Calming a Crying Child

When a child cries, he is obviously expressing his feelings and so we should try as much as possible to identify the cause and address it. There are some basic causes of discomfort to the child like hunger, wet or soiled nappies, sleep etc, and while addressing them might seem to work the magic sometimes, other times they don’t. 

• We should always try and pick up the baby and at least make him feel secure, while seeking out ways to address his immediate problem(s); if he is wet, the diapers should be changed, if hungry, he should be fed.  
• Check his clothing cos he could be overdressed. Most times in Africa we overdress because we’ve been told if you don’t do so he might develop pneumonia; but hey if your baby is healthy and the weather is hot, why not pull off the excess layers on him.
• If you suspect he could be colicky, try laying him on his tummy to see if he would calm down.
• You can also put on very soothing music for him (you’ll sure be amazed how they’ll suddenly stop crying). See our earlier posting on music, pregnancy, and child development.
• You can also rock him gently while singing to him as he could be sleepy.
• Some parents might be scared that the baby could get used to being carried while crying and so they tend to ignore the baby, this shouldn’t be the case especially if the baby is still very young because carrying them also makes them develop some sense of security and a greater bond with you.
• While crying sessions could be seen as normal at times; we should not rule out the possibility of an illness; so this means we should always have our thermometers handy to determine but even if we do not; it is always advised to visit a paediatrician if we are not so sure of what is going on.
• Your patience might be tested; while this is not so easy, just avoid stressing out much because an irrational act even for a second might result in disaster.
• Most importantly, NEVER you violently shake a child out of frustration to calm him down because you might achieve this in the immediate but would have probably caused some severe brain damage to him, which would manifest in no time or he could die instantly from such act.