Why infants cry

Call the doctor right away if your baby does have a fever. Make sure your baby isn't hungry and has a clean diaper. Rock or walk with the baby.

Sing or talk to your baby. Offer the baby a pacifier. Take the baby for a ride in a stroller. Hold your baby close against your body and take calm, slow breaths. Give the baby a warm bath. Pat or rub the baby's back. Place your baby across your lap on his or her belly and rub your baby's back. Put your baby in a swing or vibrating seat. The motion may be soothing. Put your baby in an infant car seat in the back of the car and go for a ride. Often, the vibration and movement of the car are calming.

Play music — some babies respond to sound as well as movement. When a Baby Won't Stop Crying If a baby in your care won't stop crying: Call a friend or relative for support or to take care of the baby while you take a break.

This might be a nappy change, a feed or a cuddle. If that happens, baby will learn that the world is a pretty OK place. When you respond quickly to comfort your crying newborn , your baby might cry less often overall. If you respond calmly and consistently, it helps your baby learn that the world is a safe and predictable place.

If your baby cries a lot, it can be frustrating, upsetting and overwhelming. Put your baby in a safe place like a cot, or ask someone else to hold your baby for a while.

Colic is when babies cry for no obvious reason and are almost impossible to settle. Dealing with crying gets easier as your newborn learns more about the world and gets better at letting you know what they need. All children have the right to be safe and protected. Skip to content Skip to navigation. About newborn baby behaviour Sleeping, feeding, crying. But, when a baby cries a lot, it may be a sign of something that needs treatment.

Infants normally cry about 1 to 3 hours a day. It is perfectly normal for an infant to cry when hungry, thirsty, tired, lonely, or in pain. It is also normal for a baby to have a fussy period in the evening. If the infant seems constantly hungry despite short, frequent feedings, talk to your provider about normal growth and feeding times. If crying is due to boredom or loneliness, it may be helpful to touch, hold, and talk to the infant more and place the infant within sight.

Place baby-safe toys where the child can see them. If crying is due to sleep disturbance, wrap the baby firmly in a blanket before putting the infant to bed. For excessive crying in infants due to cold, dress the infant warmly or adjust the temperature of the room. If adults are cold, the baby is also likely cold.

Always check for possible causes of pain or discomfort in a crying baby. When cloth diapers are used, look for diaper pins that have become loose or loose threads that have become tightly wrapped around fingers or toes. Diaper rashes also can be uncomfortable. If your baby has challenges like constant crying, fussiness, or unresponsiveness that get in the way of emotional connection, bonding and attachment may suffer. If the milestones are not happening in the right time frame, you should seek help.

Fear or stress might make you feel reluctant to evaluate your baby this way, but attachment problems identified early are usually easier to fix. When your baby pays attention to you, you respond with gentle touch, soothing tone of voice, and playful facial expressions.

When your baby looks away, you do the same. Sharing joy with your baby establishes a connection between sensory experiences things your baby sees, hears, and feels and safe and loving interaction with another person. Your baby seeks engagement with you and participates in the back-and-forth exchange of gestures, smiles, sounds, and movement. Your baby will probably need frequent breaks from interacting.

You continue to let your baby lead the exchange. When your baby wants to interact, you respond with playful activity. If your baby wants to take a break, you slow down. Your baby uses an ever-increasing range of sounds, facial expressions, and gestures—wide eyes, coos, nonsensical babbles, giggles, pointing—to invite you to play and to indicate needs and wants.

You should notice more back and forth communication. Your baby starts to combine their motor and nonverbal skills with their need to solve problems. For example, your baby might point to something out of reach or crawl to the highchair when hungry.

Colic is a general term used for babies who cry more than three hours a day for more than three days a week. A baby with colic will often cry inconsolably despite all attempts to comfort and soothe.

The cause of colic, which affects one in five babies, is not clear. Parents of babies with colic often say that the babies look like they are angry or in pain, have gas, or are trying to go to the bathroom without success. Other characteristics of a baby with colic:. It may feel endless and unbearable while you are in the midst of it, but it will end.

In order to make it through, you will have to develop some great self-care strategies and enlist support. Ask your doctor to consider the possibilities of food allergies or acid reflux GERD , which can be remedied. Problems that are identified early can almost always be solved. If your baby is crying or upset often, or unresponsive, you should seek help from your pediatrician or a child development specialist.

Your pediatrician should be able to recommend a specialist in early infant behaviors to help you figure out if there is a problem and what to do about it.

Alternately, contact the pediatrics branch in your local hospital and ask about services in your area, such as:. Parenting skills classes. Available in many areas, coaching and education for parents and caregivers can build necessary parenting skills and offer support and advice.