Understanding Your Baby's Cries

Take a deep breath and embrace your little one. A baby's cries are hard to listen, especially for a new mother. It is just way too much to bear! Do you feel the same? I do. Most people think that leaving a baby to cry is a form of negligence and cruelty. However, think again. If we shut a baby's cries with a soother and expect them to quieten down, we would never be able to understand what they want.

When babies cries, the most common mistake that parents do is to scramble for milk bottles, diapers, soother, etc, without listening to what babies want. Parents just hope either one of the things would be what the baby needs. Well, parents do not need to resort to this every time.

Fear not, we are definitely not recommending that babies should cry and cry for the longest period of time, but instead, allow them to "talk" to us through crying and express what they want. Once their needs are satisfied, they would happily return back to their calm state. ^_^

Here is a list of common head to toe body languages that can help us understand our babies' cries.

Head
- moves from side to side = I am tired
- turns away from an object = I need a scenary change.
- turns to side and cranes neck back = I am hungry. Would you feed me please?

Eyes
- Red, bloodshot = I am tired
- slowly closes and spring open; repeatedly = tired
- "7-mile stare" without blinking = overtired, overstimulated

Mouth/Lips/Tongue
- Yawn = tired
- appearance of a scream but no sound comes out, finally a gasp with a wail = has gas or other pain
- sucks tongue = self-soothing, sometimes mistaken as hunger

Face
- exerting force, face scrunched up = has pain or other pain, or is having a bowel movement
- red; veins at temples may stand out = left to cry too long, caused by holding breath; blood vessels expand

Hands/Arms
- hands brought up to the mouth and trying to suck them = hungry, if baby hasn't been fed in 2.5-3hrs, otherwise, needs to suckle
- playing with fingers = need to change scenary
- failing and uncoordinated = overtired or has gas
- arms shaking, slight tremor = has gas or other pain

Torso
- arches back, looking for breast or bottle = hungry
- squirms, moving bottom from side to side = wet diaper or cold, or gas
- goes rigid = gas or other pain
- shivers = cold

Skin
- sweaty = overheated (maybe left to cry too long)
- tiny goose pimples = too cold

Legs
- strong, uncoordinated kicking = tired
- pulled up to chest = gas or other abdominal pain


Always remember that every baby is unique. It takes some time to interpret the needs of our little one, but as long as we SLOW down our pace, we should be able to comprehend their cries easily. SLOW also stands for "Stop", "Listen", "Observe" and "What's Up".

stop = don't hurry in at the very minute your baby cries. Give a minute or two before you go in.

Listen = Yes, the baby is crying. You need to listen to the type of cries your baby is expressing - high pitched, coughing a few times and cry, whinning, etc.

Observe = look at the hands, legs, face, eyes, and body languages. Is there any thing that the above list touched on?

What's Up = after what you have heard and seen, it is time to picture the scene altogether and figure out what your baby really needs.


We hope that in the time to come, you would be able to interpret your babies' cries more confidently.

With Love from
Simply Love Baby

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