Understanding your baby: how to recognize your baby's signals

Guest blog by lactation consultants Sanne and Anouk from @houseofmilk

When your baby is born, a special journey of discovery begins. Your baby enters a completely new world, and you begin learning to understand your baby better each day.

In the first weeks, many parents wonder: Is my baby hungry, tired, or in need of closeness? Even though babies cannot talk yet, they communicate through subtle signals like head movements, lip smacking, restless hands, or eye contact.

The more you learn to recognize these signals, the easier it becomes to respond to what your baby needs. Over time, you will naturally start to understand your baby better and better.

It is very normal for babies to be restless from time to time. That does not always mean your baby wants to feed. Sometimes your baby is tired, and at other times your baby mainly needs closeness, warmth, or comfort.

By keeping your baby close to you, you will gradually learn to recognize small differences. A certain movement may often mean hunger, while a particular sound may show that your baby is getting tired. Slowly, a kind of unique language develops between you and your baby, which you both learn to understand better and better.

When your baby is close to you, you also notice things earlier. You see sooner when your baby begins to move in their sleep, you notice small sucking movements, or you feel that your baby is becoming restless.

That is why it can help to keep your baby close, for example through skin-to-skin contact, by carrying your baby in a carrier or wrap, or through rooming-in (being in the same room as your baby both during the day and at night).

Crying is a very clear signal. Many parents therefore think crying is the moment when a baby shows that they are hungry. But did you know that crying is actually a late signal? Most babies show much earlier that they want to drink.

Early hunger cues may include:

• lighter sleep

• smacking sounds

• sucking movements with the lips

• sucking on hands

• moving arms and legs more

• turning the head

• searching or opening the mouth when the lips are touched

When you start feeding at these early signals, feedings often go more calmly. This is especially helpful when breastfeeding. If you latch your baby at the first hunger cues, your baby is usually more relaxed and often has more patience. That can help if breastfeeding is still something you are both learning.

Sometimes your baby may still need to wait a little and become upset. Unfortunately, that cannot always be prevented. In that case, it can help to comfort and calm your baby first before feeding. For example, if you are washing your hair and your baby suddenly shows hunger much earlier than expected—you still have to rinse your hair before feeding. Moments like that simply happen.

And yes, feeding at the first hunger cues is really a good idea, but every baby is different. Some babies calmly give you time to grab a glass of water before feeding, while others go from 0 to 100 and want to drink immediately. In that case, crying may be hard to avoid. That does not necessarily mean you are doing something wrong—it may simply be part of your baby’s temperament.

By recognizing your baby’s hunger signals, you can follow your baby’s lead and feed when he or she needs it. Isn’t it amazing that your baby can already show so clearly—even shortly after birth—when it is time to drink?

If you are breastfeeding, feeding on demand also helps your milk production adjust well to your baby.

Breastfeeding works according to the beautiful principle of supply and demand: the more often your baby drinks, the more milk your body produces. That is why it is important to feed your baby whenever he or she shows signs that it is time to drink.

In practice, this means there is not always a fixed schedule. Feeding times do not always happen at the same moments, and some babies drink more frequently one day and less the next. That is completely normal. If you think about it, our own eating and drinking patterns are not exactly the same every day either.

The longer you spend time together, the better you get to know your baby. You will start recognizing patterns, noticing signals faster, and gaining more confidence in your own rhythm together.

And that is exactly what following your baby is about: trusting what your baby shows you.

Do you find it difficult to understand your baby’s signals? Do you sometimes feel like you understand what your baby means, but other times feel completely lost?

Know that you do not have to figure it all out by yourself.

Anouk and Sanne, lactation consultants from House of Milk, are happy to think along with you. Through their online breastfeeding guidance they support you daily and you can ask unlimited breastfeeding questions.

They help you gain more confidence in recognizing the signals your baby shows. Because the better you understand your baby, the more calm and relaxation can arise in your daily moments together.

And that is exactly what we wish for you.