Baby Crying at Night: How to Handle It

Raising a child is not a matter of joke and we hope that if you have a baby you already have get to know that parenting is not a piece of cake. At different stages of her growth, you will face different new challenges. Newborns cry a lot and also sleep a lot. During the day time, newborns sleep for eight to ten hours and at night they also sleep for another eight hours. But until your baby becomes at least three months old, she won’t sleep for the entire night without any break. It is a common thing that in the middle of your good night’s sleep you have to wake up and soothe your baby and if you can’t, it becomes a bad night. And parents get habituated with bad nights.

What are the possible reasons for crying at night?

There are several reasons for which babies generally wake up at night crying. Newborns have a tendency to wake up at night frequently. But as they grow older the frequency decreases. Here are the possible reasons that are behind babies waking up at night,

• Newborns have a stomach with the size of a hazelnut. So, they are not able to consume much milk at a time and need to be fed several times. The same thing happens when they sleep. They feel hungry and wake up crying.
• There are some babies, who can bear with a wet or dirty diaper for a time but some babies need to be changed immediately. So, when your baby is waking up crying at night it may be because of her wet or dirty diaper.
• Babies tend to have gas problems and need to be burped in order to release the gas. This can be a reason for waking up a crying baby. 
• Crying is the only way babies can express themselves. In the middle of the night, if she feels cold she will cry out loud.
• During the duration when your baby is teething, she suffers from teething pain. It also can be a reason for waking up at night crying loud.  

How to comfort your baby when she is crying at night

There are two totally different thoughts on this topic. One of the thoughts says that when your baby will notice that no one is responding to her crying she will stop. Whether the other though is that you should comfort her whenever she is crying. Otherwise, it will affect their physical and mental health also. Though no proven logic is there behind this statement. In the end, you have to choose whether you are going to comfort your little one or will ignore and let her be. 

If you want to comfort her, here are some tips that you can use on her

• Put your baby in the crib or bed when he is drowsy but still awake. The last waking memory of your baby should be in the crib or on the bed and definitely not of you. This thing will encourage your little love to go back to sleep if she again wakes up.
• Keep a track of your baby’s hunger routine and fed her immediately when she wakes up. This will lead her to fall asleep again.  
• In case you find out that teething is the culprit of your baby’s midnight crying. Message gently on her gum will allow her to sleep again.
• In case your baby is crying continuously and seems very afraid or fussy, hold her till the time she stops crying.
• Do not take your child out of the crib from the bed once you tucked her for the night.

First, check the possible reasons for your baby’s cry and try to eliminate them. If she continues crying try the above-mentioned tips to calm her down.