Skip to content
The Basics of Emotional Intelligence
Your newborn exerts tremendous effort getting used to his new surroundings outside the womb. His very first mission is to try to make some sense of his seemingly chaotic environment by bonding and familiarizing himself with you (your scent, voice, facial features and touch) and by identifying and establishing sleep and waking patterns, feeding cycles and ways to calm himself.
Innate Communication Skills
Baby is born with some innate socialization traits and capabilities to communicate his physical and psychological needs. He automatically turns his eyes toward a human voice and gazes into the face of someone speaking to him. His reactions encourage you to interact, setting the cycle in motion for more socialization.
Two Basic Emotions
Your baby is born with two basic emotions: one to express that something is unpleasant (hunger, pain, etc); and the other to express pleasure (calmness, interest, etc). The ability to express many diverse emotions, such as happiness, sadness, anger, and surprise, is derived from these two basic emotions.
- Has two general emotions: pleasure and displeasure.
- Automatically turns her heads toward a human voice and looks into the face of the speaker.
- Remembers the scent and voice of mother or caregiver during the first few days, setting the stage for initial communication.
- Rely on your natural intuition when caring for your baby, since you are the one who spends the most time with her and can best judge her needs and unique temperament.
- React to the baby’s cries immediately and consistently.
- Try to comfort the crying baby by holding him, speaking in a calm tone, pleasant facial expressions, singing, gentle gestures, rocking or massage.
- Remember that you do not have to be attentive to your baby every waking moment. Quiet time on her own is also very important to her development.
- Answering your baby’s unique needs is not spoiling. It is the cornerstone of her emotional development.
