Crying babies

Having have two kids I know how frustrating it is to have a crying baby. It is especially hard when you do not know the reason of the cry. Well for very small baby (1-6months old) the reason would be either hunger, dirty nappy, cold/hot, tired, or sickness. When the baby is older like 6-12 months old they could be crying for attention so usually a cuddle or a chat would fix the issue. For me, I tend to be proactive and I would make sure I have done everything and follow a routine. I would feed the baby and change nappy every 3 hours. I follow a Feed/Play/Sleep routine. In doing so, I know when my baby started crying what would I give her first. If she just had a feed, then she can't be hungry, so I might check her nappy. My daughter Esther cannot stand dirty nappy and 99% of the time when she started crying was due to that exact reason. If she was fed, have clean nappy, but still cry then I would make sure she is not sick. Checking her temperature, making sure she is not too hot/cold, is not in pain and other possible factors. When a baby is in pain, he/she cries differently than their normal cry. They usually are in distress and high pitch. Well it is true with mine anyway. :P

One of my favourite baby book was given to me by a friend called ' On Becoming Baby Wise' by Gary and Anne Marie Ezzo. It discusses about routine, feeding, sleeping, discipline and other baby related topic. One thing I learnt is never feed my baby to sleep. I breastfed both of my kids until they're 12/13 months. Yet they both started sleeping through the night at 10/12 weeks old (they usually sleep from 7pm-6am/7am). All I do is to put them down in the cot when they're tired and left the room. Feeding baby milk is not the answer for having a sleeping baby. Not feeding my babies to sleep also allowed me to wean them easily because they are not dependent on that to fall asleep. Esther who is 14 months now does not require a feed before she goes down to sleep at night. I would feed her dinner and then bath her and put her to bed between 6:30pm - 7:00pm (yes, babies here go to bed really early). The idea is that they need to learn to fall asleep without any aid. If they wake up during the night I would let them cry for about 15 minutes before I would attend to them. Usually they would just go back to sleep by themselves without me doing anything. Of course there are some exceptions. They usually waking/crying at night when they are teething and sick. With teething and sickness we can just have to comfort them and make sure they are not in pain (I usually give them baby panadol/nurofen for the pain). I have to admit there were times when I just breastfed them so they would calm down and be comforted.

As I mentioned before I follow a Feed/Play/Sleep routine. It is one of the ways to help the baby differentiate day and night so they would sleep through at night. I would follow the feed/play/sleep at day time but skip the play part at night After the last meal at 7pm and follow by a nice warm bath I put the baby straight to the cot.  Both of my children started sleeping through at about 10-12 weeks. Babies that have good sleep are usually happy babies. Also they all sleep in their own room and they never sleep with us at night. They need to learn to be independent and for the parents, they need to have their own time. It's so important for the couple to have alone time and focus on each other rather than the baby for once. Co-sleeping is also not safe for baby due to the risk of suffocation. Babies who sleep with their parents also have difficulty on sleeping by themselves when they are older. So for long-term benefit it is best to let them sleep in their own cot from the beginning.

 Esther at bed time. She was so happy to be put down to sleep after a tiring day.

Well, I could really go on and on about how to teach baby to sleep and ways to eliminate factors that could cause a baby cries. The principle is we as parents are the adult here and we should be smart and study our babies so we can become expert in looking after our own babies. I used 'own babies' its because every baby is different and only their parents know them the best. I'm not a fan of child-centre parenting. I am more leaning towards parents-led parenting with a bit of flexibility. It is also the Bible's principle that children obey their parents. Honestly having going through the babies stages twice and now having  a nearly 4 year old and a 1 year old I could say babies are quite easy to deal with. They can't talk back, can't climb out of their cot, can't open the room door, and whinge about what clothes you put on them....the list goes on. :P All the best to every mother out there and enjoy your baby while they're still young because just like what everyone said 'they grow up too quickly'. :D