Will he be hungry? Or is he exhausted, and should I put him to sleep? The cry of the newborn has many meanings and is the way that the little one or the little one has to get the parents' attention and ask them to respond to their needs. This is why it is important to know him well.
Why does the newborn cry?
There are many causes of crying in newborns. In the first months of life, the little ones show their needs and express their discomforts using the means of communication at their disposal: body posture, movements, and facial expressions. When we adults don't know how to recognize (and therefore resolve) the need, the frustration of newborns leads to crying.So let's try to understand what may be the reasons for the crying of the newborn to be able to respond in the best possible way:
- Hunger: a newborn often eats, and therefore on many occasions, crying is a request for nourishment. To understand if crying is a request for milk, you need to get to know your baby and recognize the signs of hunger: an infant who turns his head to the right and left in search of the breast, opens his mouth, sticks out his tongue, puts his little hands in his mouth, if he is not satisfied and fed sooner or later he will cry! Some babies snack every hour while others take longer breaks, and there is no right or wrong.
- Sleep: A tired newborn who cannot fall asleep will be more prone to crying. Newborns fall asleep in different ways, some just resting in the cradle, others more in need of the closeness of their parents, their voice, and a peaceful and quiet environment. Also, in this case, parents will gradually become more and more expert: knowing the best conditions for the little one to fall asleep, they will be able to recreate them when necessary.
- Contact request: all newborns seek, albeit in different ways, reassurance, warmth, and physical and emotional closeness to their parents; it is up to the latter to get to know their child and provide him with the required contact (their voice, caresses, a tummy massage or a stroll in the band).
- Change: nobody likes to be full of poop and pee. The wet sensation is annoying, and the feces and urine in contact with the skin can irritate it. If no one notices, our baby reminds us, crying, that it's time to change it!
- Hot: «My parents are in a T-shirt and shorts, and I'm wearing a long-sleeved bodysuit, onesie, socks, and a hat! But why? I'm hot!". Newborns can defend themselves from the cold (they also have a type of fat, brown fat, which is used to generate heat) and can dress just like us. A hot newborn can easily be nervous and consequently cry to show his parents his discomfort.
- Negative parental emotions: the newborn can "feel" when the people around him are nervous, sad, and angry, and therefore reacts as he knows how: crying.
- Illnesses: a newborn with a cold, fever or other diseases will communicate his discomfort by crying.
In short, there are a thousand reasons why a newborn cries; the most challenging part we will now see is understanding the newborn's cry.
Types of cries of the newborn
Who can say why the newborn cries better than his parents, who know him better than anyone else, who have seen him, watched him, observed him every time he was hungry, sleepy, hot, who tried everything, and who, in the end, in a one way or another, did they manage to calm him down? Every parent would like to have an app in their hands that can recognize and translate the types of cries of their newborn. Thankfully, there's something much better: you.
Recognizing the types of crying is a matter of habit, practice, and patience. Sometimes, however, the crying crises and episodes of inconsolable crying of the newborn put a strain on the new parents. So let's see how to do it.
What to do if the baby cries?
Sometimes pediatricians dismiss the issue of crying with the diagnosis of "colic" and the prescription of a drug. After a few days, if it doesn't work, another one is prescribed, or it is blamed on gastroesophageal reflux, and the relative medication is prescribed.
However, the scientific community has spoken out strongly against the prescription of anti-colic and anti-reflux drugs to reduce the crying of the newborn, demonstrating the effectiveness of physical contact and babywearing instead.
As an advice, to calm a crying baby, I would therefore say to get to know him and respond to your baby's needs, without letting yourself be conditioned by those who tell you that by doing so you spoil him or by those who are sure they know what to do when the baby cries.
Always remember that you are the best expert on your baby; little by little, you will learn how to comfort a crying baby. However, there is one certainty: when you are exhausted and overwhelmed by your baby's crying, when you just can't take it anymore, when you feel you are about to explode, seek help, entrust it to the arms of those around you, move away, but don't shake it, never. Then call your pediatrician to explain what happened.
When to worry about newborn or infant crying?
Some (rare) medical conditions of the newborn can manifest with crying. Often, however, there are some alarm bells associated with it. An example is vomiting and "currant jelly" stools, related to inconsolable crying in the bowel intussusception. Some bacterial infections, such as urinary tract infections or ear infections, may also present with fever and inconsolable crying.
So when to worry about your newborn or infant crying? When it seems different than usual, when the "usual remedies" don't work, when your child isn't the same as always, it's good to pick up the phone and hear from your pediatrician.