Understanding Your Baby's Cues | Newborn Parenting Tip #2
Did you know that babies communicate with their cries? I know, crazy right?! I cannot tell you the science behind it, heck I learned it from an Oprah video that I have linked below, so I don’t even know how scientific this actually is. But I am telling you, these cues DO WORK!
When I’m encountering new parents, it has been about a week since their life has changed beyond measure. With most of the mamas that come through my door, the guilt and defeat has already started to settle in.
Your baby cries and you have NO clue why.
You scramble to try and remember what your baby might need, but let’s be completely honest, they prepared you for the labor and delivery and gave you NOTHING for when the baby actually comes. So your head is spinning with everything you have googled in the past couple of days, the contradicting advice you have received from your mom and your mother-in-law, and your motherly intuition everyone talks about is buried in hormones and under a sleep-deprived fog.
Yet, you hand your baby over to me and immediately she stops crying. When she does cry, you watch me not react immediately, and you watch me work out what it is that she needs in some crazy magical voodoo way, and then POOF! her problem is solved, and she stops crying. Your mind explodes and you find yourself half-jokingly asking if I do night visits haha. This is oh-so normal! And please know that I am not magical, and I am not better than you… trust me, you would be amazed at how afraid of newborns I was when I first started. I have the benefit of 9 years of working with these little ones. And in that time I came across a YouTube video from the Oprah Winfrey Show, where a woman, Priscilla Dunstan, who had audio-graphic memory (like photographic memory, but for sound) began to recognize that the sounds babies make can tell you if your baby needs to burp, has gas pains, or is hungry. There are 5 sounds in total that she recognized, and I use those cues to help me understand what your baby needs! See? Not magic voodoo! Totally something you can learn to recognize yourself as well!
Learning to Listen
It has been my greatest pleasure to explain these cues to the new parents that come in for newborn sessions. And I truly enjoy doing that because when I do, I see this dynamic change in how these parents interact with their little loves. There is empowerment and burgeoning confidence growing. And instead of the crazy stressed-out scramble when the baby begins to cry, they instead take a deep breath and LISTEN. Doing that is so powerful. In fact, it is a beautiful thing you are already teaching your little one. That you will always LISTEN. And with that listening comes a calmness of “it’s OK kid, we are in this together, so let’s figure this out.”
I constantly am getting messages from super thankful moms so happy that they understand their babies’ needs much more easily now. Heck, this little cherub’s mama messaged me this weekend to thank me for a second time. In her words, she said:
“I used to whip out the boob for anything… but now I know, and it really helps. Just now she woke up from a nap, but only needed to burp, she’s back to sleep now!”
So check out the video linked below for more information on these cues your baby is giving you! There is also a super lovely, open, frank, and supportive discussion of how moms feel after birth with their babies. And just remember mama, you really are rocking this parenting gig. I am just here to make it a smidge easier on you! <3
