How To Understand The Needs Of A Baby Who Does Not Cry?
In most cases, when a baby does not cry it is because all his needs are met. However, not all babies are the same, and for example yours may be hungry or cold but not express it by crying.
From its birth, the newborn begins to communicate, even if its language is difficult to decipher. Crying is a newborn’s primary resource for expressing his or her feelings and needs, but there are babies who, by nature, almost never cry.
How to interpret the needs of a newborn who does not cry ?
The crying of the newborn
Crying is the last sign of hunger in the baby, so it is possible that he has been hungry for a long time without showing it. When she hears him crying, Mom can identify his need, but she should be able to understand him even without this warning “siren”.
Often the baby’s crying is synonymous with hunger or sleep, even though he may cry in pain and sometimes for no apparent reason.
Sometimes, we are confident that the baby is quiet and not crying. Yet, even if she doesn’t cry, it doesn’t mean that everything is fine. The ideal is to keep his needs under control, keep in mind the time of the baby food and how long we have not checked the diaper.
But be careful. It is always a mistake to make a newborn go hungry and, above all, to feed him while he cries.
Basically, the mother will have to learn to meet the needs of her baby, trying to interpret his way of communicating. Therefore, if we always wait for the baby to cry before feeding him, this could hamper breastfeeding.
In fact, it is not recommended to breastfeed the newborn in the moment of greatest anxiety, just when hunger has made him cry desperately.
Some signs that the baby is hungry even if he is not crying
Crying is the last resort of the newborn, it is possible that he is hungry but not burst into desperate crying until this need becomes unbearable.
In other words, when the baby expresses its need in a violent way it is possible that it has been hungry for a long time. To avoid spending more time than necessary without eating, it is important that we pay attention to the following signs.
1. Turn your head looking for the breast
This is a particular signal of newborns, very frequent and easy to interpret their needs. Almost all newborns do this because it is instinctive to look for the mother’s nipple to feed. When we see them make this gesture, we will know that they are hungry.
2. He moves a lot, he is restless
Another common sign of a hungry baby is that they are moving around a lot, indicating that something is missing. She may be hungry and often fidgets and starts dizzying to look for her mother. If he continues to be agitated after eating, then you will need to look for some other cause of his restlessness.
3. It looks like you are sucking your tongue
It is easy to notice a noise in newborns as if they are sucking something. We can also notice that it puts the mouth in the sucking position. This is a way of recognizing that she is hungry, especially when feeding time is approaching.
Breastfeeding is the moment in which a special bond is generated between mother and child, who get to know each other better. It is the first bond of love that allows both to recognize the feelings and needs of the other.
This connection between mother and child is special, important and permanent and is fundamental for the mother to interpret the needs of her baby until she can express herself in words.
Even when he is older, he may not express hunger or other sensations, which is why it is so important to learn about our child and to interpret his needs.
The consequences of feeding the baby crying with hunger
As we have already mentioned, it is best not to wait until the last moment to feed our little one. The reaction of crying due to hunger can be accompanied by a lot of anxiety, the baby does not know that the mother is coming with the milk. That is, he may get too upset because he has waited a long time and the consequences could be the following:
- It shakes and can be choked with milk.
- She gets too excited and gets tired of sucking.
- Due to the agitated breathing, it swallows a lot of air which causes gas and colic, which will be difficult for the whole family to overcome, as they generally cause desperate crying.
- In the mother, the baby’s crying can cause great stress, which will affect milk production. This causes it to be insufficient to satisfy the baby’s hunger.
- As the baby cries and squirms, he tends to detach from the nipple abruptly crying, this can injure the mother’s nipple.
The signs that your baby is hungry will not always be the same. Over time, each child will manifest hunger individually and it is up to the mother to understand its signals.
It is very important not to let the baby cry for a long time before feeding him. And if that happens, it’s best to calm him down before feeding him.
