Why Do Babies Cry?

When babies cry, what do they want? Are they hurt? For infants, crying is a survival mechanism and a means of communication. When they cry, babies act upset with kicking their legs and flailing their arms. We have been conditioned to believe that a baby’s cry means there is something terribly wrong and can cause new parents to feel inadequate. The reasons why babies cry are:

* when they are hungry
* when they need their diaper changed
* when something is hurting
* when they are over stimulated
* when they want to be picked up
* when they sense that their parents are nervous about handling them
* when they don’t like what you just did to them
* when they are restrained, for example, in a car seat

Since babies have not learned delayed gratification (waiting for things), they can cry for a long time until they get what they want. The intensity of the cry and the length of time spent crying is dependent on your baby’s personality. Demanding babies will not take no for an answer while other babies just lay there and wait for someone to take care of them. Normal babies cry about three hours a day. If you are not sure if your baby is crying too much, keep a brief log for 48 hours of when your baby cries and for how long. It may also be helpful to log the time and amounts of your baby’s feedings and wet & stool diapers. Add up the amount of time of crying in a 24 hour period to see whether your baby is crying an appropriate amount of time. If they are crying much more than three hours in a 24 hour period, make an appointment with your Pediatrician or Nurse Practitioner as there are some more worrisome reasons that your baby could be crying so much.