Playing with Your Newborn: Tuning in to Alertness
It’s always a balancing act juggling newborn tasks – naps, feedings, diaper changes, cuddles, and all those other important items. As your baby grows, you’ll find there are times when your baby is happy to play, and others when it’s just best to let them nap. Understanding your baby’s cues can help you more successfully meet their needs and have more positive play interactions!
Playtime is important for your newborn. It provides opportunities to learn foundational skills to engage with the world around them and help them grow.
- Play enhances early communication skills as you talk and sing with your baby and respond to their coos and expressions.
- Play promotes early motor skills as your baby looks around and explores their play area, and lifts their head, limbs and trunk to interacting with you, their toys, and the environment around them.
- Play helps create sensory experiences that allow your baby to receive, organize, and use sensory information as they learn to touch (tactile), taste (gustatory), smell (olfactory), hear (auditory), and see (vision) their caregivers, toys and environment. Play involving various body positions (proprioception) and movements (vestibular) creates new sensory experiences. Internal sensations (interoception), such as hunger, thirst, hot and cold, may impact your baby’s needs and state of alertness, impacting the interactions you may have with your baby.
Getting to know your newborn’s state of alertness can provide clues to the best times to play with your child.
States of Alertness
Quiet Alert: Baby is quiet and calm but awake with eyes wide open. They’re taking in information and reacting to their environment. This is the time for a baby to learn- and babies learn best through play! This is a great time to have back-and-forth play with your baby, perform Tummy Time, and meet at eye level for active engagement.
Active Alert: Baby’s eyes are open, they may be moving around a lot, but might be fussy or appearing uncomfortable. This is not the best time to play. Your baby may need comforting or feeding if they are hungry. Soothing your baby may help them reach a quiet alert state.
Crying Alert: Baby is crying while their body may be moving in disorganized ways. Your baby is giving you a cue that they need something. They may be hungry, tired, or uncomfortable (may need a diaper change, position change, etc.). Try to meet their need to help them return to a calmer state.
Drowsy Alert: Baby’s eyes may or may not be closed, while either waking from sleep or drifting to sleep. Babies need sleep and are not likely to engage or react to play in this state. If your baby awakens more, they may reach a quiet alert state and be ready to play, or they may cry and require another need to be met.
Light Sleep Alert: Baby may move while sleeping and may startle at noise. Babies need sleep for them to grow, and it is best to let them continue sleeping.
Deep Sleep Alert: Baby is laying quietly without moving. Again, babies need sleep for them to grow, and it is best to let them continue sleeping.
Babies move in and out of these states of alertness. By following their cues, you can better identify and meet their needs. Look for a quiet alert state to play with your baby. This is a great time to have fun with your baby and help them grow!
Acknowledgements
Stanley, Chase. “States of Newborn Alertness.” Pathways.Org, 16 Feb. 2024
“States of Consciousness in Newborns.” HealthyChildren.Org, 2 Nov. 2009