Congratulations on a new arrival in your family. This experience should be pleasurable, enjoyable than stressful and upsetting. It’s the moment you were waiting for. Now let’s enjoy every moment by taking it positively. It’s a new experience which you should be proud of. Today I am going to discuss about causes of baby crying and how to calm your baby.
Baby cry is a normal behavior at this stage of their life. After coming out from the mother's womb, first thing they do is crying. When a baby cry, they take some air first time in their life. On his first appearance in this world, if they do not cry then we should rub or pinch softly their feet. This will give an indication that the new arrival in your family is a healthy baby.
At this stage, they cannot tell us their desires or difficulties. Therefore, crying is the only mean to communicate with you. You may have observed the other signs to get your attention like kicking their feet, moving their hands and turning their heads etc. but the common way to get your attention is by crying.
There is no exact definition for over-crying because it is a habit. It varies from baby to baby. You can calm a baby easily but difficult to handle the other. Sometimes crying is stressful for the mother. Once you breast feed, most of the times a baby become quiet. Sudden beginning of excessive crying means baby is distressed and needs your attention. The causes of crying extend from simple reasons to life threatening conditions.
TIP: Crying of a baby should not be ignored.
Even though it is difficult to find the exact cause of the crying, I try to express some of the them that may help you to understand baby language to communicate with it. Once you start understanding its motions, it will be easy for you to understand the cause of crying.
1- Starvation or Hunger: A baby needs milk to fulfill his requirements. He will cry till he gets milk. Most of us know an old saying “true crying baby gets the milk”. Therefore keep an eye on it. After all it’s your own cute baby.
2- Soaking or Wetting: When a baby passes urine or defecation, it causes discomfort. If you do not clean that part quick enough, baby will start crying till his parts are cleaned and dry. Leaving parts wet could lead to baby rash.
3- Attention or Accompany: I know, kids need somebody near them. I see my kid all the time with mom. If they feel lonely they start crying. If you notice even if their favourite doll slips away from the grip they cry for help. They are human. They are social too.
4- Exhausted or Tired: When you play with your newborn he becomes tired or exhausted. Similarly when the baby is tired after a journey and unable to sleep, he will simply start crying. Babies are very sensitive that is why they feel tiredness due to un-comfortable surroundings and unhealthy climate.
5- Temperature Hot and Cold: A good ventilated room is best place for a child. Maintaining a room temperature is also one of the important factors to avoid causes of baby crying. If they feel too hot or too cold they become restless and cry.
6- Stretched or Tight clothing: Mothers do not care about their tight clothes. Especially during hot/warm climate, it is intolerable for kids to wear tight clothes. Clothes with tight elastic can also produce pain and tenderness in the hip region that could causes baby to cry.
7- Light or No Light: As we discussed earlier about temperature, similarly, we have to take care about light. When the baby wakes up from sleep he needs some dim light. If there is darkness he will start crying and disturb you while you sleep. Of course he will be annoyed by strong light resulting him to cry.
8- Mosquito: We do not care about this but yes, these creatures disturb the sleep. Just imagine if a mosquito bites you, you feel irritation and pain then think about a newborn. He just arrived. He has even no idea what this mosquito is (hehehe). Keep your baby in safe place. Using mosquito cover or a small light fan will do the job.
9- Nasal blocking: If the nasals are blocked and it is difficult for a child to take breathe then child may not be able to sleep. Similarly when there is a cold, he will cry till the passage is open.
10- Thick Mucus (Phlegm) in throat: It’s similar to nasal blocking. This also causes difficulty in breathing which resulting in cry. Often a typical sound can be heard with each breath.
TIP: You should keep an eye on it. If you observe continue mucus, please consult your doctor. It could be dangerous at later stage.
11- General aching or pain: Due to flu and prodromal stages of some infectious diseases, baby feel generalized body ache or pain with restlessness. This could cause in continuous baby crying.
12- Routine or Habitual cry (Sometimes even adults do the same… :): You might have observed some babies cry without any real cause ending the parents in agony or distress. Many a times doctor is called for help and you just get another tip to calm down.
13- Nappy rash: This is one of the common practices that moms do not change nappies when it requires. If a tight and wet nappy is kept for a long time results in this condition. Rash can also be due to some allergic reaction to the elastic material of the nappy. When the rash appears it causes soreness and baby become sleepless and cry.
14- Ear Pain or Earache: Ear infection is common in wet climate. The infection may spread from the throat. Ear infection can result in rupture of ear drum causing discharge of pus. Earache usually becomes worse at night when lying down. Child will become restless with cry and may not allow you to touch the ear. Some children with earache rub the affected ear frequently.
15- Tummy Pain or Colic: Most of us diagnose as colic or pain in a tummy when a baby cries continuously. This problem is still a topic for debate because exact cause for colic is not known and diagnosis is also difficult to confirm. Child often feels better when lying on abdomen. Some children may not allow you to touch the abdomen. If the child cries continuously doctors help is needed.
16- infections: Infections cause some kind of pain or irritation resulting in cry. Infection may be anywhere in the body. Usually it is connected with fever, reddishness and swelling.
17- Reactions to certain food: Well I can write lot on this. Mom’s has to take care about their foods in order to avoid problems with their newborns. Whatever you eat, a baby gets the effects through breast feeding. Second there is one saying “one man's food is another man's poison”. Some food particles can produce some allergic reactions. Allergy is manifested in the form of redness, breathlessness, gastric symptoms and continuous cry.
18- Hard stools: As being a good mother, you have to judge the movements of your baby. You should know when your baby needs to pass stool. Constipated babies with hard stools may cry when they get the urge for stool. Some children hesitate to pass stool because of pain.
19- A common disorder - Gastro esophageal reflex: Gastro esophageal reflex is a abnormal reflux (Backflow) of gastric contents. When a baby cries with spilling of food after feeding, if this continues it may be due to gastro esophageal reflex. This is due to failure of the lower part of gullet to close after food causing regurgitation from the stomach. It is difficult to diagnose this condition and can be confirmed by giving anti-reflex medicines.
20- Teething or Dentition: During teething or dentition a child becomes restless with crying which often related with gastric troubles and diarrhea.
Some rare reasons
1- Obstruction of the intestines or Bowel obstruction: Bowel obstruction is associated with severe pain and vomiting. Abdomen is distended with rumbling sound. Baby is constipated with absence of flatus.
2- Bacteria in Blood – Infection Septicemia: Septicemia is an infection caused by bacteria contaminating the blood. Invasion of pathogenic micro organisms in to the blood is called septicemia. Fever is associated with this condition.
3- Testicle Twist or Torsion of testes in male kids: When the spermatic cord to a testicle twists, cutting off the blood supply. When a male baby cries continuously his scrotum should be examined. Torsion of the testes produce severe pain which will be worse by touching the affected testes. When the testes are pressed upwards pain is relieved. If this is not treated properly it can damage the affected testes due to lack of blood supply.
4- Meningitis: Meningitis is inflammation of the protective membranes covering the brain and spinal cord, known collectively as the meninges. Initially there may not be fever, hence crying baby with alternate vacant stare and irritability should not be ignored. Fontanel is bulging. Neck rigidity and seizures may appear later.
5- Retention of urine: When a baby cannot empty their bladder completely, or at all, despite an urge to urinate, they have urinary retention. Children with retention of urine will have agonizing pain making them restless.
6- Major injuries: Major injury to any parts of the body causes pain. Occasionally children will fall while arraying and results in head injury. Head injury is associated with reflex vomiting and convulsions.
Atleast after reading this article you will have an idea to understand the behaviour of your baby and the causes to cry. A simple theory is "if you know the cause you can cure". Hope you got the answer about how to calm your crying baby.
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