I did some research in the archives and came up with Winnie Mading's
post on Feb 3, 2000 about the cues a baby gives as to states of
hunger, which I thoroughly enjoyed:

"Whenever possible, I try to point out to parents I work with the
 ways their baby is communicating.  When talking about feeding cues,
 I relate the tongueing, rooting, fist sucking as baby's "polite"
 request "Gee, Mom, I'm hungry.  Would you please make me some
 lunch?" as opposed to crying which is like pounding the fists on the
 table and demanding an immediate meal.  I also tell them that I
 think this begins to teach a baby that polite requests are heeded
 and they don't have to always yell for what they want.  Even moms
 who have given some indication that they expect baby to adapt to
 their routines seem to like this analogy."

Trying to lose a few winter pounds, I've decided to listen to my own
hunger "cues" and will only eat when I have some tummy growls.
This usually means two meals a day and a small before bedtime snack.

My stomach cues are a rumbling at first and then full blown "pain"
with growling you can hear across the room.  Why can we as adults
not relate to an infant's cues?  Is it because we are eating "by the
clock" ourselves most of the time?

My two daughters are 18 months apart.  When #2 was born, she just
breastfed and slept in a bassinette during the day when we were not
interacting.  Since she was not a "complainer,"--literally did not
cry--her cues were often given to me by her slightly older toddler
sister, who really did not talk much yet.  My older one just came
up to me and unzipped my robe or sweat jacket.

Tell me why a 18 month old (who gave up nursing 6 weeks before) knew
her baby sister's cues, as she was awake, when some adults don't know.

By the way, she still mothers her younger sister, who now at 25
resents it!
Judy Ritchie

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