Why Is My Newborn Crying Uncontrollably

Never Shake Your Baby

Reasons Why Babies Cry Before Sleeping & Ways to Soothe Them

The leading reason for a baby being shaken is a frustrated caregiver or parent. You have the power to protect your baby. If you notice yourself becoming frustrated, walk away and take a break. When you feel ready, pick up your baby offer them love and comfort. Never leave your baby with a person who you feel could lose control.

If you ever think your baby could have been shaken, seek emergency help immediately by calling 111. Do not be scared or let your pride get in the way. This decision may save your babys life.

How To Stop The Baby From Crying When Waking Up

You may try the following tips to stop your baby from crying when they wake up.

  • Encourage the baby to self-soothe this may help them to put them self back to sleep if they wake up in the night.
  • Playing games like peek-a-boo or trying a short duration of separation each day could reduce your babys clinginess and separation anxiety.
  • Use a night light or pull the curtains a bit so that babies can stare at something when they wake up and sleep again.
  • If you discover your baby standing or sitting in the crib and crying, put them back in their sleeping position. Eventually, they will learn to do it themselves.
  • If the baby cries due to teething, consult a pediatrician who can prescribe pain medications.

    Image: Shutterstock

  • If your baby has a common cold, performing nasal suction before bedtime could open the nasal passages and help the baby sleep well.
  • Breastfeed or bottle-feed the baby adequately through the day to prevent hunger pangs at night. If you are weaning your baby, ensure they are consuming enough solid food.

Feeding to fall asleep is a common practice. However, babies who have this habit may eventually find it difficult to sleep on their own. Thus, you may encourage them to feed when they are active and self-soothe to sleep.

Why Is My Baby Crying For No Reason

It can be frustrating and distressing when your baby is crying for no reason and wont stop.

For new parents, it can also be confusing.

Why does my newborn cry for no reason when nothing seems wrong?

Heres the thing babies dont cry for no reason.

But babies may cry for no reason that you can identify yet.

Also Check: How To Get Your Newborn To Sleep Through The Night

Your Child Wants Attention

Sometimes it seems like the tears come out of nowhere. One minute your child is playing happily, you turn your back for a second, and they’re sobbing.

Your child knows that crying is a great way to get your attention. Attentioneven when its negativereinforces a child’s behavior. If you respond by saying Stop screaming, or Why are you crying now? it can actually encourage your childs tantrums to continue.

Ignore attention-seeking behavior whenever possible. Avoid making eye contact and dont start a conversation when your child is looking for your attention. Eventually, they’ll see that its not fun to throw a tantrum or scream loudly when they do not have a captive audience.

Show your child that they can get your attention by playing nicely, using kind words, and following the rules. Offer frequent praise for these behaviors and your child will be less likely to try and use tears to capture your attention.

Give your child regular doses of positive attention. Set aside a few minutes every day to get down on the floor with them, play a game, or toss a ball back and forth. Your child will be less likely to cry for attention if you give them a few minutes to be in the spotlight every day.

Never Shake Or Smack A Baby

Why Is My Newborn Always Crying

Never shake or smack your baby, no matter how frustrated you feel.

Shaking your baby is against the law and from 7 November 2020 all physical punishment of a child will also be illegal.

Shaking can cause tiny blood vessels to break and bleed inside your baby’s brain. This can cause:

It can even be fatal.

If you or anyone else shakes your baby, get medical help immediately. Dont wait.

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Why Do Babies Cry

Its tough when your baby wont stop crying. You may worry that something is wrong with your child, that youll lose your cool, that your parenting skills arent up to the job, or that youll never connect with your baby. But you can handle it!

Babies cry for many reasons, and crying is the main way babies communicate. It’s the way they capture your attention and express their needs. At first, it may be difficult to interpret your baby’s different cries, but as you spend more time listening, you will become better at recognizing and meeting your child’s specific needs.

Is My Fussy Baby Colic

When infants cry excessively and regularly without identifiable reasons, they are often called infantile colic. Colic is defined as inconsolable crying for 3 or more hours a day.

Colic is not just a growing pain. Its not the childs temperament or a medical condition.

It means, We have no idea why they cry, but lets give it a name.

If you and the pediatrician are unable to identify the cause of your infants long, persistent crying, then you may say that your baby is colicky2.

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Baby Blues And Postpartum Depression

Having a baby who is difficult to comfort can increase parents stress and can contribute to the baby blues and/or postpartum depression. As many as 50%80% of new mothers experience the baby blues in the first 10 days after childbirth. Symptoms may include tearfulness, fatigue, difficulty sleeping, and feelings of loss. The baby blues usually get better after about 10 days.

Approximately 8%15% of new moms experience postpartum depression in the first year of motherhood, which is different from the blues. With depression, symptoms last more than 2 weeks and include feeling down and hopeless, increased crying, feeling little pleasure or interest in activities one used to enjoy, and loss of energy. If you are experiencing these feelings, it is very importantfor you and your babythat you seek help from a trusted health professional.

Is It Colic Or Something Else

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Constant crying doesn’t always point to colic. Be sure to check with your pediatrician to rule out any medical issues that could be causing your baby’s crying. They might have an underlying medical condition that remains to be diagnoseda strong possibility if they’re still crying inconsolably after 4 months.

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Attachment Milestone : Give And Take Communication

With the third milestone, your baby’s 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 child’s signals, gestures, and facial expressions and adjust your responses to those cues. You should notice more back and forth communication.

Getting Help With A Crying Baby

You can talk to a friend, your health visitor or GP, or contact the Cry-sis helpline on 08451 228 669, open 9am to 10pm, 7 days a week. You’ll be charged for your call.

Cry-sis can put you in touch with other parents who have been in the same situation.

You can also visit the Cry-sis website for information on coping with crying babies.

If you decide to talk to your health visitor or GP, it can help to keep a record of how often and when your baby cries.

For example, this might be after every feed or during the evening. This can help your health visitor or GP to work out if there’s a particular cause for the crying.

Keeping a record can also help you identify the times when you need extra support. You could think about possible changes to your routine.

There may be times when you’re so tired and angry you feel like you cannot take any more. This happens to a lot of parents, so do not be ashamed to ask for help.

If you do not have anyone who can take care of your baby for a short time and the crying is making you stressed, put your baby in their cot or pram, make sure they’re safe, close the door, go into another room and try to calm yourself down.

Set a time limit for example, 10 minutes then go back.

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When To Call The Doctor

If your baby’s crying is incessant, no doubt you’ve already had several powwows with your pediatrician. “Even though colic is normal, it’s not something you should keep quiet about, because there will be babies who do have something else,” says Larry Scherzer, M.D., assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of Connecticut Health Center in Farmington. Additionally, you may benefit from extra support, as coping with a crying baby is no easy feat.

Apart from fussiness, additional red flags that could indicate a more serious medical condition include frequent vomiting, fever, loose or bloody stools, poor weight gain, difficulty with feeding, eczema, and lethargy. Keep a diary that tracks how often your baby cries, sleeps, eats, poops, and pees. Any difficulties with feeding or spitting up may help you discover if there’s a pattern to the crying.

Common Reasons For Your Baby Crying Uncontrollably

Why Does Your Baby Wake Up Crying? 7 Reasons And How To Stop It
  • Teething a very common cause of fussiness in infants age 4 months to 2 years. Signs of teething include vigorous chewing on hands or toys, drooling, and bulging gums. Your infant will have no fever and might also wake up crying at night more frequently.
  • Ear infections if your child has a worsening cold, then suddenly develops a low-grade fever and unusual fussiness during the night, an ear infection is a possibility. Often a clear runny nose will turn yellow or green before an ear infection sets in.
  • Upset stomach in breastfed infants, occasionally your babys stomach may get upset by something mom ate earlier in the day. This can cause severe gas pains and crying which can last for hours. For more information, read our article on foods that cause colic when breastfeeding.
  • Colic abdominal pains that cause inconsolable crying in young infants, which occurs daily and lasts for several hours. There are many causes for colic, including gastroesophageal reflux , food sensitivities, allergies to baby formulas, and more.
  • Insect bite if your baby has itchy, red bumps on her skin that werent there earlier in the day, it might be from an insect bite. These can be painful, especially spider bites.
  • Mouth sores a virus called coxsackie usually affects children ages 6 months to 3 years and can cause high fever and canker sores throughout the mouth which are very painful.
  • Sore throat

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    Will Things Get Better

    Any crying can be tough to cope with. The good news is that as you become more confident with your baby and they become more familiar with the world around them, you both start to relax and feel less distressed.

    When your baby is eight to nine weeks old, you might notice they start to cry a little less. In fact, babies aged 10 to 12 weeks tend to cry on average for around an hour per day. This still sounds like a lot, but in fact this is about half the amount they cried as newborns up until the six-week mark .

    Katie*, a mum of two, shared her experience of excessive crying with her second baby:

    “Max was so chilled out for the first two weeks. We even booked a last-minute holiday thinking how easy it would be.

    “I spent every evening on that holiday pacing around the hotel with him screaming. We tried reflux medication, cranial osteopathy, you name it…but he just gradually calmed down given time.

    “Around 12 weeks was the real turning point for us and now those nights of crying are a distant memory, thankfully.”

    Your Child Is Overtired

    When your child is having a meltdown because you gave them the wrong color bowl or you asked them to put on their shoes, too little sleep could be the true cause of their tears.

    One of the most frequent reasons kids cry is because theyre overtired. Being unrested can lead to tantrums and other outbursts of seemingly irrational behavior.

    You cant prevent a childs tantrum-inducing fatigue 100% of the time, but you can minimize it by keeping them on a routine sleep schedule.

    Start by setting an age-appropriate bedtime, then factor in daytime naps. You’ll want to plan on two naps a day until your child is 15 to 18 months, then one nap a day until your child is about 3 or 4 years old.

    An appropriate bedtime will depend on your child’s age and what time they typically wake up in the morning. Most kids do well going to bed between 7 and 9 p.m.

    Throughout the day, and especially if you notice them starting to get teary-eyed, look for the tell-tale signs of tiredness, such as rubbing their eyes, yawning, or looking a little glazed over in the eyes.

    Depending on the time of day, if your child is on the brink of a tantrum but looks sleepy, it might be appropriate to put them down for a nap to help them regain control.

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    Looking After Yourself When Your Baby Is Crying

    If your baby is crying a lot, its very important to look after yourself. Even just 5 minutes reading a book, walking around the block or doing some meditation can give you a break if youre feeling stressed, anxious or angry. Or sometimes it might help to have another person take over for a while. If you can, ask your partner or a friend or relative to help out.

    Seeking support is an important part of looking after yourself. Its good for you, and its good for your family. If you need support, you can phone your GP or child and family health nurse. They might do phone consultations. You could also call Lifeline on 131 114 or Beyond Blue on 1300 224 636.

    You should also see your GP or nurse if you or your partner experiences the signs of postnatal depression in birthing mothers or postnatal depression in non-birthing parents. Symptoms of postnatal depression include feeling sad and crying for no obvious reason, feeling irritable, having difficulty coping and feeling very anxious.

    Never shake a baby. It can cause bleeding inside the brain and likely permanent brain damage. If you feel like you cant cope, put your baby in a safe place like a cot. Try going to another room to breathe deeply or calling your state or territory parenting helpline.

    Where To Turn For Help

    COLIC SYMPTOMS – Baby cries all the time

    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.

    Support groups. Run by peers rather than professionals, support groups provide a safe environment to share experiences, advice, encouragement, and coping strategies for parents of babies who won’t stop crying.

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    Evaluate Your Own Emotional State

    When your baby cries for hours on end, it is natural to feel responsible. Often, though, blaming yourself can get in the way of your ability to be calm, present, and responsive to your baby. The relationship with your baby is a partnership, so your emotions will make a difference to how your baby reacts. If you are feeling overwhelmed, depressed, angry, anxious, or detached, your baby may have trouble calming down.

    Special Circumstances That Might Require Professional Help

    Physical, mental, or emotional challenges at birth, or soon after, are often traumatic to an infant and can cause your baby’s nervous system to get stuck. A nervous system that is stuck will probably have difficulty with regulation, which means the baby will have a hard time settling down.

    Special or traumatic circumstances that might cause problems include:

    • Premature birth.
    • Adoption or separation from primary caregiver.

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    Your Child Wants Something

    Young kids don’t understand the difference between wants and needs. When they want something, they often assert they need itand right now. Whether they insist on playing with a breakable heirloom or want you to take them to the park, tears of disappointment and desperation are bound to happen.

    If you give in after you said noeither because you feel guilty or you think you cant stand to listen to more cryingyou’re teaching your child that they can use tears to manipulate you.

    While its important to show empathy, dont let your child’s tears change your behavior. Say things like, I understand you are feeling upset right now, or I feel sad we cant go to the park too, but reinforce that youre a parent of your word.

    Proactively teach your child socially appropriate ways to deal with their feelings when they aren’t getting something what they want. Coloring a picture, saying, Im really sad, or taking a few deep breaths are a few coping skills that might help them deal with uncomfortable emotions.

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