Common reasons babies cry
- Sleepiness or fatigue
- Wet or dirty diaper
- Hunger
- Overstimulation from noise or activity
- Colic, acid reflux or food allergies
- Pain or illness
- Gas
- Stranger anxiety or fear
Babies are
emotional beings and experience feelings of happiness, sadness, joy, and anger
from the very first moment of life. If, for whatever reason, you are having
trouble being responsive to your baby, your child will pick up on those
signals. How would you feel if your spouse or parent was unresponsive to your
signals or attempts to communicate? Thinking of your baby as an individual with
a unique personality may make it easier to interpret and respond to his or her
cries.
Choose some techniques for taking a “time out.”
Strategies like counting to ten, going outside, taking deep breaths, putting
your baby down and walking around the house for a minute, can all help you
maintain a calm frame of mind.
Find a mantra. A mantra is a sound, word, or
phrase, often said over and over again, to provide comfort and inspiration.
With a crying baby, you may find yourself talking out loud anyway, and a mantra
can be helpful to provide perspective, comfort, and energy to keep going. Some
examples might be: “Just breathe,” “This is hard, but doable,” and “All will be
well.”
1. Do the Shoosh-Bounce
Rock your munchkin in a carrier while shooshing
over and over again in her ear. "I put my fussy baby in a sling and
bounced her all over the apartment, the block, the city,"
says Lili Zarghami, of Brooklyn. "I cooked and cleaned while swinging her
back and forth."
Why it works: "Studies suggest that a calming
response is triggered in an infant's brain when being carried or rocked,
causing the baby's heart rate to slow and the muscles to become more
relaxed," says Kristie Rivers, M.D., a
pediatrician in Fort Lauderdale. At the same time, the shooshing sound creates
a repetitive distraction that your baby may focus on instead of crying.
2. Turn Up the Tunes
You needn't limit yourself to lullabies. Try all
different genres and songs, including what you like. "Vivien used to chill
out to 'Forget You,' by CeeLo," says Jennifer Rainey
Marquez, of Atlanta. Reggae was a favorite choice for Brooklyn mom Lindsay
Reinhardt's son. And Melanie Pleva, of Springfield, New Jersey, had a baby with
a penchant for "Iron Man" by Black Sabbath.
"He would giggle as soon as he heard it begin to play,"
says Pleva.
Why it works: Like movement, music has the ability
to calm the nervous system, decreasing a baby's heart and respiratory rate. And
don't underestimate the power of your own voice—even if you're no Taylor Swift.
"Infants may be especially soothed by the sound of their mom singing,
because her voice is familiar and the rhythm is calming,"
says Dr. Rivers.
