There are many books on parenting out there and numerous friends and family members will likely offer words of advice on how to do this or that with your baby - but it can still be challenging to figure things out for yourself.
One of the key skills parents often have to master on their own is working out the difference between their child's cries and knowing what the little one is asking for or needs, without any words.
If this is something you're struggling with, an expert has shared some top tips for working out the 'telltale' signs for what certain cries mean.
Jennifer Robinson, a mum of two and a gentle sleep consultant, has shared the clues to look out for with The Mirror.
She said: "Obviously children and babies are going to cry because that's their way of communicating before they have the words, but if they were crying we would asses why they were crying and try to understand the cry.
"So whether it's a hungry cry or a frustrated cry or just sort of why aren't you doing what you were doing before type of cry? But with everything I do, we're always in the room being reassuring if they were crying, we'd never leave them to cry on their own.
"It's difficult to work out what each cry signifies and each child will have a different cry, but there are a few telltale signs you can look out for such as really frustrated screaming and crying and nothing soothing them, that would be a frustrated cry.
"If they're a bit older, they might also be standing up in the cot or acting out, for example, quite a lot of children when they're frustrated, will bang their head on the cot or things like that."
Jennifer continues to share signs that a child is hungry or tired, saying: "If a child has cried and you've settled them and then they wake up half an hour later and they're crying again, that could be hunger because they aren't settling because they want something or something is bothering them.
"When newborns are hungry they will often clench their fists when they're hungry and start sucking as well.
"Tired cries are perhaps the most obvious as they might be yawning or rubbing their eyes while crying, potentially sort of almost hyperventilating in a sort of desperation of tiredness."
The expert adds that the more attention you pay to your little one, the more obvious the distinctions will become.
"When parents start tuning into their child more with regards to sleep, it will become more obvious.
"A lot of parents jump from one idea to the next when they're trying to get their kids to sleep and they're not really paying attention to what the child is doing or what their needs are because they just want them to sleep. They might try feeding and that won't work or they'll try rocking them but sometimes it can be overstimulating for the child which won't help them settle.
"If you sit down and watch your child you can work it out and it will become quite obvious what they need."
Do you have a parenting tip to share? We want to hear all about it. Email courtney.pochin@mirror.co.uk
