Quiet Alert and Your Newborn
There will be periods of crying, periods of screaming, periods of eating and periods of sleeping in your newborn baby’s life. Some of these periods will make you feel at a loss, others will make you gleam with pride. One of the most peaceful times of your baby’s life that you will come to enjoy the most is called the quiet alert period.
What Is It?
The quiet alert period is the time of day when your baby is awake and calm, just looking around. He will be looking at you and at his surroundings. He will not be fussy, whiny or unhappy, but will seem to be at peace. This quiet alert period will be when he is taking in the world around him and learning the most about his life.
What Should You Do?
Use this time to talk to your baby. He should already be able to recognize your voice from the months he was in the womb, but now he will really be putting a face with it. Have siblings and other relatives talk to him as well.
Walk around with him and point out items around the house. Tell him, “This is the kitchen where I cook our meals. This is the bedroom where we go to sleep.” Explain to them what each item is and what its’ purpose in your home is.
Use this time to be active with your baby. Do simple exercises with him like arm raises and bicycle legs. These actions will help strengthened his muscles and he will probably enjoy them. Give him a bath during the calm and quiet. Starting to do baths now, while he is happy, may help him like baths down the road when some babies and children decide that baths are just a waste of time.
Enjoy It!
The quiet alert period won’t last forever and probably not even long enough. Soon enough your baby will be crawling, walking, and playing with toys. At that point there will be very little downtime with visual learning, and much more hands on learning. The quiet alert period will probably turn into a noisy awake period where there are toys rattling and pots and pans banging, starting a whole new stage of fun and laughter.
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