By:ZerotoThree
All parents have been there. You’ve tried feeding, burping, and changing his diaper. You checked for fever. You even checked to see if his socks are too tight! Could it be gas? Is he too hot or too cold? Maybe he is teething. Regardless, you’ve tried everything you can think of and now you’re starting to stress. He Just Keeps Crying.
Some babies cry more than others for reasons we don’t fully understand. This doesn’t mean that you are doing anything wrong as a parent or that your baby doesn’t like you! Many parents have to cope with babies who cry a lot in the early months of life. If you have found yourself bouncing, patting, humming, or soothing a fussy baby, you are not alone!
It’s normal to feel stressed when babies cry.
A crying baby can rattle even the most level-headed person. Why? It has to do with the way our brains are wired. We feel a sense of urgency when babies cry. It’s almost like a fire alarm goes off in our brains. This is nature’s way of making sure we do our jobs: respond to our babies’ needs and take care of them! But what if we’ve done all we can to help, and the crying doesn’t stop? Here’s what might happen for you as your baby continues to cry:
The “thinking” part of your brain shuts down, affecting your ability to be calm and think logically.
Your reactions may be panicked, meaning that you feel out of control and are not thinking clearly.
You may find it difficult to calm yourself down and regulate your own feelings and reactions.
Babies tune into our feelings and reactions.
For better or worse, a baby tends to “tune in” to her caregivers’ emotional state. This means that just when babies need us to be at our calmest so we can help calm them, we are often feeling stressed, frustrated and wound up! Our arms and shoulders are tense, and our facial expressions also may show the stress. A caregiver’s stress can add to the baby’s stress and intensify her fussiness.
