Baby body language - what does this mean?!

[LaTristesse]

So I'm trying to be intuitive and work out what my son (5 months, bf and teething) needs, interpreting his movements etc, but a few things are leaving me baffled - any ideas?:

• a mad Irish jig type action with his legs, often accompanied by high pitched shrieks - he doesn't look distressed though.

• arms outstretched - does this mean 'pick me up please'?

• quite vicious grabbing of my chest when he feeds and my face / neck when I pick him up - is this just a phase or does he not like the contact. (Usually accompanied by mad grin rather than miserable face).

• forceful bashing of fists against his own legs, stomach - wtf?!

I have no idea whether these things are normal, or how to respond to them - can anyone cast any light on any of this?

I don't think his movements are organised enough at 5m for there to be mesning in everything he does. And most of it will just be because he enjoys doing it!

Hi La tristesse,
I'm not sure anyone will be able to tell you exactly what these movements / actions mean, as I'm sure in baby to baby even the same motions could mean something different.
My DS used to do the jig when he was excited or had little bursts of energy. (especially in his door bouncer.) - he probably did it moor as he saw we all laughed & he enjoyed the reaction. )
He shrieked continually when he first learned that he could do it with some sort of control.
He still stretches his arms out if he wants picking up, so that one may be any easy one to interpret. I read somewhere that grabbing / touching of the face can be a comfort, loving thing (remembering of course that with only slight control of their movements a touch could easily become a grab.) & the grin would obviously back up that it isn't a frustration type thing. Maybe he's excited to that he's feeding!
The last one, well who knows. my DS slaps his face sometimes????
Remember, you can't always second guess everything & if we did, they would never have any need to learn to communicate with us later. Perhaps you could start introducing some signs to lean together if you want to?
Good luck. x

Sounds like he's finding out what his body can do. Irish jig seems to be excitment -'look at my amazing kicky legs'. My LO holds her arms out meaning 'i want to be picked up' and grabs my neck/face. I have been trying to put a stop to the grabbing though - I don't want her to be the playgroup outcast cos she's a ruffian

I read somewhere that kicking legs can mean excitement - my DD does the same sort of thing, usually meaning she's happy and getting excited about a toy or something, but when the tone/pitch of the shrieks changes, it can mean she's getting cross/tired. She's only 16 weeks though, so maybe easier to interpret! The chest grabbing is something she also does, I think just because she can. My sister's 3 all started to try to hold their bottle at this sort of age, so perhaps its the BF equivalent?

I think TheProvincialLady is right.

My DS kicks his legs and waves his arms when he's excited - always has done and still does (7.5 months).

He used to bash his own legs lots - he just seemed to be having fun.

Arms outstretched used to be what he did before grabbing something and putting it in his mouth, or playing with his hands.

He doesn't grab my chest, but does poke / prod / pinch me in the face and arms and headbutt me all over the place. I think it's just because he can! Seriously, I look like a battered wife - I have purple bruises all over my bingo wing arm.

Hi LaTristesse :) My 5mo DD does all of these things too. The jigging (or "running fast" as I call it), the squealing, the grabbing/pinching of my face and neck, and bashing herself in the stomach. I take most of it as her experimenting, and don't read much into it. It all sounds normal to me, anyway. The pinching hurts though, and I worry what people think when we're out and about and she's squealing at the top of her voice