How Do You Handle Cries?
Understanding Why Babies Cry and the Best Tactic to Ease Them
When your baby cries, are you the first person to jump up and try to calm them down, or do you let them cry it out? A baby cries when they are trying to tell you something. Considering all possibilities can help you understand why your baby is crying. Over time, you can start to identify the reason for these cries.
According to an article by the NLM on their ABCD study, “excessive infant crying as perceived by their mothers, in term-born babies, doubles the risk for children’s overall problem behavior, conduct problems, hyperactivity, and mood problems at the age of 5–6. The maternal burden of care for her infant mediates for a small part the association between excessive crying and behavioral and mood problems (12.5–17 %).”
Hunger, teething, tiredness, loneliness, or unsteady temperature are all common factors that can cause a baby to feel upset and cry. A lot of noise and movement can also cause fussiness. However, you do not need to feel bad if you want to run and pick up your baby. They want to feel cared for, safe, and loved.
Nevertheless, times will occur when you have your hands full and cannot run every time you hear a cry. Letting your baby cry does not make you a monster. Sometimes you can feel stressed and overwhelmed and you have tried everything to calm your baby down. Set them in a calm and comfortable place and take some time for yourself.
Allowing babies to cry it out will get them to start relying on themselves instead of their caregivers. Ashley Marcin of Healthline explained that the best way to follow the cry-out method is to make babies a nighttime routine, put them in their beds, watch, wait, soothe and be consistent. Babies thrive off of routine and consistency, so they will be able to thrive from the crying-out method if you give them the time to do so.
Understanding your baby is not only important to you, but it is important to us. LittleOne.Care developed the AI-based Elora Baby Wellness Monitor that can help you determine why your baby is crying. The Elora Baby Wellness Monitor helps parents recognize and understand exactly what their baby needs. Join our free Beta trial to help us, and help you, further understand your baby.
Sources:
