Friday, November 5, 2010

Back to Basics Part 2: The Many Moods of Babies

Today is part 2 in a series that takes us back to the basics of Baby Behavior. As we revisit the first series of posts that we wrote in July 2009, we’ve added links to related posts that we've shared since those early days. Part 1 in this series explained the Reasons Why Babies Don't Sleep through the Night. Today's post will explore the Many Moods of Babies.

In the original post The Many Moods of Babies, we introduced the topic of infant states (or moods) and talked about the 4 different states that babies move in and out of when they are awake: Drowsy, Quiet Alert, Irritable and Crying. We explained how to tell when your baby is in each of these states and shared what you can do to keep your baby comfortable and happy no matter what state she’s in.

Since we’ve written the above post, we’ve added more details about the quiet alert state and how babies in this state love to learn and interact with you. Keep in mind, all of this learning is hard work for babies! We’ll talk more about the importance of giving babies breaks in the next post which will focus on cues.

Because some of us had personal experience with babies that hated to be in the drowsy state, we wrote a post that explained why some babies hate being drowsy and provided tips for keeping those babies as happy as possible.

As those first months went by, we talked about other things that can influence how your baby tolerates being in certain states in a series about infant temperament. We explored the different elements of an infant's temperament, such as adaptability (how quickly babies’ adjust to new experiences) and intensity (the strength of babies’ emotions when dealing with the world around them), all of which help form an infant’s unique personality. Then we gave suggestions on how to handle all types of babies’ temperaments and talked about the importance of understanding the differences between your own personality and your baby’s in a post titled: Babies with Personality! How Temperament Influences Babies' Relationships.

We hope we’ve helped you understand your babies’ many moods (and personality) a little better. Remember, babies aren’t really mysterious once you know the Secrets of Baby Behavior. Now that you’ve reviewed the basics about infant states and temperaments, what other questions do you have about understanding your baby?

Next time: We’ll revisit your baby’s unique language: cues

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