As soon as the babies come out from their mother’s womb, they have no experience in moving their body parts purposefully. If they move their muscles but have no motor control yet. They are learning how to figure out to move their arms and legs.
So what does a squirmy baby mean? They start to learn various body movement patterns by squirming and crying. By doing this they try to get attention and express that they need something. But I strongly suggest that the babies are not squirming as an indicator of an illness. Only showing lethargies is a strong indication of having an illness.
A squirming baby is a healthy infant. They do squirmy movements to fulfill various reasons. Squirming is an important part of child development. Baby uses squirming and crying to get others’ attention. I strongly recommend that squirming is not an indication of an illness.
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What are the reasons for the squirming of an infant?
Babies squirm their muscles as an exercise medium. By doing this they strengthen various muscle groups of their body. So this is a developmental activity pattern of newborn babies.
They develop gross motor skills by squirming and wiggling. Then they can start with simple body language hints for the parents and caregivers. So they convert their parent’s attention by doing these squirming movements.
A newborn is a rapid learner. They are always in a learning process. So they learn how to crawl, sit, and maintain head control and many more things by wiggling and squirming. So squirming is a part of a learning curve in newborns.
Babies learn where are the body parts in the space ( proprioceptive sense ) by doing the wiggling and squirming movements. So this squirming helps babies to identify their own body parts in space. After they discover their own hands, feet, and other parts of the body gradually.
Babies try to make theirown choices by squirming. ALSO, THEY ARE SQUIRMING FOR GETTING THE OTHER’S ATTENTION.
Also, we can consider that squirming is a strong communication method for babies. You need to be with the baby for some time to understand these specific squirming patterns requesting their specific basic needs.
How to deal with a squirmy baby
The older babies are stubbornly squirmy. But luckily they can be easily distracted. So it is important to find out various distraction methods for babies to avoid their squirming.
Distract our baby using various creative ways
Try to make your baby laugh and create various distractive activities for your baby. As an example, you can select the baby’s bath time. You can think of various creative and fun activities to distract your baby. At the bathtub, you can play or sing a lovely bathtime song with a lovely melody with your baby. Also, you can use soap bubbles pop them and splash them with the baby’s upper limb movements and try to maintain the gaze and concentration towards the soap bubbles continuously.
Also, you can fill and empty cups and float ships, boats or dunk a dolly. These types of activity patterns are very much helpful for improving the engagement of your baby.
Work past with your baby
you can do engaging activities too fast with baby. Focus on the activity that you are going to discourage with the baby. Try to get the attention towards the new activity by talking and another bodily talking style with the baby.
Keep your baby entertained
Think about various eye contact activities and other simple activities associated with sounds. Always try to make your baby smile with the different activity types.
Change the locations
This changing place and body positions is another good tactic for the baby to convert their attention. If you are trying to change the diapers, you can select a natural place instead of changing the table has become the scene of too many struggles.
When you are changing, make sure you have gathered up all your supplies ahead of time so you will be able to work faster. A squirmy baby can squirm a whole lot of trouble fast. So never leave your baby alone, not even for a moment.
If your baby is not squirming at all
If your baby is not squirming or not wiggling at all, it may be a warning sign. Sometimes it may be the warning sign of SMA ( spinal muscular atrophy ). That motor delays and missed milestones can cause SMA. So if you can spot on behavior and other motor signs of SMA early, you can get good possible outcomes after treating and improve the chances of survival. So this squirming is the main motor sign of a healthy baby. They are doing this as they have a good motor ability of their muscles.
Babies with gas may be squirmy
When your baby is in a distress, they may be squirmy. Sometimes it is hard to pinpoint the actual cause. Most of the time babies with gas may be squirmy. Squirming is a part of their struggle to get comfortable.
They cry and can be fussier than normal and bring their legs up to their chest and kick. Sometimes they have trouble sleeping. Try to spot that excessive squirming is a sign of your baby having a problem with gas therefore he/she is in a distress.
Final thoughts
Squirming of your baby is a physical sign and a healthy indication of a normal baby. Primarily babies do this movement type for exercising their muscles. So it is an essential part of child development. They do this squirming for attention-seeking purposes at other times.
If a baby is unable to perform squirming it may be an indication of illness such as SMA ( Spinal muscular atrophy ). Sometimes babies use squirming as a communication method. You need to have close attention to understanding these behavioral cues.
If your baby squirms a lot then you need to think of calming strategies to settle down your baby. If not you are unable to perform certain tasks such as changing diapers properly. So observe your baby closely. Try to understand the message that your baby is trying to pass by squirming. It may be different from one baby to another.