Jack Witowski was only a few days old, but he could tell his parents and the nurses that noise bothered him and he'd rather not be touched. His face would turn red and he'd stiffen his arms and legs. Born 15 weeks early and weighing just 1 pound, 10 ounces, Jack's nervous system wasn't ready for the stimulating environment of the neonatal intensive care nursery.

"It was really difficult to think this is my baby and I'm disturbing him," says Jack's mother, Kathy, of Chicago. But with the nurse's help, Kathy and her husband, Bill, soon learned how to read and respond to Jack's special signals.

"All babies communicate through their behaviors: how they move their bodies and change their arousal levels and through their breathing and skin color," says Dr. Joy Browne, assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of Colorado School of Medicine and director of the Center for Family and Infant Interaction in Denver. "Many preemies aren't developmentally ready to handle a lot of sensory input at once, and their reactions are often exaggerated because they're overwhelmed."

Learning and responding to your premature baby's unique behaviors will enhance your parent-baby relationship, according to Dr. Browne. "You'll know what your baby needs, and your baby will learn to depend on you," she says.

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