Many parents, especially mothers, ask the question of why a newborn constantly cries. Almost all children scream a lot during the first three months of life; they can do this for up to four to five hours a day. Gradually, the mother will learn to determine the reason for her baby’s behavior in order to immediately calm him down. However, it is necessary to know what can cause a baby’s crying in order to better understand the child and quickly help him.
There are several reasons why:
1. After the birth of the baby, the “memories” of his birth may be disturbing. The process of childbirth is a huge stress for both mother and child, so it takes some time for the baby to forget this moment.
2. A common reason why a newborn often cries is hunger. Modern pediatricians advise feeding the baby on demand. If he starts crying, give him a breast or a bottle.
3. The baby is in pain. As you know, children suffer from intestinal colic during the first months of life. To ease your baby's suffering, hold him upright after each feeding and place him to sleep on his tummy.
4. The child is hot or cold. The best temperature in the room where the baby lives is +20-22 degrees. A baby who is overheated turns red and may develop heat rash. In this case, it is best to completely undress and wash him. If the baby is cold, swaddle him and hold him close - the baby will immediately warm up at your chest. If only your arms and legs are cold, undershirts with closed sleeves and socks will help.
5. The next reason why newborns cry is fatigue. Even though the child is still small, he is capable of getting tired. The baby gets tired from sucking, moving his own legs and arms, massage, from what he saw during the day. An overtired child often “asks” for help. In this case, you need to swaddle the baby and rock him. Dim lights and calm melodic music also help the child fall asleep quickly.
6. Some just before wetting the diaper. In this case, the baby first whimpers quietly, then may scream sharply. When you learn to recognize such crying, start dropping your baby off, thereby saving on diapers and clean diapers. The reason why newborns cry during urination may be a lack of fluid in their body and, consequently, a high concentration of urine, which causes a burning sensation in the urinary canal. Give your child more water during the day and the problem may go away.
7. It is uncomfortable for the baby to lie down. During the first days of life, a child does not know how to change his body position at all, so he may get tired of being, for example, on his left side. Helping your child in this situation is easy. You need to shift it to the other side, back or tummy, and the baby will calm down. If a child has a messy diaper, a tight elastic band on his pants, or a wet diaper rubbing against him, he may worry and cry. Changing his clothes is enough to console him.
8. Why do newborns cry when there is no apparent reason for it? It turns out that the baby may simply want to be closer to his mother, because he still cannot imagine himself without her. Take your baby in your arms more often, without fear of spoiling him: children who don’t get enough feel much worse. parental love than those who from the first days were constantly hugged and kissed!
After many months of waiting for the baby to be born, mother and newborn were finally home. However, literally after a few days, parents have to look for an answer to the question of what to do if the child constantly cries. Maybe something hurts him, and he needs to urgently call a doctor, or we can solve this problem on one's own?
Why might a newborn cry?
Many parents learn to understand without words what may be causing their baby to cry. In some families, not only mothers, but also fathers achieve complete mutual trust with the baby. However, due to the fact that the mother spends much more time with the baby than other relatives, plus she also breastfeeds him, they develop a special bond.
In this case, understanding between parents and baby usually improves by two or three months. Whereas in the first weeks the newborn and parents get used to each other. That is why each subsequent month, the process of raising and understanding the child seems to the mother much easier than the first weeks after birth.
Despite the fact that every baby is different, there are several most common reasons for newborn babies crying:
- hunger;
- discomfort from heat or cold;
- stomach pain.
Most common cause The reason why a child constantly cries is hunger. To understand whether this is really so, you can touch the corner of his mouth with your finger. A hungry newborn will begin to turn his head, opening his mouth and trying to grasp his finger. This baby needs to be fed immediately.
The newborn usually expresses discomfort from heat or cold in the form of a prolonged whimper. You can check the child’s condition by touching his hand in the wrist area (if you feel the baby’s fingers, you can draw the wrong conclusions). If the wrists are too cool, the child should be warmed up. If the wrists are sweaty and too hot, it is necessary to remove excess clothing from the child.
We should not forget that in the heat newborns feel much worse than when hypothermic. This point must be taken into account when dressing your child for a walk or at night.
What to do if your child constantly cries from tummy pain?
It's rare that parents manage to avoid colic - it bothers the baby in the first months. The cause of abdominal pain, which prevents the child from sleeping well and the parents from fully resting, is the work that has not yet become stronger and has not been established. digestive system, because it only after birth begins to function, digesting food.
A newborn may scream and cry a lot from such abdominal pain. He may fall into hysterics from crying, kick his legs, draw them in and strain them a lot. From crying a lot he even blushes. Such crying from colic is difficult to confuse with crying caused by other reasons.
It is very difficult to help a child get rid of this problem. You can try to put the baby to the breast, but if the newborn starts crying after eating, this method most likely will not help.
In some situations, you can use a gas outlet tube. It is sold in almost all pharmacies. The essence of the procedure is as follows:
- the baby is placed on his side;
- the thin end of the gas outlet tube is lubricated with baby cream (vaseline is also excellent) and inserted into the anus (approximately 1 cm);
- the other end of the tube is lowered into a container filled with water (for example, a glass).
In the case when the cause of a child’s strong crying is gases accumulated in the tummy, bubbles will appear in the glass. In addition, the use of a straw promotes bowel movements, which can also alleviate the child’s condition.
At the same time, you should not use the gas outlet tube too often. If your newborn cries too often, a tummy massage may be helpful. This method also helps get rid of gas and colic. When massaging, you need to gently press on the tummy, massaging it in a circular motion.
After feeding the baby, it is necessary to give him the opportunity to burp the trapped air. This is important in preventing the accumulation of gases in the intestines. During the feeding process, as well as after finishing feeding, you need to hold the baby upright. For this purpose, you can put it on your shoulder for 3-5 minutes. However, it should be noted that not in all cases this procedure can relieve and prevent problems with colic in babies.
What to do when massage, regurgitation and a gas tube do not bring results? You can try to place the baby on his tummy, placing a heating pad under him, after wrapping it in a towel or diaper. Before placing your baby on the heating pad, you need to make sure that it is not too hot. Some newborns benefit from dill infusion.
How to calm a baby if he is crying
If all options have been tried, and the newborn is still crying, you need to try to calm him down in other ways. And colic will go away after a few months when the digestive system works properly.
To calm the baby, you can rock him or dance while holding him in your arms. Some kids like it when an adult’s dance movements resemble a waltz, others like it when the dance looks like a march. You can hold the baby in different positions - upright, on his tummy, placing him on your lap or placing him on the stomach of an adult. Most children like to be placed on the arm so that their head is located on the elbow, and their tummy is warmed by the palm of their mother or father.
From two months of age and older, babies begin to cry from fatigue. Then the baby may suffer from the fact that he cannot sleep as a result of overwork. This is due to excessive emotional overstimulation, which parents should help the baby reduce. To calm down and fall asleep, he needs to be rocked, sung a lullaby, given a pacifier, or put to the breast by his mother.
Don’t be afraid to spoil your baby by rocking him to sleep or singing lullabies. If parents show calmness, care for the child and patience, then he will grow up calm. After a few months, the baby will learn to calm down and fall asleep without motion sickness.
In order for a baby to learn to fall asleep on his own, he needs to feel confident that if necessary, his parents will always be there.
Why does a baby drop his breast and cry?
Often mothers have to deal with a situation where the child begins to eat, and after a while abandons the breast and cries a lot. What to do in such a situation? As a rule, if the child is a newborn, the cause of this may be the development of stomatitis.
This disease is easily recognized by the formation of white spots on the tongue, gums, inside of the cheeks, palate and even on the lips. The child's behavior becomes capricious and restless. Symptoms of stomatitis are expressed by itching and burning. Refusal to eat will have a negative impact on the child’s health. The cause of the disease may be an infection that the baby’s body is not yet able to resist.
At the first signs of stomatitis, appropriate measures should be taken immediately. In no case should parents self-medicate; it is best to seek qualified advice. medical care. The doctor will be able to make a diagnosis and prescribe the correct treatment.
Another reason why a child refuses to eat may be the eruption of his first teeth. This usually applies to babies older than 3 months. Despite the fact that the teeth themselves may not appear for a long time, they can cause restless behavior and crying in the child. Symptoms of teething include increased saliva production, which can lead to redness and irritation of the skin in the mouth and chin area.
How to help your baby if he refuses to eat?
Before feeding, you can close the curtains in your baby’s room, thereby darkening the room. It is advisable that nothing irritates or distracts the child; the room should be quiet.
In some cases, feeding while standing may help. You can make smooth rocking movements - this will calm the child. In the case when a newborn refuses to breastfeed, you can first try to calm him down a little (dance with him, rock him), and then try to feed him.
There is no need to panic in such situations. Many nursing mothers assume that the reason why the child began to refuse food is bad mother's milk - that it has become tasteless to the child or has acquired a bitter taste. In fact, you may notice that the baby begins to refuse the breast only at certain times, and not at every feeding. As a rule, night feedings go well. Such a crisis can continue for several weeks, after which the situation returns to normal.
Every caring mother will eventually learn to understand the nature of her child’s crying and distinguish between his needs, be it a feeling of hunger, discomfort and pain. The latter can also be caused by a cold, which is usually accompanied by an increase in body temperature or a runny nose. In such cases, it is imperative to call a doctor.
Why is my child constantly fussy and crying? This question is relevant for parents of babies and children preschool age. Therefore, we want to look at this problem in more detail.
Why is a child naughty?
Most mothers and fathers are faced every day with a child’s reluctance to eat, sleep, get dressed, go to kindergarten or for a walk. The baby cries, refuses to comply with the proposed demands, and sometimes just screams or whines. There are several main reasons for this behavior:
- Physical - this group includes various illnesses, fatigue, hunger, desire to drink or sleep. The child feels bad, but cannot understand why this happened. Therefore, it is so important for parents to follow a daily routine, feed, drink and put the baby to bed on time.
- The child requires attention - most children's tantrums can be prevented by increasing the time of communication. Mom's love is important to little man, like air. If he does not receive the right amount of attention, he will “pull” it with everyone accessible ways. Therefore, there is no need to wait for the baby to start hysterical. Just leave what you are doing, turn off your phone, the Internet and hug your child. Play with him, ask for news and spend time together.
- The child wants to get what he wants - little man understands perfectly where they are pain points parents, and knows how to put pressure on them. Therefore, if mom or dad pays off the whims financially, then the child will quickly learn to use the new scheme. It is very important to teach a child to negotiate and look for new solutions to his problems.
Nature has designed it in such a way that a child’s crying evokes a strong emotional reaction in adults. This is very good, because sometimes reflection saves the life and health of a little person. If a child cries all the time, then you need to understand why he does this.
Infants
Many parents remember the age from birth to three or four months with horror. Why is the child constantly capricious and crying during this period? The following reasons can be identified:
- The baby is hungry - sometimes the mother does not have enough milk or it is not suitable for him artificial mixture. If a child does not gain weight well, doctors recommend starting additional complementary feeding.
- Colic is thought to be caused by gas in the intestines. Therefore, a nursing mother should monitor her diet and exclude a number of foods containing fiber. In addition, the pediatrician usually prescribes drops that help improve the functioning of the gastrointestinal tract.
- A cold or ear infection - a doctor will help eliminate this problem. And the mother must promptly report any problems that have arisen and changes in the baby’s behavior.
- Wet diapers - many children react sharply to untimely change of clothes. Therefore, you should use diapers or change your child’s clothes on time.
- Feeling of loneliness - children miss adults and calm down immediately after being held.
Unfortunately, it is very difficult for inexperienced parents to determine why a child is constantly naughty and crying. Therefore, they should listen carefully to the baby and respond to his needs immediately.
Whims in one year
When the baby grows up, he faces the first prohibitions. Children often react very violently: they scream, throw things, and stomp their feet. If parents know about age characteristics, then, to the extent possible, they will be able to prevent What to do when a child (1 year old) screams and cries? The baby is capricious for various reasons. So first you need to define them:
- A child is capricious due to illness or internal conflict - he does not understand why he feels bad, and expresses his protest in a way that is accessible to him.
- Protests against overprotectiveness- wants more freedom, refuses clothing offered or returning home from a walk.
- Strives to copy his parents - let him participate in his affairs. Thanks to this, you will be able to constantly be nearby, and at the same time teach your baby to use new objects.
- Reacts to emotional stress - excessive severity and control cause crying attacks in the child. Therefore, try to treat him as a person, and not an object that must unquestioningly carry out your will.
Don't forget that there are also invisible reasons for children's tears. Sometimes a child is constantly capricious and cries only because his temperament is of the weak type. This means that the baby quickly becomes overexcited, reacts sharply to stimuli and instantly gets tired. With age, he will learn to manage his behavior, but for now it is important to monitor his daily routine and timely rest.
Two years
At this difficult age, even the most docile children turn into little tyrants. Parents complain that they cannot cope with the whims and demands of the baby. Many children have problems sleeping, there is increased excitability, and sometimes the first tantrums. So, what causes of whims can be identified when a child is 2 years old:
- Socialization - at this age, a child must learn new rules of communication and interaction with other people. Therefore, he reacts sharply to restrictions that affect his independence and freedom of action.
- Mastering speech - until the child can formulate in words what he feels or wants to do. Therefore, he relieves nervous tension by screaming and crying.
- Unspent energy - it is very important that the baby can actively move and play during the day. Stiffness leads to the fact that in the evening he cannot calm down and fall asleep.
- Emotional stress - the baby feels the emotions of adults, has a hard time family conflicts and quarrels between adults.
When a child is 2 years old, he enters a crisis phase. Therefore, it is so important to treat his personal problems with understanding and respond to them correctly.
Crisis of three years
The new stage of the baby’s development is accompanied by a violent reaction on his part. At this age, he becomes aware of himself as an individual, and the pronoun “I” appears in his speech. The child tries to do everything himself, but does not always succeed. Therefore, he “takes revenge” on his parents with tears and screams. What should I do? Psychologists advise to come to terms with the situation and just get through it.
What to do if your child is constantly naughty and crying
Each parent finds his own solution to the problem. The chosen path will not always lead to positive result, and sometimes even worsens the situation. What to do if the baby is crying:
When to see a doctor
Experts consider it normal for a baby to show his dissatisfaction two or three times a week. If a child is constantly capricious and cries, and even more so throws real tantrums, then this is a reason to seek help from a qualified specialist. Perhaps just a few visits to child psychologist will help restore peace and tranquility in the family.
Conclusion
Every parent should understand that the whims of early age- this is absolutely normal phenomenon. Therefore, it is so important to learn to recognize the causes and eliminate them in time.
Newborn babies often cry during the first three months of life. This does not mean that the child is sick, but for now crying is the only way available to him to tell his mother that he needs her. In order for the baby to form a favorable impression of the world from the first days of life, not a single request for help should go unheeded, and the faster the mother’s reaction to the cry of a newborn baby, the better. It may be difficult for you at first to figure out why your newborn is crying, but very soon you will begin to quickly understand what the baby needs. After all, over time, the child masters many ways of communicating with his parents, and the reasons for crying will become less and less.
Why does a newborn cry?
If the child is not sick, then there may be the following reasons that the newborn is crying a lot:
- desire for physical contact with mother;
- hunger;
- fatigue, drowsiness and general discomfort;
- the child may be too hot or too cold;
- anxiety, resentment or fear.
If a newborn is constantly crying, the cause may be physical illness of the child caused by intracranial pressure, nervous system disorder, increased excitability, hypertonicity, hypotonicity, developmental pathology, physiological phenomena adaptation period, the beginning of an infectious or colds, skin diseases or the appearance of diaper rash.
How does a newborn baby cry?
Based on the nature of the crying, an attentive mother can determine its cause. So, if a child just wants maternal attention, he can scream for 5-6 seconds, then pause for 20-30 seconds, waiting for his mother to appear. If this does not happen, the child screams again for about 10 seconds and calms down again for half a minute. Having repeated this technique several times, and without achieving a response, the child increases the duration of crying and gradually switches to a continuous cry.
A hungry baby first calls his mother to him with an inviting cry, but if his desire is not satisfied, the crying will turn into hysterical and choking. If a child is in pain, crying has a tinge of suffering and hopelessness, while the newborn cries constantly for a long time until the cause of the pain is eliminated. When a newborn baby cries pitifully, and this is accompanied by yawning and frequent closing of the eyes, most likely he is tired and wants to fall asleep.
What to do if a newborn cries a lot?
The first thing to do when the baby cries is to pick him up and give him the breast. If he cries in your arms, offer him your breast and rock him. If the child is not hungry, you need to understand the nature of the crying and find out its cause. Perhaps the diaper needs to be changed or the baby needs to be swaddled, or the baby is tired and you need to try rocking him and putting him to sleep. If this does not help, and the newborn is constantly crying, check the clothes and the place where the baby is, perhaps something is causing him discomfort. Examine the folds of the skin to see if there are diaper rashes or rashes.
Sometimes a newborn cries a lot due to overexcitation, in this case you can try tight swaddling, which limits the baby's movements. This should help him calm down. If you have taken all possible measures and the baby continues to cry for a long time, the reasons may be more serious and medical attention will be required. While you are waiting for the specialists to arrive, do not leave the baby unattended - offer your breast and rock it in your arms.
It is important that when finding out the reason why the newborn is crying, the mother herself remains calm. Children are very sensitive to the irritation and nervousness of the mother or the general unfriendly atmosphere in the family, so the mother, when communicating with the child, needs to calm down and eliminate the source of irritation.
Restful sleep
Sometimes a newborn baby cries in his sleep. There can be many reasons for this, it could be colic, a feeling of anxiety, especially if the baby sleeps separately from the mother, or excessive activity before bedtime and, as a result, overwork. Health problems cannot be ruled out, so if your newborn cries too often in his sleep, you should consult your pediatrician. Poor sleep or lack of sleep in the best possible way affects the baby’s well-being, he becomes lethargic and capricious. If obvious reasons It was not possible to detect crying in a dream; perhaps it is worth changing the child’s routine.
In order for your baby to sleep more peacefully, you need to create suitable conditions for him:
- The child should be full, but not overfed.
- Make sure the diaper is clean and the diapers and bedding are dry.
- The room where the child sleeps must have clean, fresh air, so it must be ventilated regularly. The optimal temperature for sleep is 18-20˚C, and the child should be dressed in a knitted overall and covered with a light blanket or use a special sleeping envelope. If the temperature in the room is above 24˚C, it is enough to cover the baby with a thin sheet.
- Don't wrap your baby too tightly to sleep.
Crying is the most a powerful tool baby to attract the attention of others, he tells them that the child is tired, sick, hungry. When we cry, the baby signals that he needs help.
The crying of a baby has many meanings and over time the mother understands why the baby is crying and always comes to the baby’s aid.
The main causes of crying in young children are:
- hunger;
- intestinal colic;
- cold or heat;
- pain;
- fatigue;
- lack of attention and communication;
- wet diapers, diaper rash.
Sharp crying in a baby
In the first month of life, the baby cries less often, due to the immaturity of the nervous system, and only such strong irritants as hunger, pain or fear can provoke this powerful element of the child’s adaptation to new living conditions.
The main task of parents is to provide their infants with comfortable conditions life. Especially contraindicated for a newborn and baby in the first months of life:
- bright light;
- sharp loud sound (screaming, knocking);
- constantly running TV or other sound-reproducing equipment.
A small child may cry, experience difficulty falling asleep, fatigue, pain, or hunger.
Hunger as a reason for crying
Hunger is considered the most common cause of crying in children under 3 months.
“Hungry” crying differs from other types of crying easily: the baby begins to cry a certain time after feeding, while making sucking movements with his mouth, stretching out his arms and “catching the breast.” Crying is demanding, loud and persistent. Usually, crying from hunger occurs when feeding is untimely or when the mother has a lack of milk (hypogalactia) of various origins.
If the crying is caused by hunger, the baby will calm down after feeding.
Today, the main WHO recommendations for feeding, especially for newborns and children in the first months of life (up to 6 months), is feeding at the child’s request, and not according to the clock. But at the same time, parents should not forget about other reasons for the baby’s crying, offer the breast, but not insist, especially if little time has passed since feeding. Usually, with normal lactation and sufficient time for the baby to be at the breast, he will want to eat no earlier than 1.5-2 hours, and overfeeding leads to regurgitation and an increase in intestinal colic. If your baby often asks for the breast, you need to contact your pediatrician and determine the cause of the “hungry” cry.
Fatigue
Infants up to 3 months sleep from 18 to 20 hours and this is associated with physiological fatigue due to hyperexcitability of the nervous system. The main reaction to fatigue, both physical and psycho-emotional, is crying. The more tired the baby is, the longer and stronger child will cry. Distinctive feature Crying from fatigue is first a loss of interest in the world around him, then he begins to whine, move restlessly, and then cry loudly. It is important to know that the baby cannot always calm down and fall asleep on his own. The baby needs to be picked up, calmed and lulled to sleep. Children also calm down quickly fresh air. At the first signs of fatigue, you can try to bathe the baby - in most cases, water has a calming effect on the child, the baby quickly calms down and falls asleep. You can add a few drops of valerian tincture to the water, and bathe your baby in herbal decoctions - mint, chamomile, calendula. But when too extreme fatigue You cannot bathe a child - this will lead to overstimulation of the nervous system.
Lack of communication
Kids infancy They urgently need not only care and food, but also communication. The need for communication is an important quality and in its absence full development is impossible emotional sphere and intelligence of the child, and he does everything to attract the attention of an adult, especially close contact with his mother.
With a lack of communication, the baby's crying and screaming are not associated with unpleasant sensations and as soon as the baby gets the attention of an adult, he immediately calms down.
Hot or cold
Often the child cries, experiencing discomfort from overheating or hypothermia of the baby, due to the immaturity of the thermoregulation system.
If the baby is hot, redness is noted skin, the baby begins to whine, rush about in the crib, freeing his arms and legs, and then cry loudly. Crying intensifies with the appearance of red spots on the skin - prickly heat and with an increase in body temperature.
If the baby is cold, his crying, at first, has a sudden and shrill character, the cry gradually turns into a whimper with the addition of hiccups. At the same time, the baby’s arms, legs and nose are cold, and the skin on the back and chest is cool. Parents need to create comfortable conditions for the child and this is the prevention of both colds and overheating, as well as any discomfort of the child.
Crying in a baby's sleep
A baby's anxiety during sleep can be caused by:
- uncomfortable sleeping conditions (uncomfortable posture, prolonged pressure on the skin from folds of clothing or linen, heat or cold);
- intestinal colic;
- wet clothes and diaper rash;
- pain syndrome (ear pain, teething, stomatitis).
In the first month of life it is important right choice clothes and bed linen (they must be from natural materials, without synthetic additives), constantly level the bed, turn the baby over.
Wet clothes constantly irritate the skin, causing redness, itching, diaper rash and small wounds to appear.
Strong crying in a baby
Intestinal colic is considered the second most common cause of infant crying. They arise due to the immaturity of the enzymatic systems of the infant, the development allergic reactions, malnutrition of a nursing mother. At the same time, gases accumulate in the baby’s intestines, which irritate the intestinal walls, causing bloating and pain.
In this case, the child’s crying is paroxysmal, intermittent. The baby screams and starts crying, calming down for short periods of time. When crying, the baby pulls its legs towards its stomach. Feeding does not eliminate it, it only makes the crying worse; sometimes the child begins to cry out immediately after feeding.
In modern pediatrics, step-by-step therapy for intestinal colic in infants is used, which represents a set of measures for background correction and measures to eliminate a pain attack.
Background correction methods include:
1. Proper feeding;
2. The use of herbal and other preparations (Plantex, fennel decoction, Espumisan, Bobotik, Baby Calm, Babynos);
If colic occurs, you must:
- take the baby in your arms, pressing his tummy to your body;
- put a warm dry compress, a heating pad, or a warm diaper on the baby’s stomach;
- bathe the baby in a warm bath with herbal decoctions and valerian;
- massage the baby's tummy clockwise with a warm palm;
- use a gas outlet tube;
- After feeding, it is necessary to hold the baby in an upright position.
Proper nutrition for a nursing mother is important to prevent the development of intestinal colic.
Other causes of pain
Infant crying is often caused by pain syndrome, which can occur with stomatitis (thrush), ear inflammation (otitis media), at the onset viral infection or the first signs of a cold due to sore throat, inflammation of the laryngeal ligaments, nasal congestion.
Thrush (stomatitis) manifests itself in the form of a white film, inflammation of the mucous membranes and the appearance of ulcers, so the baby experiences anxiety and pain, especially when feeding, due to soreness when sucking and irritation of the mucous membranes. The baby cries and refuses to breastfeed.
With otitis media, sharp pain occurs when swallowing and pain in the ears at night. The baby's cry becomes strong, shrill and inconsolable.
If any severe cough occurs in an infant, parents should immediately seek medical help to determine the cause and prescribe timely and adequate treatment.
