Why is My Baby Crying?

Well, this is by far the most common question asked by new parents. Most of those parents are thrown into daze when their babies cry and cannot determine why their newly born infants are crying, except after many unsuccessful attempts to pacify those babies.

A neonate, who is a baby younger than 1 month, could cry for a variable number of reasons. These would include hunger, a wet diaper, colic, pain and many others. Then, how would you determine the cause of your baby's crying?

The first thing you should check is the diaper. A wet diaper equals a crying infant. Remember to clean carefully with soap and water. Any unwashed stool particles would irritate the baby and make him cry, also it might cause infection. Always check the diaper area for areas of redness or rash which could mean inflammation or infection. Infants with diaper area inflammation cry a lot, so ask for doctor's advice if you suspect any.

Secondly, try feeding the baby. New born infants have a unique reflex known as the suckling reflex. This reflex enables your baby to suckle involuntarily, when the nipple of the breast or the bottle are introduced inside the mouth. If the baby is hungry, he/she will suckle, swallow, pause and repeats this to continue feeding. However, if the baby is crying due to colic, after suckling for a few seconds he would rather stop suckling and continue to cry. During a period of colic, the infant usually cries loudly while alternating bending and extending his knees over his belly. If the baby suckles during colic, this increases the motion of his intestines and eventually increases the pain so the baby's crying will worsen. So, if your baby refuses to feed and continues to cry he is rather having colic, so you should ask your doctor for help.

Older neonates would sometimes cry, because they are seeking emotional support i.e. they need to be carried, talked to, etc. Infants are born with excellent hearing apart from the under developed vision which continue to develop in the first few weeks of their life. So talking to your baby, while carrying him/her against your chest sometimes soothes and stops the crying.

It is always important to point that normal babies cry, however sick babies might cry much more or they might not cry at all. I mean that crying is one of the signs of healthiness of your newcomer. Pain, irritability, trauma might be causes of a crying infant. Hence, always be wise and don't let your baby's loud screams lead you away from rational thinking.