Does your infant frightens and worries you with cries, and you have no idea what to do about it? You have probably done one or two things to try to calm him or her down but did not work. With these few tips, you can get closer to successfully placating your baby.
Babies cry all the time, and it’s something all of us know. However, did you know that babies cry to communicate? Your infant cries at the top of their voice to either get your attention or to indicate their needs. This display of emotions is natural. Babies cry for up to 3 hours in every 24 hours. Thus, there is no need to ponder on negative thoughts did you’ve done something wrong. It is only natural for babies to cry as their form of communication.
With this in mind, know that some tricks and resilience of your own can help you handle your baby’s crying episodes. First, you will need to determine and eliminate the causes of their cries. Here is a list of things that may cause your baby to cry:
- Sleepiness
- Hunger
- Wet or dirty diaper and in need of diaper change
- Sensitivity to the environment – Room temperature, ambience, noise and smell
- Illness or pain – Signs include fever, runny nose, swollen gums, and pain. For any of these, please seek medical attention.
- Anxiety or fear – Be present by your baby’s side
- Though there is no medical solution for this, there are sources that mentioned that some of the methods we’ve listed below might work.
Observe and try to understand the cries of your baby and filter the possible causes and work with some of the solutions above. However, once you have attended to these causes, but your baby still won’t stop crying, then you can employ these tricks to soothe your child.
A calm response
Reacting calmly to the cries will encourage your baby to calm down as well. When you approach your baby and begin to either rock or hold him or her, two things happen. According to experts, a calming response causes a baby’s heart rhythm to slow down and also relax the infant’s muscles. This combination here will potentially calm your baby.
Make shushing sounds
Additionally, making shushing sounds will distract your baby enough to calm their nerves. Babies often focus on the confusion around them. This situation makes them lash out by crying without recognizing what you are doing to appease them. Therefore, providing a distraction will direct their focus instead to the sound and away from the confusion.
Get rid of distractions
Another way to calm your baby is by getting rid of the distractions around them. Noise, bright lights, and even a new environment can incite bouts of tears from your baby. What you need to do is get rid of each one of them. Noise? Minimise it. Bright lights? Switch it off. New environment? Change the setting to a more familiar one. Any of this will calm your baby down.
Try to swaddle your baby.
Swaddling also works as much as the others. Wrap your baby in a cosy cloth. This action will give them a womb-like feeling. Babies are so used to being in the womb. The uterus was no doubt a haven for them and giving them that feeling again, as experts have concluded, calms them.
Keep these in mind
With that, let us take a look at some things you should keep in mind when dealing with a crying baby.
Avoid shaking your baby to soothe. Out of frustration, never try to shake your baby to stop the tears. This action can cause the blood vessels in an infant’s head to break because the brain can’t handle the shakes. Other damages include injuries to the brain and mental retardation. These injuries are a result of the Shaken Baby Syndrome (SBS).
Worry if your baby is unresponsive. Babies should cry just as older kids talk to get what they want. Crying is the only means your baby can employ to communicate with you. Therefore when they do not react to sharp sounds, bright lights, soiled diapers, and the rest, take your infant to the doctor. There could be a possibility that something’s wrong, but still, let your doctor check him or her.
Babies cry and always will. What you do is not hope they never cry but be well equipped with the knowledge to calm those cries. What do you think? Let us know in the comments section below.