How to Have a Happy Baby!

Have you ever watched a small child fall down, or hit their head on something? The first thing they do is look at you for a reaction. If you can train yourself to laugh at them, the child will laugh instead of cry. However, your instinct may be to worry (Are you hurt?) and immediately the child will start crying over a skinned knee or sore forehead.

This may not be entirely news to you, but it isn't exactly common knowledge either. What's more is that babies are the same way.

Babies can't walk, so they haven't yet reached that clumsy stage of bashing heads or tripping over their own feet. Before they ever reach that point, you should have already trained yourself to control your reaction. This trick is the most important thing you can do when you're taking care of a baby.

Babies only have two ways to communicate with you, because they can't talk yet. (Although when they coo, they are telling you wonderful stories.) If a baby is happy, or gassy, or getting ready to poop... they tell you by smiling at you. It's up to you to decipher which message they are conveying. (Just a hint, especially with younger babies, the bigger the smile the more likely it is either of the latter.)

Everything else with your baby is crying. Babies can be content themselves, surrounded by brightly colored objects or sitting in a swing. (My 3 month old likes to watch bright cartoons from 9 to 11 while I clean in the morning.) You know they're content when they are either quiet, or cooing. Yet when they cry... there is something bothering them. It's up to you to diagnose and fix the problem.

Learn to Control Your Reactions

First and most important... whatever you were doing, or thinking about doing, is not more important than your baby. So don't get annoyed. If you are easily irritable, consider this. What does your baby see when it looks at your face?