It’s great that your baby is finally here! You’ve been eagerly waiting for it for months and now it’s enriching your life. However, shortly after the birth, your baby may be restless and cry more often. But what could be the cause? How do you recognize which need? And what helps?
At first, it is completely normal for a baby to cry, as it uses its voice to call out to its parents. The parents are usually able to quickly and intuitively recognize what the baby needs. All parents know this when their child is hungry, for example. But what do you do when the hunger has been satisfied and the diaper has been changed, but the baby whines and cries again after a short time?
It is important that you remain calm and composed yourself, even if this is not always easy. When you are calm, you can find out what is wrong with your child. Restlessness, stomach ache or fatigue are often the reasons.
Your baby may be overwhelmed by the stimuli in its environment and find it difficult to “switch off”. It may be suffering from a lack of sleep, which in turn makes it react more sensitively. Initially, a child can only make itself heard by crying.
If you notice that your baby gets overstimulated quickly, you should give him a regular and calm daily routine with fixed structures and rituals, which creates trust. Your baby enjoys being carried around, even in a sling or gently swinging in a cradle. The firm fabric cover gives your baby a feeling of security and safety.
Especially in the first three months of life, babies have problems with their immature gastrointestinal tract. It may cry particularly intensely and shrilly and tighten its legs and clench its fists after meals – a clear sign of abdominal pain! Bloating and colic can lead to a tense tummy that feels hard. Once you have checked that there are no treatable causes for your baby’s crying, there are effective ways that can help your baby.
It doesn’t matter whether the cause of the crying is a tummy ache or the baby’s mood: Carrying often works wonders.
The position in a baby carrier or sling allows your baby’s tummy to relax and gets the bowels moving.
The closeness to mom and dad and the body heat do the rest.
Babies love regular habits: The same routines and reliably recurring rituals give them security and structure.
As parents, try out what works best for your baby and for you.
