All your baby needs to be a happy baby is love and attention. There will inevitably be times when they are being fussy, but once we parents learn to read their signals, it becomes easy to read the difference between "I have a toothache", to "I'm hungry, feed me." Love and attention, along with a feeding and sleep routine, on a schedule, will go a long way to keeping you and baby very content.
Reading The Signals
This of course seems like an impossible task for some of you newer parents out there, but many of you out there with lots of experience in this area know how babies do try to tell us whats wrong: E.g., your baby is crying, while also biting down on their fingers, soother, or your fingers fairly hard -- this is a classic sign of a not so happy baby teething and trying to cope with their sore gums. Knowing what's wrong sometimes just comes down to eliminating possibilities: I.e., always check their diapers of course, then if it's close to feeding time try that, give them a soother, etc.
Spending Time With Baby
Spend time talking and rocking your baby as much as time allows. Hearing your voice calmly talking to them is very soothing to young babies. Children who are talked to frequently will start to talk earlier as a recent Gerber-Sponsored study on early childhood development proved. It was found that a happy baby who was talked to for at least 2 hours per day, would start talking up to 2 months earlier than their peers who shared less than 2 hours of talk-time with their parents.
Aside from everything else; keep your baby on a schedule with regards to feeding time, sleep, and if possible -- play time. Though some of us grow up to despise routine, we start out loving it. While you can't always adhere 100% of the time, the secret to a happy baby is love, attention, reading the signals and doing all those things on schedule for your baby.
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