Remember the famous yesteryear Kishore Kumar hit song, ‘Rote huwe aate hain sab’? (Literal translation: ‘Everyone comes into this world crying’.) Yes, crying marks the beginning of a baby’s life on Planet Earth, outside of the mother’s womb. Crying is the birth right of every baby… literally! So, if your baby cries, don’t worry at all. If at all somebody has to worry, it’s your neighbours (and there is a solution for that too – gift them earplugs or cotton balls!)
Now, why do babies cry? And how do you silence a crying baby?
Well, crying is the only mode of communication for the yet-to-learn-to-talk baby. For your baby, crying is just like the bell that acts as a signal for the bellboy to appear like a genie and fulfil his master’s wish. Only, the sound of ‘tring-tring’ is replaced by ‘uwaaahh-uwaahhh!’ For you, the mother, who is indeed no less than a genie, it’s a signal to make a dashing appearance and rescue her ‘master’.
Don’t worry. It’s not difficult to find out the reason why your baby is crying, there are only a few.
One, your baby is hungry/thirsty (In which case, it’s feeding time).
Two, her diaper has outlived its purpose and is ready to take its rightful place – the waste bin (In which case, it’s changing time)
Three, the milk that you just fed your baby, naturally, in a horizontal position, hasn’t gone down to her stomach (In which case, it’s time to lift the baby, press her chest against yours in an upright position and tap its back until it lets out a feeble burp – ‘Burrrp…’, and all is well!).
Four, the baby is suffering from a fresh bout of colic i.e. severe abdominal pain (In which case, it’s medicine time. The good old branded Gripe Water our mummies fed us is just as good as the home-made concoction your Dadi-ma or Nani-ma (grandparents) or Dai-ma (the child’s masseuse) ‘invented’, or you could also opt for a modern medicine your paediatrician may have prescribed).
Five, after the bath and feeding, all the baby needs is a siesta, which may not necessarily be in the afternoon or any particular time of the day/night. (In which case, it’s swinging time. So, just rock the baby in its cradle and sing a lullaby and it will go ‘Zzzzzz…’ Last, but not least, the attention-seeker that is your baby, is hungry for its favourite delicacy – your undivided attention (In which case, needless to say, just leave whatever you’ve been doing, and play the genie that you are, to your baby. Remember, just your appearance and/or embrace could bring a smile to your baby’s face).
Is crying good or bad?
Newborns spend maximum time simply lying in one place, cosily wrapped in a cloth, and hence lack physical activities like walking, running, jumping, etc which will come naturally at a later stage of development. So, crying is a sort of exercise which includes, clenching its fists, firming up and stretching its hands and legs, punching and kicking the air, contorting the face, moving its head and eyeballs (searching for dear mom) in all directions, rolling on the ground, trying out various voice modulations and exercising its vocal cords, in the process. So, consider a lot of calories burnt with every bout of crying.
So, the next time you baby goes ‘uwaeeeyy-uwaeeeyy’, don’t panic. Just don the genie avatar that you have been blessed with, and the crying will soon turn into gurgles of satisfaction in a few minutes. Remember, only you, the genie, have the power to do this.
