Baby Crying – Types, Reasons, and Tips to Cope With It
There are no sheer absolutes when it comes to babies. After all, each baby is different from the others. However, all babies share one thing: the tendency to cry.
A lot of times, parents feel powerless when they see their baby cry. They had that sense of control in their pre-parent lives that now seems all but gone with that incessant screaming they can do little about.
Here are the Types of Crying in Babies
The reasons behind a crying baby are far more varied than you think. Here’s an exploration of the different types of crying in babies. Oh, and do check that diaper before you diagnose that crying.
1. The Hunger Cry
Hungry babies make for cranky babies. This type of cry will usually start with a whimper and then gradually increase in volume until it reaches a crescendo.
What to do: You know what to do: Feed that baby!
2. The Upset Cry
One of the types of baby cries can be a tad difficult to identify. Maybe someone has spoken in a booming voice or shut the door to your baby’s room with a bang.
What to do: Divert their minds. Make funny faces – anything to change their mood and stop that crying.
3. The Overstimulated Cry
Have a crying baby? It might simply be an effect of too much stimulation/lack of sleep. If they are too tired from too much activity, they might just start crying to express it.
What to do: Put them to sleep. Well-rested babies are happy babies.
4. The Pain Cry
If your baby’s cry begins as a high-pitched wail that is then preceded by some very loud crying, it can only mean one thing: they are in pain. This kind of cry usually sees teething and constipation as some of its underlying reasons. Gas could also be a cause. This is one of the reasons for a baby crying that is easily identified.
What to do: Try and remedy the solution vis a vis the problem that is suspected. For instance, if you think it’s a case of gas, you might wish to administer gas drops for relief.
Here are the Tips to Cope with Crying Babies
Looking to calm a crying newborn? You’ve come to the right place. Here are the tips that will help you do just that.
1. Turn Up the Music
While singing lullabies to children might do the trick at times, playing any kind of soothing music will help stop that baby from crying.
How this works: Music wonderfully helps calm the nervous system, as well as decreases a baby’s heart and respiratory rates.
2. Walk them in A Body Carrier
A body carrier can come in extremely handy when it comes to soothing the nerves of your crying baby. Or, you could simply rock them.
How this works: Interestingly, these movements remind your baby of the kind they experienced while they were in the womb.
3. Put out the Lights
Sometimes all you have to do to calm a crying newborn is to put out the lights. You could simply close the curtains and gently put a pacifier in their mouth as you lay them down to rest.
How this works: Babies, at times, simply get exhausted by all that overstimulation that comes from lights. All they need, in that case, is a dark space that reminds them of – no prizes for guessing here – the womb, of course!
4. Feed your Baby at the Right Time
That crying baby might just be one that has not been fed at intervals that are properly spaced. You might just want to wait for 2 to 2 and a half hours from one feed to the next.
How this works: A no-brainer, really. When the feeding intervals are not long enough, your baby tends to get overfed. And that results in one cranky baby.
5. A Change of Place
You will see that one of the most common reasons babies cry is finding themselves in one particular environment for way too long. For instance, if they have been confined in their room for an inordinate amount of time, all you might have to do to quell that nonstop crying is to take them out to the living room.
How this works: Sometimes, all your baby needs is something different to focus on. Changing the scenery is an effective means of doing just that.
6. Give them the Pacifier
Okay, sometimes the best thing to do is to give your crying baby the pacifier, especially if you can’t effectively pinpoint the reason for their crying.
How this works: Babies find themselves in a calm space when they start to suck on something. While a pacifier works best here, you could also prod them to suck their thumb or finger. Just take care not to make a habit of it!
7. Turn on Some White Noise
While there are many types of baby cries, there are many ways to make babies stop crying, too, and this is one of them. When your baby cries, turn on some white noise, like perhaps a fan or a vacuum cleaner, and see your infant stop crying as though by magic!
How this works: There is a theory that states that white noise actually imitates the sound of the mother’s blood that passes through the placenta while the baby is still in the womb.
Note: You want to keep the white noise at a low volume.
8. Limit that Daytime Nap
One of the things you can do when you’re looking to stop your baby from crying is to take a look at just how much they are napping during the course of the day. Ensure you limit that naptime to not more than 3 hours.
How this works: Like overstimulation, oversleeping, too, can result in your baby getting cranky.
Remember, one of the most important things to do when faced with your baby crying is to not lose control. Instead, use the tips that have been outlined here to help your baby (and you) find a sense of peace.
Visit EuroKids for more such engaging blogs
.