Imagine the following scenario. You spent the last months of pregnancy preparing for the arrival of your child; you completely equipped the nursery, bought a bunch of important baby stuff to make life as cozy as possible, read all kinds of books you could find, and so on. You felt you were prepared for challenges of new motherhood, but suddenly you realize that there is something you didn’t expect. Your newborn won’t stop crying no matter what you do, even if you offer various best pacifiers for breastfeeding babies.
Sounds familiar, doesn’t it? We are sure that all new parents were faced with the fact that their little ones inconsolably cry at a point or another. Being unable to calm the baby is super frustrating, and it sort of leaves you with a feeling that you are failing as a parent. Additionally, it can freak you out because you might think that there is something wrong when you find baby suddenly crying inconsolably.
While we understand the frustration and fear, it is essential to understand that crying is pretty standard for babies. That’s the only way they can communicate with parents and the rest of the world, so they use this opportunity that is given to them.
So, you are wondering, do all babies cry!? Yes, all babies cry, of course, but the intensity varies. At first, it is going to be challenging to understand what is a crying baby trying to express, but in time you will become an expert in deciphering your baby’s tears. Let see what we can do about it and when and how long to let baby cry it out.
Reasons Babies Cry
As we mentioned before, babies cannot communicate in any other way, so whatever they want to say, they will cry it out. Therefore, as you can imagine, there are a plethora of reasons for crying. Even if we understand that it can be worrisome if you have the feeling your kid cries all the time, we are going to remind you here that crying is a good sign. For example, you know that when a baby is born, everybody is anxious to hear that first cry because it signifies that baby has healthy lungs and the capacity to clear them from amniotic fluid.
Let’s talk about these crying patterns before we explore more thoroughly some of the reasons that will hopefully answer the question of why is baby crying for hours.
So first of all it is necessary to say that most newborns will spend about 2 to 3 hours per day crying. This generally goes on until they peak when they turn somewhere between 2 or 3 months. After that it gradually starts to calm down and the older they get, it is easier for them to use other ways to communicate so they don’t cry so much. So while you have the feeling to listen to baby crying all day, the chances are that she cried for half an hour at one time and then stopped. Even if some kids do cry more than 3 hours per day, they don’t do it at once. If your little one is often crying, you can try giving them one of best pacifiers for breastfeeding babies.
Now keep in mind that the numbers we are giving you here are just for orientation. It isn’t possible to determine with 100% certainty when your baby will have her peak – it can happen when she is 3 weeks or 3 months old.
There is another thing you have to take consideration – the difference between crying, fussing and crying inconsolably. The third option s reasonably most difficult because regardless of what you try to do to calm her baby refuses to stop crying. Even the best pacifiers for breastfed babies don’t work in these situations. Some kids are mainly just fussing, while others cry more. There are no rules which baby is going to do what – these differences are similar to differences in eating habits, height, weight and so on. After all, when there arent two same adults – why would we expect that there are two same babies?
Why is this frustrating? One pretty annoying thing is that while you are expecting it to stop, it gets worse, and regardless of it is perfectly normal, it’s frustrating you can’t do anything about it. Second is that these crying episodes are entirely unpredictable – your little one can go from a perfectly happy child into a screaming monster in a matter of seconds. And what worse nobody prepares you for this. The third thing that leads to frustration is this inconsolable crying when nothing of the known soothing tricks works.
Colic
Sometimes when you cant make baby stops crying, it means she is suffering from colic. Pediatricians aren’t precisely sure what is causing colic. However, they all agree that there as several contributing factors, such as :
- Food allergies that are transmitted from mother to a kid if she is breastfeeding
- A digestive system that isn’t fully developed yet
- Lack of healthy bacteria in the gastrointestinal tract
- Overfeeding or underfeeding
- Stress or anxiety
Every parent who experienced stress caused by baby screaming due to colic is wondering how do you calm a colicky baby. There are plenty of things you can do, such as making sure she doesn’t swallow too much air and so on. If you want to know more check out
Hunger
If your newborn won’t stop crying, the most probable cause and the first thing you should think about is hunger. Some parents are wondering why do babies cry when hungry? But it’s kind of self-explanatory, isn’t it? We all feel a bit cranky if we feel hungry but have to wait before eating for some reason. The difference is that we can say what is happening to us and grab something quickly to soothe the hunger before ‘real food’ arrives. Babies can’t do any of these things, and at the same time, they need o to eat more often than us. Babies eat every 2 to 3 hours, which equates to 8 feedings in the day. At first, it can be a bit complicated, but as time passes, you will start to understand when your kid is hungry before they start crying. This way, you will give them food on time and avoid the catastrophe.
The best way to calm a baby who is crying because she is hungry is to give her breast or the bottle with best organic baby formula.
Some people are also wondering why does baby cry after feeding. If this happens the reason is probably that they swallow a lot of air while eating. This is more common in bottle fed babies. The problem usually goes away after they burp.
Sleepiness
Another reason why you might have a cranky baby on your hands is tiredness. When adults and older children feel tired they simply go to sleep. Babies can’t do it so quickly, so they become fussy and cranky.
Babies quickly get overstimulated, and this can also disturb their sleeping patterns. We suggest that you swaddle her and bring her to a quiet place to get some rest.
Dirty Diaper
Some people think that babies don’t understand that dirty diapers should bother them. However, as they are humans , just little , they do feel that something is wrong – maybe don’t fully understand what happened but certainly they don’t feel comfortable. Additionally dirty diapers irritate their skin.
Teething
Teething is when your child’s teeth start to grow and come out of the gum. This is something that starts happening when a kid turns about 6 months of age, but it is possible that it starts earlier and finishes at the beginning of toddlerhood. The symptoms of teething usually begin a few days before the teeth start to erupt. The first sign is gum and jaw discomfort that happens because teeth are struggling to erupt. Gum can sometimes be red and swollen. It is also essential to know that some teeth, especially larger ones, can have a harder time getting out. Symptoms of teething include excessive drooling, lack of sleep, fussiness, putting hands in the mouth, and so on.
It is essential to say that this process doesn’t cause fever nor vomiting and shouldn’t cause anything else but growing teeth. However, because these symptoms are pretty common in little children, and teething is common as well, sometimes they happen at the same time, so people think they are connected. Still, it is essential to contact the pediatrician if your child experiences any of these symptoms.
One way how to soothe a teething baby is to offer some of best teething toys. Sometimes, best pacifiers for breastfed babies can also work.
If your kid is older than six months, you can give them an Ibuprofen or Tylenol to soothe the symptoms, but only after the pediatrician okayed it.
Need for Attention
Even if there are plenty of reasons why a baby might cry, something you will see often is baby crying for attention. Regardless of how much we love our children, most of us cannot spend every second with them. We buy all these things like bouncer, swing, playground, and so on where we can leave the kid and do our stuff while being able to keep an eye on them.
While babies think that it’s okay, they are alone with toys for some time; quickly, they become lonely. What they like most is that adults carry them, hold them, and caress them all the time, and they have no clue why suddenly they are left on their own. When you are wondering why does my baby cry for no reason, keep in mind that this is the most probable scenario.
General Discomfort
Sometimes we experience some completely harmless things, but they irritate us – as eyelash stuck in the eye. We simply remove the cause and continue with our lives. But kids who still don’t have verbal abilities can only cry to let us know that something is making them uncomfortable.
How to Stop a Baby from Crying
Parents often think that crying will never stop, no matter what they do. Fortunately, though this is far from the truth as there are plenty of things we can do to help crying babies
How to Soothe a Crying Baby
You can’t help your little one if you don’t know what the problem is. People often focus on calming the baby first, instead of figuring out what is going on. This, however, doesn’t make a lot of sense because you are just doing things, not knowing whether they will work. What’s worse, often they don’t and crying only escalates. If you checked all the things we talked about above and the kid is still crying, you could do the following.
- Swaddle – this is an old practice that’s coming back slowly—babies like being swaddled because it reminds them of the womb.
- Hold the kid on the side or stomach
- Make shushing sound in your baby’s ear
- During your pregnancy, baby is swinging in the womb when you are walking. That’s why they like swinging.
- Sucking has a soothing effect, as well. If you give one of best pacifiers for breastfed babies, it will probably calm a crying kid down.
When to Let Baby Cry it Out
There is something called cry it out method and lot of people are wondering is it bad to let a baby cry. It is essential to know that letting baby cry is according to many effective method when you are sleep training your kid. You have to do it gradually and increase intervals of crying before you console the baby; otherwise, it can be too cruel if you just let baby cry herself to sleep.
If you are wondering when should you let baby cry it out, it is necessary to know that babies aren’t ready to e sleep trained before they are five or six months old. At this age, they can sleep through the night without having to wake up to it, so this is an excellent time to try cry it out method.
Maybe you are wondering how long should you let a baby cry. Experts say that you should het her cry for full five minutes before you enter the room to soothe her.
How Long Should a Baby Cry Before Calling the Doctor
If your crying kid has diarrhea, fever, and is vomiting, you should call a doctor. Also, if they cry inconsolably for more than two hours non stop.
Conclusion
As you can see, most of the time, you can handle our baby crying without anybody’s help. The most important thing is to get to know your child and understand the signals they are sending you. However, some situations require you to seek professional help. Do you have some tricks for soothing a crying baby? We, at parenthoodroutine.com are happy to prepare interesting and useful texts for you. We hope you will revisit us and check out our text about best baby pacifiers.