Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Back to Basics Part 3: Understanding Baby "Language"

Welcome back! Today is part 3 in a series that takes us back to the basics of Baby Behavior. Part 1 explained the Reasons Why Babies Don’t Sleep through Night and part 2 explored The Many Moods of Babies. In today’s segment, we’ll discuss infant cues as we look back at Learning and Creating Your Baby’s Special Language.

In Learning and Creating Your Baby’s Special Language, we introduced infant cues and talked about how caregivers can learn to recognize their babies' unique cues. We talked about the two main types of cues that babies use: engagement (meaning they are ready to interact and play) and disengagement (when they need something changed in their environment) and included “what you’ll see” and “what you can do” for each type of cue. Then, in a post entitled: Happiness is No surprise: Why babies love repetition, we shared some tips for interacting with your baby when he shows you cues that he wants to interact and play.

Later, we followed up by sharing how communication with your baby changes as he gets older during a 2-part series on how babies learn to talk. Guest blogger, Taryn Barrette, shared a new study that showed how mothers’ brains change in response to “baby talk” and how the repetitive, higher-pitched “motherese” draws babies’ attention and helps with infant speech and emotional development.

Even newborns can give engagement and disengagement cues, but remember, a newborn’s cues can be misleading or confusing during the first 6 weeks. The good news: with practice, babies get better and better at giving cues when caregivers respond appropriately. Learn more about how newborns use reflexes to communicate their needs here.

Next Time: The final post in the Back to Basics Series: Crying: Your Baby’s Super Power

1 comment:

  1. Thanks for this series; an easy way to access information and your WONDERFUL archive!

    ReplyDelete