How To Soothe A Crying Newborn Baby

October 5, 2022

Your Baby Is Feeling Sick

How to Soothe Your Crying Newborn Baby

If youve checked and dealt with your babys needs and they are still crying, they could be feeling ill. Maybe theyre getting a cold, or they have an upset tummy. Check your babys temperature, and watch for other signs of illness.

If youre still unsure what might be wrong after running through all these scenarios, have your baby checked over by your health care provider.

Also, newborns are susceptible to some very serious bacterial illnesses until 3 months old. Your baby needs medical attention if their temperature is 100.4F or higher .

If Soothing Is Not Working

It is understandable if you feel stressed.

It will help your baby if you:

take a few deep breaths to try to feel calm
remind yourself that your baby is having a tough time and needs your help

If you are able to remain calm, it will help your baby to calm. It is okay if this is hard for you. Both you and your baby may need a rest.

What If You Want To Teach Your Baby To Fall Asleep Independently Without Being Held

This is an important goal for many parents, especially parents living in certain Western societies, such as France, Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The standard advice for hastening sleep independence is to put your baby to bed when he or she is drowsy, but still awake. The rationale is that allowing babies to fall asleep in our arms leads them to associate physical contact with the onset of sleep. In essence, babies learn to be dependent on parental touch and proximity as a cue for nodding off.

In support of the idea, correlational research has linked parental presence at sleep onset with night wakings: Parents who say they soothe their babies to sleep tend to report higher rates of being awakened by their babies in the middle of the night . However, in a recent study, the specific practice of putting a baby to bed while still awake was not associated with fewer night wakings until babies wereat least 24 weeks old. The researchers speculate that younger infants may not be developmentally ready to learn from the practice . So its unclear if soothing your baby to sleep in the way described by Kuroda and her colleagues is problematic for the parents of younger infants.

Create A Soothing Atmosphere

Newborn babies get overstimulated easily, so use gentle stimuli to soothe your babys nerves and calm crying. Try a white noise generator or playlist, and encourage your baby to suck on something, like a pacifier or a clean finger. Wave-like sounds and sucking sensations remind your baby of the safety and security of the womb and the parent-child bond.

Care Advice For Normal Crying Or Colic

What You Should Know About Crying:

Normal Crying: all babies cry when they are hungry. Also, the normal baby has 1 to 2 hours of unexplained crying each day. It is scattered throughout the day. As long as they are happy and content when they are not crying, this is normal.

Colic: some babies are very hard to comfort. Some babies also cry a lot . If growing normally and have a normal medical exam, the crying is called colic. Remind yourself that colic is due to your baby’s temperament. It has nothing to do with your parenting or any medical disease.

Here is some care advice that should help both types of crying.

For formula-fed babies, feed if more than 2 hours since the last feeding. For breast-fed babies, feed if more than 1Â½ hours since the last feeding.

Be careful not to feed your baby every time she cries. Some babies cry because of a bloated stomach from overfeeding. Let your baby decide when she’s had enough milk. Don’t encourage your baby to finish what’s in the bottle.

Caffeine. If breastfeeding, decrease your caffeine intake. Limit your coffee, tea and energy drinks to 2 servings per day. That’s 2 cups or 16 ounces .

Hold and Comfort for Crying:

Hold and try to calm your baby whenever he cries without a reason. Hold your baby flat to help them relax and go to sleep.

Rock your child in a rocking chair, in a cradle or while standing. Many babies calm best with rapid tiny movements like vibrations.

Place in a swing or vibrating chair.

White Noise for Crying:

Also Check: How To Stop Acid Reflux In Newborns

How To Soothe A Crying Baby: 5 Tips That Work Like Magic

14 Oct 2022 | 4 min Read

The only way babies communicate till they learn to talk is by crying. Yes, babies can cry for as much as three to four hours a day. There are many reasons why babies cry. One of the most common reasons is colic because their digestive system isnt fully developed and sometimes infrequent burping or even overfeeding can make them uncomfortable. Its a good idea to keep a tummy relief roll-on for babies like the BabyChakra Tummy Relief Roll On handy at home to relieve your baby instantly from tummy pain.

If you are a new parent it can get frustrating when you have a wailing baby and you dont know what the reason for their crying is. We understand that living with a baby who cries all the time is not easy so here are some tried and tested methods to soothe a crying baby that works like magic!

Figure Out Why Your Newborn Is Crying

“If a newborn is crying, it is always important to try to find the reason why,” says , PhD, APN Pediatric Nurse Practitioner at Nationwide Children’s Hospital.

They are hungry and need to be fed.
They need a diaper change.
They are tired and need sleep.
They are lonely and want to be held.
They have gas and burping may help.

Other reasons could be that they have acid reflux or food allergies or sensitivities. And as you get to know your baby better, you’ll start to notice that they’ll have different cries for different needs. For example, when they’re hungry their cry might sound more low-pitched compared to if they’re tired.

Important: “If you cannot find out the reason and it continues, they may need to be seen by a healthcare provider to make sure they are not ill or it is not anything serious,” Tranter says.

Recommended Reading: How To Tell If Your Newborn Has Autism

Relax Your Baby With A Massage

Massaging your baby gently and lovingly might help ease their bouts of crying. Only use oils and lotions that are safe for your babys delicate skin.

You could stroke your babys chest from the center outward, making circles around their belly button. Roll arms and legs between your warmed hands, or stroke the limbs from the torso to the tips of the fingers and toes. If your baby is happy lying on their tummy, you can also massage their back up and down and side to side.

There may even be programs in your area where you can meet up with other moms and learn about baby massage.

Is Colic Painful For Babies

How to soothe a crying baby

Colic is an attack of crying and what appears to be abdominal pain in young infancy. It is a common condition and is estimated to affect up to 1 in 5 infants during their first few months. All infants cry for various reasons, including hunger, cold, tiredness, heat, or because the diaper needs changing.

Crying Can Be Frustrating

Caring for a baby is hard work and that little baby may cry more than you ever expected. You should always respond when your baby cries. But sometimes, no matter what you try, you might not be able to stop the crying. If you’re feeling overwhelmed and your baby won’t stop crying, remember:

All babies cry it’s how they communicate, and your baby may cry a lot.
Babies start to cry more frequently around 2 weeks of age.
Crying increases and peaks in the second month of life, but can increase until your baby is 4-5 months old.
Babies often cry more in the evenings.
Crying can last 30-40 minutes and even longer. Infants may spend up to 4-5 hours a day crying, even for healthy, normal babies.
Babies often cry intensely when they are not in pain, even though they may look like they are in pain.
Sometimes your baby may need to cry to relieve stress, and it’s okay to let him or her cry.
Crying may come and go, and you won’t know why.
Crying may not stop for an extended period of time, no matter what you try.
The crying will eventually stop.

The crying will eventually end.

Know When Crying Is Normal And When It Isn’t

Newborns will typically cry for as much as two to three hours of the day. According to Tranter, you can expect your baby’s crying to peak between their sixth and eighth week of life, and from there it should taper off.

Older babies may have different reasons for crying. For example, at around 6 months old, they could be experiencing teething or struggling to adapt to a change in routine.

“As babies mature, they may start crying for developmental reasons such as stranger anxiety or frustration with not being able to communicate their needs,” Tranter says.

Most babies will cry until they get their needs met. However, if their crying is accompanied by other symptoms, such as a fever, continued cold symptoms, bloody diarrhea, or vomiting, they need to be seen by a doctor for treatment.

Some babies cry a lot because they have colic, when a baby cries for more than three hours a day, for more than three days a week, and more than three weeks straight. If you think your baby has colic, the advice is the same as before â take them to a pediatrician for an examination.

Recommended Reading: How To Help My Newborn With Acid Reflux

Attachment Milestone : Give And Take Communication

With the third milestone, your babys level of engagement with you becomes more sophisticated.

Your baby uses an ever-increasing range of sounds, facial expressions, and gestureswide eyes, coos, nonsensical babbles, giggles, pointingto invite you to play and to indicate needs and wants.

You continue to watch your childs signals, gestures, and facial expressions and adjust your responses to those cues. You should notice more back and forth communication.

Things To Remember About Your Crying Baby:

7 Things You Can Try to Soothe Your Crying Baby

The more relaxed you are, the easier it is to calm your baby. They can sense fear!
If you feel overwhelmed by your babys cries, ask for help and have someone else take over while you take a break. If you are alone, put your baby down in a safe place while you take a minute to take a breather, reassess the situation and then go to calm your baby.
Dont take your babys crying as a sign that you are doing something wrong or that they dont like you. All babies cryits their only way to communicate. It takes time for a baby and parent to learn each other.
If the crying seems different and the baby seems inconsolable after trying many of the tricks, dont be scared to call your health care provider for some guidance.
All babies will cry, with the average being anywhere from 1-4 hours a day. It does get better with time!

Also Check: How To Deal With Fussy Newborn

Tips For Keeping Your Cool And Calming Your Baby Down

Remember that your baby has feelings. 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 help provide perspective, comfort, and energy to keep going. Some examples might be: Just breathe,This is hard, but doable, and All will be well.

Baby blues or postpartum depression?

Exhaustion, rapidly shifting hormones, and a challenging child might make you feel frustrated, sad, or even depressed. If you find yourself feeling depressed, worthless, or resentful or indifferent towards your baby, dont try to wait it out. See: Postpartum Depression and the Baby Blues

Attachment Milestone : Attention And Regulation

Attention and regulation go hand-in-hand, because a baby who cant calm down wont be able to pay attention and interact with you.

Your baby has periods when they are calm , attentive , and shows interest in faces, but doesnt necessarily engage with you at this point.

You follow your babys lead. 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.

Take Care Of Yourself Too

It can be stressful when your baby cries for no obvious reason and isnt easily soothed. Your baby needs you to be calm, too, and that can be hard if you are tired.

If you find yourself getting tense or angry as your baby cries, try breathing deeply to help yourself relax. If thats not enough, lay your baby down in a safe place and go into another room for 10 or 15 minutes. Lie down, listen to calming music, do a household chore or take other steps to calm yourself. When you feel ready, go back and pick up your baby.

Ask friends or family members to relieve you at times so you can go for a walk outside, take a nap or have some time to yourself. Its not selfish to take care of yourself. Restoring your ability to be calm can be the best thing you can do for your baby.

Ways You Can Soothe Your Baby

Tips to soothe a crying baby

We have highlighted some of the reasons your baby might be crying. Now lets look at the methods you can utilize to soothe them.

First, rule out feeding or diaper changes. These can easily be solved, and your baby will likely settle. Also, check that they arent showing signs of illness that warrant medical intervention.

If those methods dont work, try some of these options for soothing .

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What Should I Do If My Baby Cries More When I Rock Them Fast

At times, it can take infants a bit to realize youre doing something they like! If your baby is still yelling 30 seconds after you begin your vigorous jiggling, check your technique. Make sure your moves are fast and tiny, youre supporting your bubs head and neck, and your hands are open to allow Babys head to jiggleand dont forget the loud white noise.

Give Your Baby A Warm Bath

Some babies are mellowed by a nice warm bath. If this applies to your little one, turn on the faucet and run a bath. The smell of some essential oils like chamomile can also soothe a crying baby and help relieve colic. It is best to avoid lavender, however, due to potential adverse hormone effects

Pure essential oils should not be used when a baby is younger than 3 months. Neither should they be put in the bathwater. What you can do, instead, is use a diffuser to impart the soothing aroma in the room where you bathe your baby.

Go Ahead ‘spoil’ That Baby

My best advice, based on the scientific literature, is that parents should respond promptly and consistently to infant cries through at least 6 months of age.

But take a pragmatic approach.

Caregivers know the idiosyncrasies of their infants: Some may be more placid, while others are more excitable. Likewise, culture drives the goals caregivers set for themselves and their children. So, responsiveness and adaptive caregiver-infant relationships will look different for different families. Parents should act accordingly, fitting their responsiveness to their infant’s needs and their cultural context.

However you look at it, responding to an infant’s every cry is not “spoiling” the baby. Instead, the act of soothing a crying infant provides the baby with the tools they will use to soothe themselves in the future.

Where The 5 Ss Come From: My Aha Moment On Calming Babies

Years ago, when I was working on the child abuse team at UCLA, I saw so many babies come in who were severely injuredeven killedfor the simple offense of crying. At the time, I was deeply curious about what medical doctors had not been able to figure outthe cause of colic . I began reading everything I could about this centuries-old medical puzzle. Then in 1981 I learned about the !Kung San of the Kalahari Desert, whose mothers usually calm their fussy babies in under a minute! Their secret? The !Kung mothers hold their infants almost 24 hours a day, constantly feeding, rocking, and jiggling them. In essence, they mimic the womb experience for months. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that we could be as successful as !Kung parents. We just had to adopt two new ideas:

While I may have been the first to put these ideas together in my bestselling book The Happiest Baby on the Block, the truth is, parents everywhere have long turned to similar womb-mimicking tricks to soothe their babies. Whether parents realized it or not, going for car rides and turning on the vacuum cleaner to calm babies copycats the womb and triggers the calming reflex.

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