Crying is literally the only way baby can tell you something is wrong. This is their bread and butter of communication until they start to gesture, sign, or talk. Since that's not happening anytime soon, learning their crying cues can make an unpleasant situation last a little bit shorter! I had read that moms know the differences in baby's crying and can tell if it's a hunger cry, a pain cry, a wet diaper cry, etc. I am not one of those gifted individuals apparently. At least not yet! While I don't know 100%, there are ways of telling what kind of issue is afoot. the pain cryWhat it sounds like: When baby is in pain, the cry is usually sharp, piercing, high pitched, loud, and most importantly sudden. It's like were okay were okay, BAM! hysterical in seconds. Leaving parents bewildered like... woah what just happened? Did I miss something? Here's my cheat sheet for this kind of cry:
the hunger cryPerhaps it is different if you have a formula fed baby, but for my breastfed baby, he eats about every 2 hours and immediately after waking up. So if it's been awhile, that's my first go-to. What it sounds like: For us, this is a slow wind up. It starts as fussing and quickly escalates to crying if food is not provided in about 30 seconds. It is for sure hunger if it as accompanied by these cues: What it looks like:
the wet diaper cryThis is more of a whine. If it's not the above two things, this is what we try next and is remedied easily by changing the diaper. What it sounds like: This is more of a whine in our house that just wont stop until we change him. ** Make sure you put on that diaper cream to avoid a painful rash cry later on! Also, if baby hasn't pooped in awhile and I hear a lot of farts and attempts at pooping, i'll put the Windi stick in to avoid a potential hysterical scream later. the teething cryWhat it looks like: This to us looks a lot like hungry. There's a lot of biting fingers almost furiously. Binky gets spit out a lot when this is the problem. When you go to feed, baby pushes you away. What it sounds like: This is a whine that has short little bursts of shouting at you. In between trying to bite things, he lets out a small, short wail. Pushing hands into the jaw repeatedly. Our solution is using one of the teething toys, Teeth Tamer syrup, or Camilia. Check out my post on Teething to learn more! the overtired cryThis is my least favorite cry. I find it is hardest to remedy if baby is fighting sleep. This is the cry where you tried everything above and nothing worked and you have to wait until they tire themself out. There are a few tricks that work for us....
repeat againSometimes if the crying goes on for too long, one of the issues that wasn't initially the problem becomes the new problem. What do I mean? For example, after baby cried and cried about his rash, and we fixed the rash, he began crying again shortly after because he worked himself up and got hungry and sleepy. Usually if baby cried a lot and then stopped and started again, a quick feeding and putting him down to sleep does the trick. Below is a video I watched (several times) from YouTube on Newborn Cues! It was immensely helpful!!! Highly recommend you check it out! Do you have any suggestions on how to soothe a crying baby?
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