Good Baby TipsTips for keeping your baby happy and healthy

Babies speak and communicate using a language from the moment of birth. Parents communicate with their babies through more than just words. Their mediums of communication also include their touch and their smell.

Although you are genetically preprogrammed to give your child all that he needs, learning to speak the special language created by your baby will enhance your awareness of the infant’s social and emotional development. There is also evidence that you can speak to your baby by using various gestures months before he learns to say his first words.

How do I use Gestural Language?

If your baby is more than 8 to 9 months old, chances are, he has already started communicating with you in his own special language. The only thing needed from your end as a parent is some love and attention. Here are some common signs that babies may make when they try and communicate with you.

I want to Drink.
The baby may smack his lips or point to his mouth.

Where is it?
The baby may stretch his arms with his palms facing upwards.

Something Smells bad.
The baby may pinch or wrinkle his nose.

You should continuously look for other gestures that your child is using. You can also test whether you are understanding your baby’s gestures correctly by trying them out and noticing your child’s response. Please note that the signs your baby may use will not always make sense to you.

Once you start using your baby’s own gestures to talk to him your baby will realize that he has found a new way of communicating with you and will try and find even better ways to do so.

Weaning is important not only for the baby but for the mother, and not only physically but emotionally. A nursing mother may feel mildly let down and depressed after she stops as if she has lost some of her closeness to the baby or as if she has become worthwhile. This is one of the reasons for making weaning a gradual process.

Weaning from the breast
Weaning from the breast is quite easy when the mother is producing a small amount of milk. It’s usually not necessary for her to bind her breasts or limit her own fluids. She can just stop putting the baby to breast and wait. If the breasts get so full that they are uncomfortable, she can nurse him for 15 or 30 seconds. This will relieve the pressure without really stimulating the breast. If the breasts become uncomfortable again, she can repeat this. If she is producing a moderate amount of milk, she should plan to wean more gradually. It still isn’t necessary to bind the breast or to limit fluids. Try omitting every other breast feed. If, in a day or two, the breasts have not become uncomfortably full, stop all regular nursing, but put the baby to breast for a short period if the breasts then become uncomfortable.

Sudden weaning from the breast
You may have to wean the baby from the breast suddenly if, for instance, you become seriously ill or you have to go out of town for an emergency. (It is not usually necessary to wean the baby because of mild or moderately severe illness in the mother. Your doctor is the one to decide this).One method is to limit the fluids that the mother drinks and to apply a tight binder and ice bags to her breasts. This is pretty uncomfortable. A better way is to relieve the breasts whenever they become uncomfortably full, either with a breast pump or by manual expression.

Gradual weaning from breast to cup
If a mother is producing plenty of milk, how long should she plan to nurse? Best of all, most natural way is to nurse until the baby is ready for weaning to the cup. Most breast-fed babies are bored between 5 and 6 months. It’s a good idea to begin offering a sip of milk from the cup from the age of 5 months, so that the baby gets used to it before he is too opinionated. By 6 months encourage him to hold the cup himself.

If by 5 or 6 months he is nursing for shorter periods .I would assume he is ready for gradual weaning. Now offer him the cup at all his meals and increase the amount as he shows his willingness to take more, but continue to breast-feed him at the end of the meal. Next, leave out one of his daily breast feeds, giving him only the cup. This is usually at breakfast or lunch. In a week, omit another breast feed if he seems willing, and in another week, the last one. His willingness to be weaned may not progress steadily. If he gets into a period when he is miserable from teething or illness, he may want to retreat a little. This is natural enough, and there is no danger in accommodating him. When weaning is carried out this gradually, there is usually no problem about the mother’s breasts.

Most mothers find they are a bit reluctant to end this important emotional tie and some of them will put off weaning, week after week. Sometimes a mother will be afraid to give up nursing altogether, because the baby is not taking as much milk from the cup as he used to take from the breast. This may postpone the weaning indefinitely. I would stop the nursing if the baby is taking an average of 4 ounces from the cup at each meal, or a total of 12 to 16 ounces a day. After nursing is stopped, he will probably increase the amount from the cup up to a total of 16 ounces or more. This is usually enough with all the other things he eating.

I think it is preferable to have a baby weaned from the breast by 6 or 7 months if he seems ready for it. A child seldom demands a breast after that. When breast feeding is continued way beyond the age that child really needs it, it may become a habit that makes him unnaturally dependent on his mother.

A majority of babies seem, from the beginning, to be a little more comfortable sleeping on their stomachs. This is particularly true of the baby who develops colic; the pressure on the abdomen seems to partly relieve the wind pains. Others either don’t care at first or prefer sleeping on their backs.

There are two disadvantages to a baby sleeping on their back. If he vomits he is more likely to choke on the vomitus, also he tends to keep his head turned towards the same side which is usually towards the center of the room. This may flatten that side of his head. It won’t hurt his brain and the head will gradually straighten out, but it may take a couple of years. If you start early you may be able to get him used to turning his head to both sides. To do so you can rotate him every time you put your baby to bed by putting his head where his feet were the time before. Then if there is one part of the room that he likes to look at, he will turn his direction half the time. Within a few weeks a baby usually develops such a strong preference for his usual position, stomach or back that it becomes very difficult to change his sleeping habits.

I think it’s preferable to accustom a baby to sleeping on his stomach from the start if he is willing. He may change later when he learns to turn over. The one objection that is raised in sleeping on the stomach by some orthopedic (bone) specialists is that if the baby has a tendency to turn his feet in or out too much, this maybe accentuated by his lying on his stomach. Others reply that even if this is true in the in-turning or out turning will be outgrown in any case after the child has been walking for a while.

Some physicians recommend that to avoid the disadvantages of back or stomach sleeping, a baby should be taught to sleep on his side with the aid of firm pillows. In my experience this is very difficult to accomplish; the baby always slides away from the pillow and ends up on his back or stomach. By six months however, some babies begin to sleep on their sides by preference.

Mothers often ask this question .Of course, the baby is the only one who answers it. One baby seems to need a lot, and another surprisingly little. As long as a baby is satisfied with his feeds, comfortable, gets plenty of fresh air and sleep in a cool place, you can leave it to him to take the amount of sleep he needs.

Most babies in the early months sleep from feed to feed if they are getting enough to eat and not having indigestion. There are a few babies, though, who are unusually wakeful right from the beginning, and not because anything is wrong. If you have this kind of baby, there’s nothing you need to do about it.

As your baby gets older, he gradually sleeps less and less. You’re apt to notice it first in the late afternoon. In time he becomes wakeful at other periods during the day. Each baby develops his own pattern of wakefulness and tends to be awake at the same time every day.

Towards the end of his first year, he probably is down to two naps a day; and between 1 and 1 1/2 years, he probably gives up one of those. It is only during infancy that you can leave the amount of sleep entirely up to the baby. A child by the age of 2 is a much more complicated being. Excitement, worries, fear of bad dreams, competition with a brother may keep him from getting to sleep.

Crying is never pleasant, but some babies have particularly loud and shrill cries. They cry throughout the day and throughout the night, and nobody can tell why. Many new parents face each day exhausted from the last, wondering how a baby that can bring parents so much joy can also bring them to a mental breaking point.

Conditions in pregnancy such as mild malnutrition or toxemia can give a baby a cry of 700 to 800 cycles per second, as opposed to the normal 300 to 400. Cries of some babies are measured as high as 80 decibels. Premature babies or babies that are small for their age may have cries that are louder, more shrill, or more arrhythmic than other babies and these cries are much more unpleasant to our ears.

Excessive crying, frequently referred to as colic, occurs in 20 to 25 percent of infants. Most pediatricians define excessive crying using the rule of 3:

- The infant cries for more than three hours a day
- The infant has a period of excessive crying at least 3 days a week
- This pattern continues for at least 3 consecutive weeks

Characteristics defining excessive crying

Onset of the cry

Excessive crying typically has a rapid and abrupt onset with little build up. More disturbing to parents, the baby does not seem to have an off-switch to his crying. The crying just continues on and on without any flow. Some parents describe that their babies seem out of control or in constant pain.

Physical signs during intense crying

Besides the crying, there are also distinct physical signs that a baby exhibits during these periods of intense crying. His stomach will tighten and tummy hardens, his fists will clench and he will wave his arms. His legs will be drawn up and his face would become red. Every muscle of his body tightens as he screams. Many infants seem to hold their breath when they are crying.

Inconsolable

The most disturbing aspect of this excessive crying is that the infant is inconsolable and nothing seems to work in getting the baby to calm down. With some babies, even the calming techniques don’t work.

Calming Techniques

There are many ways to calm a baby and even the most difficult infants respond to one or two of the methods given below.

Rhythmic Rocking

Most babies respond well to being rocked in your arms, a pram or a cradle. You will soon notice that the baby has his own preferred tempo. Some infants like to be rocked slowly, others more quickly although you should never rock or shake your baby too vigorously. Some mothers have observed that their babies seem to be stimulated by side to side rocking and calm down by up and down rocking but each baby and parent has to find out what feels right.

Swaddling

Wrapping your baby tightly in blankets is very comforting to some infants presumably this gives them the sense of being back in the cozy warmth of the womb.

Warm Bath

A warm bath helps some babies but not others. Some infants become very agitated when put in a bath and you will find this out quickly. Remember to gradually introduce to the warm bath. First wetting him with water from your hand, then gradually putting in his feet and legs and then his torso. Your calm and steady voice and hand will help your baby learn that this is a comforting experience.

Smells

Certain smells are said to be comforting to a baby particularly the smell of lavender and chamomile. A baby’s sense of smell is fully developed at birth and babies react to strong smells in a similar fashion as adults. In the last few years several cosmetic companies have made smelly scented oils for baby’s bath which is supposed to be soothing.

The most comforting smell to a baby is the smell of his parents. If you have an infant under 3 months take care to use the same shampoo, perfume or cologne everyday. These smells combined with your natural body smell are what your baby finds pleasing.

Take a Ride

Some babies only calm down when they are taken for a push chair or car ride.

Sing a Song

Although you may not be in the mood to sing a song when you are holding a screaming baby in your arms try it anyway. There is a reason that virtually every culture sings soft melodic songs to their babies. Find a song that your baby seems to respond to and sing it over and over again because babies love repetition.

Rhythmic Sounds

Some babies are also calmed by machine noises. If you do not feel like running these machines all the time consider buying a CD of favorite baby sounds or recording them yourself.

Massage

Massaging your baby is a wonderful way to communicate with your baby and is also a great way to calm her down. However, like other techniques it does not seem to help all babies. Some infants are overly sensitive to touch and actually start crying when you massage them.

Above all keep trying, research tells us that parents of babies that cry a lot often overestimate the time the baby cries and underestimate their own ability to calm their baby down. Observing your baby’s cries will help you see what works and what does not.

I don’t like that my baby cries. I know nobody likes to hear a crying baby and it’s natural. Babies cry to speak to their parents and to gain attention. Whenever your baby cries, he demands an immediate response. Babies cry to tell you about their different needs, but how do you really know just what that ‘need’ is?

Actually, babies have different variations of crying for each need. Scientists have used sophisticated sound equipment to study the nature of baby cries by recording its pitch, frequency and length of pauses. They have determined that a baby’s cry contains a combination of several sounds made all at once. Every baby has a unique cry, which can be distinguished from that of every other baby.

Most of the time parents know exactly what their infant wants when he/she cries. They learn to distinguish the sound of one cry from another. I started figuring out what my baby wanted when he cries during the few weeks after his birth. Once I was visiting with my 5 months baby, Abdullah. Almost as soon as I entered the living room, Abdullah began to wail. My mind quickly went through the list of his needs: When I last fed him, when he was last changed, oh he hasn’t slept for quite a few hours – he must be tired now. So I started patting him on his back, in less than a minute he stopped crying and few minutes later he was fast asleep.

Some parents easily learn to interpret their baby’s cries. They just know what they mean but some parents are not as in tune with their babies. Also some babies are not as easy to soothe.

Dr Barry Lester, professor of psychiatry and human behavior at Brown university , Rhode Island, has studied the cries of babies for more than 20 years and has found that an individual infant may have as many as 12 distinct cries. Although there will always be some variation from infant to infant.

The following are characteristics of what different cries mean.

1 – I am hungry.

This is the most common cry you will hear. It typically begins with a rhythmic cry or whine when your baby first starts to feel like he has an empty stomach. Within a few minutes you may hear a short explosive cry followed by a pause while your baby catches his breath. Then you will hear more cries which will probably get louder and louder until your baby is fed. Your knowledge of when your baby was last fed will probably be your best guide at determining whether you are hearing a cry of hunger.

2 – I am Eating too much

Since hunger is the most common cry feeding is often the first response that parents give to their babies wails. It is important to remember that until a baby 6 to 8 weeks old he does not know how to regulate drinking from a bottle and he will suck on it until it runs dry, even though he has had more than he needs. Sometimes older babies will also take the bottle or breast for comfort, even though hunger is not really what is making them unhappy. However babies have small stomachs and immature digestive systems, so if they overeat then they are likely to be sick and start crying again. A baby that brings up his food is telling you that smaller and more frequent feeding may be what is needed.

3 – I am tired

When your baby is sleepy or over tired he may show signs of being fussy and irritated. His cries will more likely fluctuate in tone and volume and be arrrythmical. Other non-verbal signs will also be consistent in your baby. He may bat his ears, suck his fingers or rub his eyes. Since he wants to go to bed., he will likely resist being distracted by your efforts to play with him and will usually turn away. When you try other ways to comfort him he may become more agitated because all he really wants to do is sleep. As your baby gets into a regular sleep schedule, you will recognize the way he communicates that he is tired. Most babies will cry themselves to sleep within 5 to 10 minutes when nothing else is bothering them.

4 – I am in Pain

Babies cry pretty much the same way whether they are experiencing external or internal pain. The cry begins without warning and it is loud, long and shrill. Your baby will let out a good long wail of pain and then take a long pause, like he is holding his breath. When he cries again his body will also tell you that something is wrong. His body will be tense, and his hands and feet will be drawn up. His mouth will be wide open and you will see an expression of intense discomfort on his face.

5 – I am irritated

Babies get irritable when they are tired or over stimulated just the way that adults do. This cry is usually long and hard and unresponsive to calming methods that usually work. This type of cry usually comes just before it is time for a nap or for bed time. After a few attempts at trying to calm your baby down., just let him alone for a few minutes. His crying may be a form of tension release and after a while you should see him start to calm down. After he has quieted himself down he may respond to a gentle massage or to the bottle or breast.

6 – I feel sick

This maybe a weaning and nasal cry, similar to the cry of pain but weaker. Your baby will look flushed and maybe warm to the touch. Consult your child physician if the fever continues or if other symptoms appear.

7 – Change me

With the increasing absorbency of disposable nappies many babies do not feel particularly uncomfortable when they are wet. Other babies will cry loudly and wail as if they are in pain.(Sometimes of course your baby is in pain, if the urine is irritating a rash). Checking your baby’s nappy is one of the first things that most parents do when they hear their baby cry.

8 – I am afraid

The cry of fear is typically sudden, loud and piercing, followed by gasping for breath. Some babies are much more sensitive to noise and temperature or being startled than others. Usually this cry subsides almost as suddenly as it begins.

9 – I am Angry

Different babies have different frustration levels, just like different adults. Some babies get frustrated very easily and they let you know about it. Different babies have different reasons for being angry. You baby’s cry of frustration or anger will be revealed on his face and in his movements. His mouth may be drawn up into what is best described as a snarl. He may arch his back or turn his face to the side to show you that he does not like what you are doing. Usually these cries are short lived when whatever is frustrating him is over.

10 – I am bored

A baby who is crying because she is bored or lonely is just trying to fill a need and when you understand what she is trying to tell you, you can choose the best way to respond to this need. When you trust your own instincts, and with a little trial and error, you will figure out just the right things to do to respond to your baby’s cries. The exception to this is when your baby cries too much, or when you do not feel that you know how to calm her down.

The litmus test of whether you need to go beyond your intuition and analyze the communication behind your baby’s cries is simple: You need to respond to your baby within a minute and half and have him calmed down within 10 minutes.

Why do I say a minute a half? Because research has show that the quicker your respond to your baby’s cries the quicker your baby will calm down. At least one study has shown that when adults take longer than a minute and a half to establish contact with the baby it can take 2 to 4 times longer to calm the baby down. Studying what your baby’s cries mean will undoubtedly help you to be more connected to your baby. It will give him a sense of security and the sense that his needs are being met and it will give you a sense of confidence. But do not expect too much of yourself. Studies tell us that at least 4 out of 5 babies cry for as much as 15 minutes to an hour a day without any explainable reason.

For whatever reason your baby cries, or even if he cries for no reason at all, you can be assured that by 7 or 8 months the baby will find different ways to communicate with you.