LONG before babies learn to say what they want, tiny gestures may indicate their needs – and clever parents can follow those cues to make them happy before tears or spit-up start to flow.
Megan Hawkins has three children under the age of three, and on her family’s TikTok account, she shares the kind of parenting wisdom you only gain by juggling so many little ones.
In one video, Hawkins shared clips from her infant daughter’s feeding session and paid special attention to the nonverbal cues that her baby exhibited throughout the meal.
Hawkins explained that when a baby shows clenched fists, it often means they’re hungry.
As the parent and baby make their way through a meal, the baby’s fists will start to relax.
If the baby’s hands are curled into loose half-fists, or they’ve got one hand open and one closed, the gesture indicates they’re “almost full.”
And once a baby’s hands are completely open and relaxed, it means they’re full and happy, Hawkins concluded.
At the top of the comments section, the mom reminded viewers that “all babies are different” and the advice might not be universal.
“They can have different cues. This is just what my baby does,” she explained.
Other parents in the comments said they had noticed the phenomenon too or had heard similar advice from experts and family members.
“Best advice a nurse ever gave me! Arms are floppy when they are full, and tight when hungry,” wrote one viewer.
“My son also would clench his fists and curl his toes when he had gas,” another savvy mom shared. “These cues can save hours of crying.”
“I thought those fists meant they were trying to fight me. Guess I was wrong,” one mom joked.
“Probs ‘feed me or I’ll punch you,'” Hawkins quipped back.
“I’m 36 and I still give this warning signal when I’m hangry,” another woman wrote, coupled with laughing emoji that others echoed in response.
In another video, Hawkins said her daughter will make her “hungry fists” before mealtimes – and once the baby starts sucking and gnawing on her fists, that’s the indicator it’s time to eat.
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Those small gestures are a huge part of her parenting strategy, Hawkins explained.
“It makes it easier to know these so I can help her before she cries,” Hawkins wrote in the comments. “Less stress for both of us.”
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