His food is not right.
He is fed too often.
He is fed too much.
He gets ice-cream or candy.
He is fed or taken up whenever he cries.
He is dressed too warm.
He is dressed improperly.
He needs a bath.
His bowels do not move properly.
He is wet.
He is kept up too late.
He sleeps in a hot room with windows shut.
He is carried, rocked, or bounced.
He is taken to the “movies.”
He is given a pacifier, soothing syrup, or cathartics.
If the mother’s conscience is easy on all these points, then she must look for a deeper and graver cause. To do this she must first learn to analyze the different forms and varieties of crying. In the new-born baby, crying is normal and useful. It expands the lungs and improves the circulation. This form of crying is loud and strong and has a healthy ring, not like a scream. The baby becomes red in the face from the effort, and generally turns silent as suddenly as he began to cry. A young baby can cry from fifteen to thirty minutes a day and be none the worse for this form of lung exercise. Young mothers frequently express fear that such crying will cause rupture. Nature has provided against this catastrophe.
Abnormal, unhealthy crying strikes the maternal ear immediately as unnatural. Also, it lasts longer and comes at more frequent intervals. It can be traced to various causes, such as temper, habit, hunger, pain, and illness. The temper cry is louder and stronger than the normal cry, and is best described by the word violent or tempestuous. It is usually accompanied by vicious kicking, even in a very young baby, or by the stiffening of the entire body. The cry which springs from indulgence or habit has much the same quality but is less violent. It generally follows in the train of some indulgence permitted during the first few months after birth, and then regretted by mother or nurse. This habit may be rocking, wheeling in the baby-buggy, a bottle to suck and hug after all the milk has been drawn off, a “pacifier,” or even a light in the nursery. To test the cry, try distracting the attention. If it come from temper it will often yield to change of thought. If it spring from indulgence or habit it will cease immediately baby gets what he demands, whether this be attention or a “pacifier.”
This sort of crying can be cured only through stern discipline, represented by allowing baby to cry it out. The first lesson may mean an hour of bitter, determined shrieking on the part of the baby, and great mental anguish for the mother. But if the mother is quite satisfied that temper or habit is at fault, she must stand firm for discipline. The second attack will be lighter, and baby will soon learn that violent crying does not bring results.
The hungry-cry is continuous and fretful. If the baby is fed regularly, then the quality of the food must be improved, or the strength increased. The tired, fretful hungry-cry is a danger signal. It points to malnutrition.
The cry of pain is sharp, shrill, and strong, and generally intermittent. It is frequently marked by jerking and by the drawing up of the legs, and by a contracted or pinched look about the face. No time should be lost in locating the cause of this cry.
Another cry which demands immediate attention is the hoarse, throaty cry, which indicates cold, incipient croup, or bronchitis.
The saddest cry in the world is that of a helpless baby when it is seriously ill. This is a low wail or moan, indicating that the baby has passed the point where it can fight against pain. It strikes terror to the heart of that mother whose child is suffering with “summer complaint” or any form of bowel trouble. When the child screams out sharply in the night, not once or twice, but habitually, it should have medical attention. This is one symptom of bone tuberculosis.
Most crying can be traced to physical discomfort which can be relieved, or to spoiling and indulgence which can be checked. In this day of intelligent care and disciplining of children, there is absolutely no excuse for having a screaming baby in the house. The modern mother not only realizes that behind the crying lies a good and sufficient cause, but she traces the cause to its lair—and lays it low.