5 Tips If Your Baby Doesn’t Like Kisses

The way that babies age and shows affection is different from adults. You love your baby so much when they are born and you want to give them all the love and kisses and cuddles possible. However, your little one may not be up to speed just quite yet. Your baby passes different milestones in their life and waiting for that milestone of the first hug, kiss, smile, and cuddle is just one of those amazing things.

1. What Are The Major Affection Milestones?

It takes your baby a few months to start passing milestones that include affectionate activities. You are ready right from the gate to start kissing, hugging, and holding your baby. However, your baby is not going to be there yet. Give them time to adjust to this new thing called life and get used to you and who you are. This is the time that you start to know each other and your baby starts to understand just who you are.

By the time that your baby is two months old, they should begin to smile at you purposefully. It’s not just them passing gas or off in their own world. They recognize you for who you are and are smiling up at you as a sign of love and affection. This is the first milestone of many that your baby will pass. It will feel like quite the accomplishment to finally, after months of having your little one actually to see them smile up at you lovingly.

Next, between six to eight months is when your baby is going to start sitting up and really interacting with the rest of the world around them. This is the time you can expect to see them a wave, smile, kiss, hug, etc. If your baby is off to a slow start on either of these activities, you can always engage them by playing games with them and interacting with them. The best way they are going to learn is by imitating you, so make sure you always make eye contact with your baby and show them what you want them to do. Again, if your baby is not doing these activities, it may be part of a personality trait and might not be something to worry about right off the bat. Be patient with your baby and give them time to adjust.

2. What Do You Do When Your Baby Doesn’t Like Affection?

But what do you do when it appears that your baby doesn’t like to give kisses? It may be that your child is not up to that part of their life yet. Just because they may be the age or at the time where you expect it from them, they may just not be there yet. Don’t get too offended or worried off the bat. Your baby loves you. Your baby does form attachment to you from the moment that they are born. Babies spend nine months in the womb, they can hear you and they are apart of you. IT’s a connection that is not lost that quickly, if ever.

If your baby is not acting too affectionate or seeming like they like it when you kiss them or they don’t want to kiss you, don’t worry. Every child is different and has a different timeline. Also, when they are before the age of one, they may be showing their affection in a more subtle way that we are not used to as adults. You are excited to meet and love the baby that you want to go all in right away. But your baby just may need time. They may have a personality to where they are more standoffish, or subtle in their affection and that’s okay. Just keep showing your little one what love is and they will keep loving you.

3. How To Socialize Your Baby

Your baby doesn’t really need to have socialization. From the time they are born, they are learning to be affectionate and social from the time you hold them, to breastfeed them, and so on. They are getting that socialization from that early on skin-to-skin contact. So right away your baby is learning to connect and love and enjoy the presence of you and other people. Your baby just isn’t going to show it until they hit a certain age and possibility a certain phase of their life.

However, if you are concerned about their ability to be affectionate and to be social, you can always start to socialize your baby in many ways. There are lots of mom support groups, where they will bring their little ones along. You can also go to an exercise group, yoga class, and many more options. Seek out daycares where you can either leave your child when you are ready for that or where you can be close and also enjoy the presence and support from other parents. Putting you and your baby in these situations will keep you close and growing together and will help your child to interact with other adults and children as they grow.

4. When Should You Be Worried?

Although you should be patient with your baby as they grow and may not hit certain milestones right on time. But, there is always a time where you should consult with a doctor is your notice your baby isn’t hitting a certain milestone. There is a difference between your baby being slow to hit milestones versus not being able to hit a milestone for whatever reason. So keep an eye on your baby and reach out if you feel that your baby is starting to get too far behind.

If by six months your baby is not showing any kind of smiling or joyful expressions, it may be a moment to be concerned about. At that point, it might not be a matter of being slow to find a smile, but something more. If by nine months your baby is not interacting with you in a back and forth manner or showing any kind of affection or socialization, it may be a concern. Remember not to get too worried and reach out to your doctor to speak with them more about certain issues you may be facing with your baby to determine if it is personality or something more.

5. Developmental Screening

If you are concerned about your child’s rate of how they are affectionate or show love, then you may want to look into a developmental screening. This is something that can be done after you have consulted with your doctor and have even completed a milestone checklist. A milestone checklist should be the first point of reference if you ever start to get concerned about your little one. This will help you to see if your child is on par and if they aren’t how behind they may be.

But if you want to go deeper into looking at why your baby may not be doing certain activities or showing affection by a certain age, then a developmental screening may help you. This will give you a better sense of exactly where your baby is and catch anything that may need to be dealt with in their upcoming years.

If you find that your little one is not offering you kisses right away, don’t be too concerned. There are many reasons your child may not be doing certain activities at a certain time. Be patient with your baby. If really needed to get a checklist done for your baby as soon as you can so you can really keep track of how your baby is growing and what milestones they are getting close to. The fact that you are concerned is a benefit for both you and your baby if there really is something wrong you are going to catch it before it’s too late. Keep doing what you are doing with your baby and trust all of your instincts, they are there for a reason.