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When a baby cries, the parent may jump out of their skin.  Actually the baby is just trying to get your attention and to tell you something.  A new mother soon learns to interpret the baby’s cries.

A baby cries the most during his or her first three months.  However, have you noticed that the crying time period may vary from an hour to most of the day?  This is considered to be normal.

There are a number of observances about the crying of babies that people have reported.  Do you believe that a baby knows when the mother or father is present and stress.  When the mother is racing around getting dinner ready, does the baby pick up on that tension?

The accepted assumption is that babies have an automatic screening ability that they use to shut off all the noise that may stimulate some response from them so they could get enough rest; however,  this filter weakens and totally disappears during the approximate age of six weeks. The baby then may become very sensitive to the external factors such as noise, movements, etc. So depending on the baby’s age, he/she may respond to the tension that is sensed in mom by crying.

There a number of reasons why a baby may cry.  Parents generally become fairly good at deciphering the reasons for the baby’s cries.

Hunger is one of the first reasons that a baby may cry.  The attention-seeking  baby is hungry and trying  to let you know that his tummy needs food. This is the most common reason for a baby to cry, especially, during the early months. The hunger cry can be characterized as being persistent, demanding and almost rhythmical.
 

Babies cried to show boredom and their need for stimulation. The baby wants to be picked up and for you to play with him/her. Continuing to pick up a baby when they are bored may be frowned upon by some because of its leading to a baby that is considered to be spoiled. It is important to provide a baby with stimulation so that he/she will be happy and contented while growing and maturing. This boredom cry is said to be rhythmical and full of sobs and moans.

The third reason is to show discomfort. Pain may be a part of the discomfort and may be why the baby’s crying.  They are vulnerable because they are so little and need to be attended to when injured or when in an unpleasant situation. This cry will be more persistent, louder and more demanding. Shrieking and screaming may better describe the crying pattern caused by the pain.

When they become disturbed suddenly, a baby may howl. When a baby is about to sleep or is already fast asleep and suddenly gets surprised by some noise, or movement, a cry may indicate their disapproval. An illness that causes discomfort to a baby may also be the reason for a baby’s bursting into fit of tears.

Parents soon learn how to read and interpret the cry of their baby. In fact, it may be very disturbing to them if they cannot figure out what is behind the crying.

Up to the third or fourth year the child should be permitted to sleep for an hour or so before its dinner. After this time it may gradually be discontinued; but it must be recollected, that during the whole period of childhood more sleep is required than in adult age. The child, therefore, should be put to rest every evening between seven and eight; and if it be in health it will sleep soundly until the following morning. No definite rule, however, can be laid down in reference to the number of hours of sleep to be allowed; for one will require more or less than another.Regularity as to the time of going to rest is the chief point to attend to; permit nothing to interfere with it, and then only let the child sleep without disturbance, until it awakes of its own accord on the following morning, and it will have had sufficient rest. Read the rest of this entry »

For three or four weeks after birth the infant sleeps more or less, day and night, only waking to satisfy the demands of hunger; at the expiration of this time, however, each interval of wakefulness grows longer, so that it sleeps less frequently, but for longer periods at a time.

This disposition to repose in the early weeks of the infant’s life must not be interfered with; but this period having expired, great care is necessary to induce regularity in its hours of sleep, otherwise too much will be taken in the day-time, and restless and disturbed nights will follow. The child should be brought into the habit of sleeping in the middle of the day, before its dinner, and for about two hours, more or less. If put to rest at a later period of the day, it will invariably cause a bad night.

At first the infant should sleep with its parent. The low temperature of its body, and its small power of generating heat, render this necessary. If it should happen, however, that the child has disturbed and restless nights, it must immediately be removed to the bed and care of another female, to be brought to its mother at an early hour in the morning, for the purpose of being nursed. This is necessary for the preservation of the mother’s health, which through sleepless nights would of course be soon deranged, and the infant would also suffer from the influence which such deranged health would have upon the milk. Read the rest of this entry »