Understanding your newborn’s 6 states of consciousness/being can help new parents gain confidence in supporting and responding to your baby’s needs. As newborns don’t communicate verbally, we can all benefit by recognizing their natural states of being to ease the transition of bringing a new baby into the family. Babies cue us, if we are watching, to help them achieve relief and comfort. As a postpartum doula, I try to familiarize new parents with newborn characteristics to shorten the learning curve. Babies are so very dependent upon their caregivers. As new parents, we can feel puzzled at times as to how best to soothe a fussy baby. When we more precisely can interpret a babies non-verbal cues, we can offer more prompt responsiveness.
Read more here to become familiar with an infant’s states of being.
http://www.livestrong.com/article/526861-the-6-behavioral-states-of-a-newborn/
http://www.amygilliland.com/documents/MofDInfantStateHO.pdf