Normal Crying?

Everyone knows that babies cry... but how much is normal? Every new mom or dad wrestles with that question. Babywise offers some help by listing three normal crying periods and three abnormal crying periods. It helps to know when Baby's cries mean "something's wrong" or when they are just letting off some steam or doing normal baby crying.

Abnormal Crying Periods

1. During a Feeding - This could happen if the milk isn't coming fast enough (it does take a little while before the milk starts flowing when you're breastfeeding) or if it's coming too fast. Perhaps Baby is positioned incorrectly. Be patient with yourself and your baby; nursing is a learned art. If the bottle is letting formula through too fast or slow, check into getting a different kind of bottle.

2. Immediately Following a Feeding - This could be a sensitivity that Baby has to something in Mom's diet or a milk-allergy (which is pretty rare). This could be due to trapped gas, in which case Baby needs to burp. Our son has always spat up a lot after his meals compared to my sister's babies. He would fuss then spit up and then be happier. Talk to your doctor if spitting up is projectile or seems painful for Baby as those could be signs of reflux.

3. Waking Early from a Sound Nap - First see if this could be a hunger issue. Try feeding Baby. If he takes a full feeding, you know that he was hungry and can add one or two feedings to his schedule for a few days until the growth spurt is over. If he doesn't eat very much, the problem is likely that something startled him out of sleep. If that's the case, he needs to learn how to get himself back to sleep. When our son wakes early and it doesn't seem to be due to hunger, I do a shortened version of our nap-time ritual (sing him a song and wrap him in his blankets) and he often drifts back to sleep until time for his next meal.

Normal Crying Periods

1. Just Before a Feeding - Babies younger than about 3 months usually wake up crying because of hunger if you have them on the Eat-Awake-Sleep schedule. Eating is the next event in Baby's life so that should take care of the tears.

2. When Baby is Put down for a Nap - Many babies need to let off some steam by crying in order to settle into sleep. Babywise says to check on baby after 15 minutes. I think that as Baby gets older, Mom gets wiser too. I can recognize the "something's wrong" cry from the "I'm going to sleep" cry a lot better now. Some babies will always cry before a nap and other's won't. Our son only does if he's really tired, but my sister's two-year-old still cries for about 1-5 minutes before her naps.

3. During the Late-Afternoon / Early-Evening - This has been called the "witching hour" in other books. It simply seems to be a normal time when young babies need to let off some steam. Our son would cry inconsolably for an hour or two lots of evenings before he got to be about 2.5 months old. We would hold him, rock him, pat him, let him listen to the dishwasher... nothing really helped. It wasn't fun, but it did end around 2.5 months for us (this can go on until 3 or 4 months and still be normal). Babywise suggests that if nothing helps Baby, it is OK to consider putting him in his crib where he may fall asleep.

Playing detective with Baby's cries is just part of the joy and pain of parenting. This season will pass one day, when Junior learns his first words and starts walking. The difficulties of babyhood make the sweetness sweeter.

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Babywise