At birth, your infant has a few basic feelings such as pleasure, pain and fear. With age and experience, these become more elaborate and combine to form more complex emotions. Even a young infant can tell you what she feels through her body language and cries. For example, a baby who is relaxed and comfortable presents a very different picture from one who is tense and irritable.
By watching your infant’s emotional reactions you can tell what pleases her and what makes her unhappy. In this respect, as in many others, babies are quite different from one another. An otherwise easy going baby, for example, may really hate being changed even though she is not uncomfortable. It is just the act of changing that she dislikes. Other infants may not like hats and may take them off as soon as they can. If we are alert to the kinds of actions or objects that make the baby uncomfortable, we can anticipate the reaction and try to lessen it through calming words and gentle touches.