Hunger Cues Part 1

All babies have one or more hunger cues. They all have them. Usually when a parents says "my baby doesn't give hunger cues" it's a case of the parent not realizing that what they are seeing is a hunger cue. Here's a generalized list of hunger cues for infants:

Early hunger cues: licking lips, opening and closing mouth, sucking on tongue/hands

Active hunger cues: bobbing head on chest/arm/shoulder of person holding and/or carrying the baby, hitting the adult on the arm/chest repeatedly, fussing/breathing fast

Late hunger cues: Frantically moving head from side to side, usually with mouth open. Crying.

Babies have hunger cues even at night. Generally, parents and/or caregivers hear baby crying in the middle of the night for food. Crying is a very late sign of hunger. Even though parents will often say "she just wakes up screaming for food" the baby has actually gone through both the early and active hunger cues without the parents and/or caregivers realizing it.

Not all babies go through all of the cues. Additionally, sucking on the hands is not a realiable hunger cue after the first 6-8 weeks because at this age babies tend to gain more control over their arms and hands, thus being able to get their hands/fingers to their mouth for comfort sucking.