conditions.
In short, within the age of one, there are thousands of messages that are transmitted to parents through their baby’s body language, and each baby transmits them in different ways, so parents should observe them carefully and understand them in depth. Only when you truly understand the psychological needs of your baby can you achieve spiritual interaction and communication between parent and child.