New babies are wonderful. They bring laughter and happiness to any family. They an also bring sleepless nights and ringing ears. Babies cry. It is a fact. But why do they cry?

When a baby is first born they have no way of communicating. Normally, immediately after birth a baby will start screaming. Doctors say this is how they test out their lungs, some people say that it is their way of protesting being taken from their nice, warm cocoon in their mother’s belly, to the cold air in the real world. In reality it is probably a combination of both.

While mothers and fathers are thrilled to hear this first cry, their babies cry often quickly becomes tiring. Most babies will cry frequently. Since this is their only way of communicating the parents must learn their babies cry and figure out WHY their baby is crying. There are many reasons a baby might be crying. A few include:

• The baby is cold
• The baby is hot
• The baby is wet
• The baby is tired
• The baby is hungry
• The baby is lonely
• The baby is frustrated
• The baby is scared

There are other reasons why a baby might cry, and many babies will have different cries for different reasons. The sooner the parent learns the different cries and what they mean, the quicker they will be able to quiet their baby.

Some babies cry and there is no consoling them. When this happens it is normally caused by the baby having colic. Colic is normally described as a baby crying at approximately the same time everyday, for 3-4 hours straight, and their being no consoling. This can start as early as 6 weeks and can last for several months.

If you think your baby has colic, ask your pediatrician for his opinion. Remember it is ok to hand your baby over to the other parent, or a relative who offers to come over, in order to get a few minutes of relief. If there is no one for you to hand your baby too, there is nothing wrong with putting your baby in his crib while you go out of the room for a few minutes and let the baby cry. You have to remember to do what it takes to remain calm, as colic causes extra stress in not only you, but the household and baby as well.

In many ways, a fussy baby may be worse than having a colicky baby. At least with a colicky baby you generally know that your baby will be screaming from 6pm to 9pm, or whatever hours you have been “blessed” with, and that there is probably nothing you can do about it. With fussy babies, that isn’t the case.

Fussiness can come at anytime of the day. It can be intermittent or at times last all day. With fussiness guessing what is wrong with your baby and helping them feel better can take hours to accomplish. It isn’t always an easy answer. A fussy baby will generally not cry, but make little and constant growling/groaning type noises. Enough to catch your attention and let you know something is wrong, but not enough to pinpoint the problem after you have learned to understand your baby’s different types of crying.

Reasons Fussiness May Occur
There are many reasons that your baby might be fussy. These include, but are not limited too: