Why Is Your Baby Crying - Missing the Womb?

It is understandably stressful when we have a newborn baby who cries for what seems like an eternity and for no reason that we can understand. We have fed them, changed their diaper, burped them, and still they cry. What are we doing wrong? What are we missing? What makes a baby cry and what can we do to comfort them?

Is it possible that your baby is just homesick? Think about it. Where did this little one spend the first 9 months of its life? In a small, dimly-lit, fluid-filled space where it lived alone (unless it is a multiple, of course), curled up in (what else?) a fetal position, with almost constant movement, muffled noises and the endless rhythm of its mother's beating heart. This environment represented safety, security and peacefulness as this precious little one grew. Try to look at your crying baby from a different perspective - imagine that it is a visitor from another country or even another planet! Of course, your little visitor has no way of knowing that it cannot return to the comfort of its first home, and eventually it will find comfort in this new place, but for now, it may just be homesick for the warmth and security of the only home it had ever known before being thrust into this new and frightening place.

You know how you crave the familiar when you are away from your home for a long time, or when you move to a new home. You miss your music, your food, familiar sights, sounds and smells - the things that make you happy. The same is true for your newborn baby.

In my article, How To Understand A Newborn Baby's Cry, I gave you information regarding a "common language" of babies that has been identified and can now be used to determine why a newborn is crying. But for now, let's assume that your little one is crying because it misses the warmth and security of its mother's womb. What can we do that might help restore some of this little child's feelings of security? What are the basic elements of the womb and how can we find ways to recreate some of the security that your little baby felt in that space?

1. The small space. The easiest way to recreate the close quarters your baby lived in for the first 9 months of its life is to swaddle your infant. To swaddle means to wrap a baby snuggly in a blanket - essentially, you are making a "baby burrito"!! You can find instructions on how to correctly swaddle a baby on many how to or parenting websites on the Internet - check the sources section of this article for specifics.
2. The lighting and the calm. When your baby is upset and crying, go to a quiet room in the house where you can be alone with your child. Close the door, dim the lights, pull the curtains. Stay calm and talk softly and reassuringly to your little one, or hum softly.
3. Muffled sounds. Add soft music or the white noise of a fan, hair dryer or radio.
4. Movement. Rock the baby in a rocking chair, or place it on its side across your lap or your knees and move slowly back and forth.
5. The heartbeat. This can be recreated through the rhythm of music, or by placing the child close to your chest so that it might actually hear your heartbeat. Or you might just make a rhythmic "shushing" noise with your voice to simulate the sound of a beating heart.

   You can see an amazing video implementing many of these steps by going HERE - this dad uses swaddling, rocking and shushing and the hysterical baby stops crying almost immediately!

   Sources:

   Seven Reasons Babies Cry and How to Soothe Them: http://www.babycenter.com/0_seven-reasons-babies-cry-and-how-to-soothe-them_9790.bc

   How to Swaddle a Baby: http://video.about.com/babyparenting/How-to-Swaddle-a-Baby.htm

   Fussy Baby Index:: http://www.askdrsears.com/html/5/t051200.asp