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Interoception

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While you may be familiar with the five senses (hearing, sight, taste, smell, touch), there are more than that, including: vestibular (am I balanced), proprioceptive (where is my body in relation to the things around me, and interoception.

Interoception is your perception of your own internal states: are you hot or cold? are you hungry or thirsty? do you need to pee? poop? move your body to a more comfortable position? are you sick? is your heart racing?

Developing Interoception

When a baby is born, they display the most basic of “feelings”. They are content, or they are distressed. That distress is often caused by an internal experience, such as hunger, fatigue, or pain. But they do not yet have the life experience to interpret what those sensations mean, and what would fix them.

That’s where parents and caregivers come in. We do our best job of guessing what they might need and meeting that need. If we guess right more often than not, they soon learn that when they feel this particular set of internal cues and then they eat, they feel better. Eventually they learn to label it as hunger, and someday they learn that they can eat before the hunger pangs hit to ward off that feeling.

Learning to tune into and trust our internal cues helps us to take care of our bodies. For example, stopping eating when you’re full honors those cues, and can be helpful for developing healthy eating habits. Being told “you have to finish all the food on your plate” teaches you to ignore those cues and keep on eating.

Interoception and Emotions/Behavior

As we get older, noticing and interpreting internal cues is so helpful for taking good care of our bodies, but having interoceptive intelligence also helps us with emotional and behavioral regulation.

We’ve all experienced being “hangry.” When you’re hungry, the smallest irritation sets off a disproportionate wave of anger. We know that when a child is tired, they get cranky or sad. Letting a child move and change positions during group time can help them be comfortable and help them pay attention. When a child just can’t sit still in a class, it is often worth asking whether they need to pee.

If your child is having lots of tantrums, it’s easy to interpret those as behavioral choices. But it’s worth asking yourself – is it possible that instead they are sensory meltdowns? When a sensory meltdown happens, the best way to calm it is with co-regulation. You as the caregiver stay as calm as you can, speaking quietly, holding them gently until they get back to calm. The bridge from them needing your help to calm themselves to being able to calm themselves down to them being able to notice internal distress and dispel a meltdown before it happens is interoception.

How can we help build a child’s interoception?

For babies: notice their cues, do the best you can to interpret them and respond to them promptly. This helps your baby learn how their body signals tell them what they need and how those needs can be met.

If we ignore bodily issues, we teach them to ignore them. If we change a wet or dirty diaper promptly it helps them realize that when they pee or poop something happens – that will help with potty training later. But if you often delay diaper changes, they learn to just ignore the situation, and are hard to talk into potty training later.

For toddlers and children, start to interpret their experience. “I notice you’re wiggling a lot, I wonder if you need to pee.” “You’re all sweaty now – I bet you’re hot. Do you think taking your coat off would help?” As with teaching emotional literacy, rather than telling them how they feel, phrase it with curiosity and questions that encourage them to tune in to those inner signals for themselves. “Hmmm… it’s been a long time since we ate, I wonder if you are feeling hungry yet?”

You can also share your own experience: “whoo – I’m really cranky right now… you know what I think is going on? I think I’m hungry and I notice that I get really cranky when I’m hungry.”

Don’t dismiss their experiences. If they hurt themselves, instead of saying “you’re fine”, say “it seems like that really hurts, huh? I’m pretty sure it will feel better soon, but what would help you now?”

When they’re younger, we might teach common experiences, like “if your stomach growls, it means you’re hungry.” As they get older, we can talk about how everyone has unique body experiences: “if you’re feeling worried, where do you feel it in your body? When you feel that way, what could you do to feel better.”

Understanding their own internal needs helps them to meet those needs, and helps reduce the chance that those needs will distract them from learning and from behaving well.

Learn More about Interoception and Sensory Regulation

(Side note: Enteroception with an e is a subset of interoception, and refers specifically to the senses of your gastrointestinal system – hunger, fullness, and urge to have a bowel movement.)