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| |    Crying: The Early Weeks by Dr. Benjamin Spock reviewed and revised by Laura Jana, M.D., F.A.A.P. Why do babies cry? This is usually an important question, especially with a first baby. Crying in an infant does not have the same meaning as it does in an older child. It is the baby's only form of communication with the outside, new world and has many meanings, not just pain or sadness. As she grows older, crying is much less of a problem because you worry less, you know what to expect from her at different times of the day, you are able to distinguish between different cries, and she has fewer reasons to cry. But in the first weeks, baffling questions pop into your mind: Is she hungry? Is she wet? Is she uncomfortable? Is she sick? Does she have indigestion? Is she lonely? Parents are not apt to think of fatigue, but it's one of the most common causes! It is fairly easy to answer some of these questions, but a lot of fretting and crying can't be so readily explained. Some babies have fretful periods In fact, by the time they are a couple of weeks old, almost all babies, especially first babies, get into fretful periods that we can give names to but can't explain exactly. When the crying is regularly limited to one period in the evening or afternoon, we can call it colic or periodic irritable crying. This crying may be associated with distension of the abdomen and the passing of gas. If the baby is fussing off and on, any old time of the day or night, we can sigh and say that she is just a fretful baby at this stage. If she's unusually tense and jumpy, some use the term hypertonic baby. But we don't know the meaning of these patterns of behavior. We only know that they gradually disappear, usually by three months of age. See: Colic: Why? Babies need to adjust to life in the outside world Maybe fussy crying and irritable crying are different variations of one condition. In a vague way we sense that the age period between birth and about three months is one of adjustment of the baby's immature nervous system and immature digestive system to life in the outside world, and that a smooth adjustment is harder for some babies to achieve. Anyway, the important thing to remember is that these most common types of crying in the early weeks are temporary and are not usually a sign of anything serious. Different cries mean different things One of your first jobs as a parent is to begin to figure out just what your baby's crying means. You will begin to notice, for example, that her "very hungry" cry is higher-pitched, louder and more insistent than her "slightly uncomfortable" cry, which is softer, lower-pitched and more melodic. Even from another room you will come to learn which cry means "Get in here right this minute!" and which cry means you can wait and see if it stops on its own. See: Common Causes of Crying
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