Nursery World - Non-verbal communication: babies

Baby room practitioners need to tune in to those in their care by understanding the babies’ non-verbal communication, as well as their own, explains Charlotte Goddard

Download the PDF of this article

A mother is interacting with her baby, face to face. Her gestures are enthusiastic, her facial expressions animated; the infant responds by smiling and pointing. The mother turns away, and when she looks back, her face has lost all expression. The baby immediately notices something is wrong: first she tries to return the interaction to its usual reciprocal pattern with her own body language, then she turns her head away, then she begins to cry and twist her body in distress.

Known as the still-face experiment, this video shows the importance of non-verbal communication when interacting with a baby. The experiment shows babies have a sense of the relationship between facial expression and emotion and are able to use their own facial expression and body language to communicate feelings and desires.

Register now to continue reading

Thank you for visiting Nursery World and making use of our archive of more than 35,000 expert features, subject guides, case studies and policy updates. Why not register today and enjoy the following great benefits:

What's included