Wouldn’t caring for your baby be so much easier if you understood how your tiny bundle experiences the world? Well, by looking at a baby’s sensory world, we can much better understand and cater for our young baby’s sensory needs. It makes sense that caring for your baby with concern about how he experiences the world will help him both be content and develop optimally.
In the same way that your baby is dependent on you for milk (nutrition) and love (nurturing), he needs you to help him cope with and make sense of the sensory environment.
In the early days most babies have some difficulty dealing with all the new sights, sounds, smells and feels of the world outside the womb. Many babies become over stimulated with just an average day’s stimulation, resulting in prolonged crying (or colic). Your baby needs you to watch for signs of overstimulation and fussing and to calm his environment if need be.
Responding appropriately when your baby is over stimulated and fussing will save you both distress and feelings of desperation that every mother when her baby cries for an extended period.
How to respond:
- Hold your baby quietly and firmly
- Calm his environment to ensure he does not become further over stimulated
- Tuck his arms in or swaddle him in a blanket
- Play some calming music for your baby
- Put him in a baby sling close to you
- Give him something to suck such as a pacifier or his hands to help him calm
Fussing signals
- Irritability
- Looking away from you
- Squirming
- Arching his back or neck
- Frantic movements
- Frowning
- Hiccups and colour changes around the mouth may be signs of distress
- Gagging
- Crying