They started crying again! No matter how cute and cuddly your baby is, when they start crying, they test your limits and patience, and it’s your job to figure out what to do next. However much you might love your little one when they are happy, the moment they start crying, you can’t seem to take it anymore.
Crying is a normal emotion for your baby and serves several useful purposes. Crying out loud is not only a sign of hungry, uncomfortable, or tiredness, but it is a form of therapy for your baby. By crying out loud, your baby gets rid of excess energy and sleeps more soundly after they have cried out. No mom exactly knows what they are doing 100% of the time.
There are days when you can figure out why your little one is crying and what exactly they need to stop. Then there are days when nothing seems to help, and you get frustrated not knowing how to handle the situation. Let’s get to know if identifying the different kinds of cries could help. And find ways of calming down your baby and yourself too!
Tips to soothe your baby’s crying
It starts from crying to let you know whenever they are hungry as a newborn and grows louder as they grow to express all kinds of emotions that they can’t verbally communicate to you. It is easier to handle your infant crying as it indicates them being hungry or needing a diaper change.
But as your infant grows into a toddler, the crying out loud becomes intensified and indicates different emotions. They might be crying because they feel uncomfortable, tired, irritated, frustrated, and so on.
It’s easier to handle emotions such as hunger, feeling cold, warm, or changing the diaper. But what to do when they are crying out of frustration and irritation? Let’s take a look at some things you can do to calm your baby down:
- Swaddling them from side to side in a swift manner, holding them close to your body
- Try rocking them in a bassinette or on a rocking chair
- Playing soothing or happy music, they respond happily to
- Talking to them and telling them to calm down with a gentle voice
- Singing to them (works wonders if you have a knack for it)
- If you’re indoors, taking them out for a walk
- Try burping them
Things to do if your baby starts crying when you’re outside:
- You can put them in the backseat safely and drive around while playing music; they often respond positively to
- Try distracting them with things around you, maybe toys
- Tickling them slightly and making funny faces
- Bouncing a little while holding them in arms also makes babies happy
If you’re in public and your little one starts crying, then the first step should always be taking them away to a relatively quiet place and use your methods to calm them down.
What if none of the soothing methods work
If nothing worked and you exhausted all your options to calm down your baby, then leaving them be is always the last resort. When you have done everything, you could and have checked all the necessary things due to which they might be crying, but the crying persists, leave your baby alone for a while.
It might sound a bit cruel, but your baby might just be acting out as they grow older. Crying out is a means of throwing a tantrum, and believe me when I say you don’t want to support this kind of behavior. Leaving them alone doesn’t mean you don’t check up on them after a while, but for a few minutes, let them vent out their feelings.
When they notice you’re not giving in to their tantrums, they will stop crying and check up on them after a while if they need anything. If the crying persists for a more extended time and becomes a routine, taking them to a pediatrician is something you should do as quickly as possible. You never know; there might be some other reason behind their persistent wailing.
Tips for parents when baby’s crying
Calming down
If you’re in a position where you have your partner around or a person with whom you can trust your baby, then ask them to take care of the situation and leave the place to go somewhere relatively quieter.
Try to calm yourself down by taking deep breaths, a short walk, listening to music or just closing your eyes and imagine you’re at your happy place. Try to do these things to calm yourself down.
When your baby is crying, you get this urge to shout or scream at them to stop crying, but that will get you nowhere and make the situation worse. So, allow yourself a moment’s break and calm yourself down.
Sensory peace
Another way to get some mental peace is to take care of your surroundings. Sometimes the bright lights, the traffic noise, our baby crying, all this adds up, and it feels like you’re about to burst. If your baby has been crying and there’s nothing you can do to stop it, then take a sensory break.
Pull yourself away from your little one if that’s possible and go to a quiet place with little or no lights. Somehow that automatically provides peace to our mind, and we seem to calm down. You can listen to white noise or instrumental music. It also helps a lot of people in attaining peace.
Are your needs met?
There are times we don’t even realize why our baby’s crying is getting us so frustrated, angry, and irritated. Our baby might not be crying that much, but somehow, we find ourselves getting triggered a lot by their crying.
You might not be aware of this but checking up on yourself is a crucial thing you must do whenever you find yourself in this situation. It’s possible that your personal needs are not getting met, and if so, you need to fulfill the first.
These needs might include:
- Eat healthily and enough meals in a day. Not just healthy and nutritious food is a must but getting 3 meals in a day is vital for your body too!
- Do 30 minutes of some physical activity. Any activity will do, be it cycling, walking, running, skipping.
- This one might be difficult to accomplish, but getting enough sleep. If you can’t make it work in one stretch, try getting small naps during your day.
- Alone time. Some people don’t pay enough attention to this point, but it is as essential as any other. At least 30 minutes you should spend with yourself and do things you like or enjoy!
- Support is a big deal. People are lucky enough to get so, but if you can, you should distribute the responsibilities and not get into the habit of getting things done yourself.
Writing it all down
Writing is a helpful tip for parents who are currently in a situation when you can’t leave your baby with someone but need to calm down and vent out their frustration. Writing down what you’re feeling makes a lot of people feel at peace.
It’s a form of therapy for some, where you can write down whatever emotion you’re feeling and write down things that are taking away your mental peace. Once you have vented out, you should follow up by listing out stuff that makes you feel grateful. Everyone has enough things to get mad at, but they are never thankful for things they already have.
For people who have never written down anything related to their feelings, this might feel weird to do at first. Worry not, you can start by writing words in a column, and slowly you will become better at writing down your feelings; the same goes with writing things that make you feel grateful.
To summarize
Crying is just a way for your baby to let you know something is wrong with them. Be it a diaper change or feeling hungry. As they grow older, they cry to convey all these new emotions they experience that they can’t communicate to you otherwise.
As a parent, it’s your responsibility to understand your child’s needs and emotions and help them calm down. There are a variety of ways that you can use to calm them down. But there are days when you can’t take it anymore and are overwhelmed by your baby’s crying. There are ways to calm yourself down too, and it becomes easier when you have your partner’s support through all this.
Remember, this is just a phase of your baby, and with time as they grow older, they will be able to express themselves in a much better way. Until then, take it one day at a time!
