It's my job to understand babies behaviours ...
All babies have different temperaments and their behaviour can vary from baby to baby. Some babies are relaxed even when awake, some babies are a bit more fussy and require holding and rocking, and soothing. Its my job as a photographer to know how to work with all types of babies temperaments, to understand them so I can fulfil the needs of my client.
I’ve photographed hundreds of babies over the years, and having two girls of my own who both have completely different temperaments to each other this is my experience of babies behaviour ….
All babies cry, its their way of communicating with us. They are either trying to tell us they need feeding, changing, burping or just a bit of comforting. Babies usually sleep around 16 hours a day with little bursts of being awake. If a baby wakes up they usually want feeding. They don’t really play for very long and after a feed generally go back to sleep. Newborn babies shouldn’t really be awake for long periods of time. If they are awake for 1-2 hours periods at a time then they may become over tired and this will make them more grizzly and cry even more.
Signs of a baby being over tired are;
Pulling on their ears
Jerking of arms & legs
Closing fists
Yawning
Arching backwards
Sucking on fingers – they maybe trying to find ways to self sooth
Over Stimulation
Babies can often be overstimulated – having too many different experiences, people, smells and activities can really unsettle babies. For example, having too many family members over at once, baby being held by different people all of whom have their own smells and touches they can over simulated babies and makes them unsettled. You will of course have lots of family members keen to visit and cuddle babies, that’s normal, but it maybe wise to try and reduce the amount of people/visits during the first few weeks to help reduce over stimulating a newborn baby.
A way to help settle babies again is to create a safe and calm environment for them. Reduce any sounds and movement. Sometimes just leaving a baby settle on their own can help them calm down so they can get back into their on sleep pattern by themselves.
Colic
Colic is something else a lot of babies suffer from. Colic babies will have long bouts of crying. A lot of people believe colic is related to trapped wind and stomach pains, but some doctors now believe its due to too much stimulation especially if babies cry a lot more then normal towards the end of the day. Doctors believe reducing stimulation will help calm a baby and reduce their crying. To Creating a calm environment you can use apps like white noise or soothing music. If parents are relaxed and calm babies tend to be relaxed – babies really do pick up on vibes from their parents.
Of course a lot of this information is based on my own experience from babies in the studio and having my own babies. I am in no way a medical experts and if you are at all worried about your baby please seek a professional opinion
