Sucking on hands or fingers – A telltale sign that the baby needs to be fed. Nurse them before they start howling. Different situation or environment – Your baby might be overstimulated if it’s in a new environment, or in the presence of strangers. Baby keeps opening and closing the mouth – Another sign that baby is hungry, it’s best to nurse the baby as soon as you see this happening. Different sounding cries – At first, all cries may sound the same. Then you will realize that it is more nuanced than what it seems. Notice the noise level of the cry, the pitch, and the intensity of the cry. Body language is also a huge indicator. Watch out for an arched back, scrunched-up face, curled fists, eyes shut, or hyperactive movement. All of these indicate something specific about the baby’s physical and emotional state.
Pay attention to your baby’s signals. Crying is often the last resort that babies fall back on when their immediate needs aren’t met. It pays off to be especially attentive to babies so you can anticipate their needs and prevent them from crying. Here are some signals that you can look out for:
Changes in mood – Is it an environment change, a time of day, or in relation to a food or a nap? Watch out for a yawn or eye-rubbing.
Crying is frustrating – both for mother and child. It often indicates that the baby is sleepy or hungry, but may often spiral out of control as it is difficult to stop once started. Luckily, there are several different ways to calm down a crying baby so you can feed them or put them to sleep. Here are a few tips to calm a crying baby:
A new location - be it another part of the house, another room or simply the balcony - is sometimes all it takes to soothe a crying baby. Alternatively, you can also take your baby for a short ride in the car seat of a car, or go for a walk with the baby in the stroller. The baby will get distracted by the changing scenery and may stop crying.
It is possible that baby is getting overstimulated due to the lighting conditions in the room. Newborns are used to the darkness in the womb and might prefer that at times. Perhaps they want to sleep and the light is preventing them from doing so. Close the curtains or turn off the artificial lights so that the baby is in a more comfortable setting.
Music has the ability to calm down and soothe a nervous system. It decreases the heart and respiratory rate Try playing different genres of music and see which tracks your baby responds to positively. Some babies might respond well to rock or heavy metal whereas others chill out to trance or reggae. Try playing some pop hits and see if your baby likes the catchy tunes as much as you do!
Wrap the baby in a blanket and rock gently back and forth. Couple this with gently patting their back in the pattern of a heartbeat and this will emulate the conditions in the womb and the comfort might soothe a baby into not crying. Some babies like their arms out of the blanket so that they can self-soothe by sucking their fingers.
Babies can often soothe themselves by sucking their fingers or hands as the sucking reflex provides them with comfort. You can easily pop a pacifier in their mouth so their most natural oral reflex can provide them with the much-needed relief when they’re crying. However, do ensure that breastfeeding is well established before introducing the pacifier to your baby.
When your baby is crying, rock them back and forth while making shushing sounds. The rocking motion is said to comfort the baby as a calming response is triggered and their heart rate slows down while the muscles relax. Meanwhile, the shushing sounds create a meaningful distraction that the baby can focus on instead of crying.
This can come in the form of anything. Household appliances like a ceiling fan, a washing machine, or even a vacuum cleaner, are said to be sufficiently noisy distractions that babies might instead focus on. The reason why white noise is comforting is because it emulates the sound the blood made when passing through the placenta, in the mother’s womb.
Babies can identify their mother’s voice – and find comfort in it. You don’t have to sound good as babies don’t have an idea about how off-key you really are. Simply sing a soothing song and your baby might react by stopping their cry mid-way and listening attentively to you instead. If you don’t feel comfortable singing, try humming instead.
Perhaps your little one is just getting bored. You can try rattling their favorite toys or making animated expressions. Make silly noises, dance with them, or tickle them so they start laughing instead. Or else you can face the baby towards you while you talk to them and go about your tasks. Babies love watching you do things – even if it’s as mundane as folding clothes.
This can be a relaxing ritual for both mother and child. Experiment with some baby oils and make sure you are gentle – as a firm touch is often ticklish. Here are some massaging techniques that can be used. Stroke the chest from the center outward. Make small circles on the stomach and around the belly button. Unfurl the fists and rub the palms and fingers. Stroke each limb while moving from core to extremity.
If you’re feeling stressed out, chances are that your baby is too. Babies are intuitive when it comes to their mother’s stress levels. Perhaps it is time to let another caregiver handle the baby as you focus on realigning your energies, or getting your daily tasks completed. Don’t feel ashamed to ask for help from your support system. Being a mother is the toughest job in the world and it is okay to feel overwhelmed from time to time. Just make sure that you don’t get frustrated at the baby by raising your voice as this is counter-productive.
New moms often feel that they’re directly responsible for their baby’s crying. This is not the case. Your baby’s crying doesn’t have much to do with how you are performing as a parent so do not worry. Mother’s brains have a higher level of sensitivity to their baby’s cries. Mom’s might sleep through an alarm inches away from their ears, but will wake up the second a baby starts crying – on the other side of the house. Sounds penetrate into the brain, tap into a primal reflex, and make sure we can quickly rouse from our sleep to tend to our infant’s needs.
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