My Baby Is 8 Weeks Old and Hasn't Cried Any Tears

parenting

When Your Infant Won't Terminate Crying

Have a crying, upset, or colicky baby? These parenting tips tin help condolement and soothe your baby while keeping you at-home and in command.

Why exercise babies cry?

It'southward tough when your baby won't stop crying. You may worry that something is wrong with your child, that you'll lose your cool, that your parenting skills aren't up to the task, or that you'll never connect with your baby. Simply you can handle information technology!

Babies weep for many reasons, and crying is the main way babies communicate. It's the manner they capture your attention and express their needs. At first, it may be difficult to interpret your babe's different cries, but as you spend more time listening, you will go better at recognizing and meeting your kid'south specific needs.

Common reasons babies cry

1. Sleepiness or fatigue
2. Wet or dirty diaper
3. Hunger
4. Overstimulation from noise or activity
5. Colic, acrid reflux, or food allergies
6. Pain or illness
7. Gas
8. Stranger feet or fright

Is your baby unresponsive or indifferent?

Most babies use crying to communicate and they will continue to cry or show that they are upset until a parent or caregiver responds to their needs. Other babies, instead of crying, get upset and then melody out and fail to prove whatever emotion. If you think about it, you probably know more i adult who acts this fashion when faced with difficulty. An unresponsive babe might seem like an easy baby, considering they may exist quiet and agreeable. Merely a babe that doesn't respond to you, the environs, and sensory influences needs help. Call your pediatrician right away.

NEVER NEVER shake a baby

Shaken Baby Syndrome occurs when a infant is shaken. The claret vessels in a baby's caput cannot tolerate the impact of shaking and can break.

• The National Center on Shaken Baby Syndrome estimates that there are about 1,300 reported cases each year in the U.South.
• Shaking is the leading crusade of child abuse deaths and can also result in brain damage, mental retardation, seizures, or blindness.
• Shaking usually happens when parents or caregivers become frustrated or angry when they are not able to stop the baby from crying.
• Shaken baby syndrome is 100% preventable.

Coping with a crying, colicky, or unresponsive baby

You lot already know that no two babies are akin, merely this reality may still hit you difficult when you hear other parents talking most how like shooting fish in a barrel their babies are or how their newborn sleeps peacefully through the nighttime. Endeavour to avert comparisons and specific expectations, equally they can create negative feelings—especially if you have a very challenging baby. Give yourself a interruption if you are having feelings y'all didn't await. It may accept a scrap of time to go in sync with your babe, but the extra piece of work will exist worth it!

[Lookout man: Creating Secure Infant Attachment]

For stressful situations—when your baby won't cease crying or won't respond to yous, and when you are feeling frustrated, tired, and angry—yous need to develop some strategies for taking care of yourself. When you're at-home and centered, you'll be better able to figure out what's going on with your kid and soothe his or her cries.

Recognize your limits. Pay attention to internal alarm signs when you lot are feeling overwhelmed. The sooner you lot spot your personal limits, the easier it is to plan ahead—for actress help, a intermission, an excursion outside, or a quick pep talk from a friend or loved one. These small steps to prepare volition help you go far the best frame of heed to intendance for your baby.

Call back that time is on your side. For most babies, crying peaks at six weeks and then gradually eases off. There is an end to the crying on the horizon! You may have to put in a little extra work right now and be very patient, but thingswill get better.

Reach out for support. If you can, enlist assistance during the fussiest times of the day. Say yes when people offer to help with housework, meals, or babysitting. Find a group of moms to talk to and get out of the house when you tin. Knowing you take some help on the manner can make a big difference.

You lot don't have to be perfect. Parenting is non about perfection. It would exist impossible to be fully present and attentive to an infant, especially a crying infant, 24 hours a day. Experts estimate that meeting your baby's needs at to the lowest degree one third of the time is enough to back up healthy bonding and secure attachment. Don't worry most getting it exactly correct all of the time. Instead, try to relax and bask the times when your baby isn't crying.

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Pay attention to your baby's signals

The whole world comes to your baby through their senses, and every baby has different sensory needs, which is why one baby might love to be held and another doesn't; or i babe will weep because of a wet diaper and another will ignore it and continue to play happily.

Go to know your babe'due south preferences by engaging all of your senses as you try to effigy out what your baby needs. Attempt beingness specially circumspect to:

Changes in mood. Do your baby'due south mood changes seem to coincide with environs changes, the fourth dimension of day, or in relation to food or naps? For example, if your baby is cranky in the late forenoon, watch to come across if they are sending signals that you're missing—like an isolated yawn or center rubbing.

Reactions to dissimilar situations and environments. Babies oft send signals that we equally adults simply don't notice. Your baby might get overstimulated if likewise many people are effectually or become especially upset almost schedule changes.

Differences in your baby's cries. At first all cries will audio the aforementioned, but, gradually, you lot will hear how the "I'm hungry" cry is very unlike from the "I'm tired" cry. Observe noise level, pitch and intensity of the cry, as well as your babe's body language and facial expressions. An arched back, a scrunched-up face up, optics tightly closed to close out the light, fists curled upward, rubbing eyes, hyperactive or frenetic movement—all of these signs communicate something specific about your baby'due south emotional and physical country.

Learning what it takes to soothe and comfort an upset or unresponsive baby may take all of your skills of perception and awareness. Don't give up if you are having a hard time figuring out what makes your babe weep—he or she will probably continue trying to allow you know.

Dr. Harvey Karp's v S's for soothing a crying babe

If your infant seems to be crying for "no reason," pediatrician Harvey Karp advises parents to use the Five S's, which recreate the womb environment and actuate your baby's calming reflex.

1. Swaddling. Wrap your baby in a blanket so they feel secure.
2. Side or breadbasket position. Hold your baby so they're lying on their side or tummy. But always put them on their dorsum when going to sleep.
3. Shushing. Create "white noise" that drowns out other noises: run the vacuum cleaner, pilus drier, fan or clothes drier.
4. Swinging. Create a rhythmic motility of any kind. For example, take your baby for a ride in a stroller or car.
5. Sucking. Let your baby suck on something, such as a pacifier.

Adapted from:The Happiest Baby on the Block

Evaluate your ain emotional state

When your baby cries for hours on end, it is natural to feel responsible. Oftentimes, though, blaming yourself tin become in the fashion of your ability to be calm, present, and responsive to your baby. The relationship with your baby is a partnership, so your emotions will make a deviation to how your baby reacts. If you are feeling overwhelmed, depressed, aroused, anxious, or detached, your baby may have trouble calming down.

Am I the reason my baby won't stop crying?

Are you distracted, overwhelmed, and at breaking point? If you're stressed out and exhausted, y'all're going to accept trouble relating to your baby in a soothing, nurturing way. So, it's important to go the support you need.

[Read: Stress Management]

Actress support is essential if you lot're:

1. Depressed.
2. Suffering from a major illness or chronic health issues.
3. Overwhelmed or fearful about parenting.
4. Exhausted from lack of slumber.
5. Feeling neglected, isolated, or unsupported.
6. A previous victim of corruption or neglect.

Fortunately, there are great opportunities for overcoming the limitations a parent or child may bring to the attachment relationship. Parents who acquire how to calm themselves, ask for support, and communicate with their infants can detect the means for creating a successful zipper relationship—essentially teaching past their example—fifty-fifty with an upset or unresponsive infant.

Tips for keeping your cool and calming your baby down

Recall that your baby has feelings. Babies are emotional beings and experience feelings of happiness, sadness, joy, and anger from the very starting time moment of life. If, for whatsoever reason, y'all are having trouble being responsive to your infant, your kid will pick up on those signals. How would yous feel if your spouse or parent was unresponsive to your signals or attempts to communicate? Thinking of your infant equally an private with a unique personality may make it easier to translate and respond to his or her cries.

Cull some techniques for taking a "time out." Strategies like counting to 10, going exterior, taking deep breaths, putting your baby down and walking around the house for a minute, can all help you maintain a calm frame of mind.

Find a mantra. A mantra is a sound, word, or phrase, often said over and over again, to provide comfort and inspiration. With a crying baby, you may find yourself talking out loud anyhow, and a mantra can aid provide perspective, comfort, and free energy to proceed going. Some examples might exist: "Simply breathe," "This is hard, but doable," and "All volition be well."

Baby blues or postpartum depression?

Burnout, rapidly shifting hormones, and a challenging child might make you feel frustrated, sad, or even depressed. If you find yourself feeling depressed, worthless, or resentful or indifferent towards your babe, don't try to wait it out. See: Postpartum Depression and the Baby Dejection

Watch for attachment milestones

If your babe has challenges (similar constant crying, fussiness, or unresponsiveness) that get in the mode of emotional connectedness, bonding and attachment may endure. The post-obit attachment milestones tin can assistance you lot recognize your baby's attachment progress.

If the milestones are not happening in the correct time frame, you should seek help. Fearfulness or stress might make you feel reluctant to evaluate your babe this way, but attachment bug identified early are commonly easier to fix.

Zipper milestone i: Attention and regulation (nativity to three months)

Attention and regulation go hand-in-manus, considering a babe who can't calm down (and regulate their nervous system) won't be able to pay attention and interact with you lot.

Your baby has periods when they are calm (not crying), attentive (not sleeping), and shows interest in faces, but doesn't necessarily appoint with you at this point.

You follow your baby'south pb. When your baby pays attention to you, you answer with gentle touch on, soothing tone of vocalisation, and playful facial expressions. When your baby looks away, you lot do the aforementioned.

Attachment milestone ii: Shared joy (3 to six months)

Sharing joy with your babe establishes a connectedness betwixt sensory experiences (things your babe sees, hears, and feels) and safe and loving interaction with another person.

Your baby seeks engagement with you and participates in the back-and-forth exchange of gestures, smiles, sounds, and motion. Your baby will probably demand frequent breaks from interacting.

You continue to allow your babe atomic number 82 the exchange. When your babe wants to interact, you answer with playful activity. If your baby wants to have a break, you slow down.

Attachment milestone iii: Requite and accept communication (iv to ten months)

With the 3rd milestone, your babe's level of engagement with you becomes more sophisticated.

Your baby uses an ever-increasing range of sounds, facial expressions, and gestures—broad optics, coos, nonsensical babbles, giggles, pointing—to invite you lot to play and to indicate needs and wants.

Y'all continue to watch your kid'southward signals, gestures, and facial expressions and adjust your responses to those cues. You lot should notice more back and forth communication.

Attachment milestone 4: Gestures and problem solving (10 to 18 months)

Your babe's new motor skills—scooting, crawling, pointing, and maybe walking—should lead to better communication and connection with you lot.

Your baby starts to combine their motor and nonverbal skills with their need to solve problems. For example, your baby might point to something out of reach or crawl to the highchair when hungry.

You proceed to respond to your baby's cues and use words, facial expressions, and gestures of your own to confirm to your babe that the messages are heard.

Recognize and cope with colic

Colic is a general term used for babies who weep more than than three hours a twenty-four hours for more than three days a week. A infant with colic will oft weep inconsolably despite all attempts to comfort and soothe. The cause of colic, which affects one in five babies, is non clear. Some experts think that colic may be connected to the evolution of the baby's intestinal arrangement, related to acid reflux (GERD), or to food allergies.

What colic looks and sounds like

Parents of babies with colic often say that the babies look like they are angry or in pain, have gas, or are trying to go to the bathroom without success. Other characteristics of a baby with colic:

• Higher pitched, more frantic crying
• Sudden crying, starting out of nowhere, and for no apparent reason
• Rigid or stiff trunk, often with clenched fists
• Bent legs and stomach may feel hard

Timing of colic

Colic often begins at two weeks after a infant's due date, reaches a peak about six weeks past the due date, and generally ends by the time the baby is 12 to 14 weeks quondam (or four months past the due date). Your baby's crying may taper off gradually by the half dozen-calendar week mark, or one day your baby might but stop the extended crying spells altogether. It may feel endless and unbearable while you are in the midst of it, but information technology will end.

What to practise about colic

Pediatricians may be sympathetic and recommend Mylicon (simethicone) drops or gripe water, but oft doctors volition tell parents to "merely exist patient," because colic is not harmful and will become abroad on its own. Of form, in the midst of all that crying, having someone tell yous to "exist patient" may seem impossible to consider. In social club to brand it through, you will have to develop some great self-care strategies and enlist support.

Focus on 1 day at a time (mark off the days on a calendar if that helps).

Ask your physician to consider the possibilities of food allergies or acid reflux (GERD), which can be remedied. If you are breastfeeding, yous can try adjusting your nutrition to run into if that affects your baby'southward crying spells.

Ask for help—back up from your spouse, family unit, friends, and a babysitter or nanny will be essential to getting through the offset few months of your baby's life.

Know when to seek help

If y'all constantly feel overwhelmed and the feeling doesn't get abroad, you probably need some outside assistance. Additionally, if you are feeling like you tin't pick up on your baby'south cues or your baby isn't alert enough to appoint in the early milestone behaviors, it is important to seek aid as shortly every bit possible. Problems that are identified early tin almost ever exist solved.

Special circumstances that might require professional aid

Physical, mental, or emotional challenges at nascence, or soon after, are often traumatic to an baby and can crusade your baby's nervous arrangement to get "stuck." A nervous system that is stuck will probably have difficulty with regulation, which ways the baby volition have a hard time settling down.

[Read: Helping Children Cope with Traumatic Events]

Special or traumatic circumstances that might cause problems include:

• Premature nativity.
• Hard or traumatic nativity.
• Medical problems or disability.
• Adoption or separation from primary caregiver.

Where to turn for help

If your baby is crying or upset oftentimes, or unresponsive, y'all should seek help from your pediatrician or a child development specialist. Your pediatrician should be able to recommend a specialist in early on infant behaviors to help you figure out if there is a problem and what to practice nigh information technology. Alternately, contact the pediatrics branch in your local infirmary and ask nigh services in your area, such as:

Parenting skills classes. Available in many areas, coaching and pedagogy for parents and caregivers tin can build necessary parenting skills and offer support and advice.

Support groups. Run by peers rather than professionals, back up groups provide a prophylactic surroundings to share experiences, advice, encouragement, and coping strategies for parents of babies who won't finish crying.

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Source: https://www.helpguide.org/articles/parenting-family/when-your-baby-wont-stop-crying.htm

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