Decoding Baby Crying Sounds: What They Mean & How to Calm

Your newborn is touching several developmental milestones, and learning to communicate is one such. Although your baby may not be talking just yet, they can send cues to communicate their needs. Your baby relies extensively on whimpers, cries, and screams to get your attention. Let's admit that watching your baby cry can stab your heart like a thousand needles.

Soothing a crying baby seems to be a daunting task for every parent, especially if you are not able to figure out the underlying reason. But what if we told you that every baby crying sound has a unique message that your little one is trying to communicate to you? You will be relieved that we have compiled this article as a detailed guide to help you decode a baby's crying sound, along with some expert tips on calming your crying baby. So keep reading for further information.

Why do Babies Cry?

Before we address the elephant in the room, let us understand why babies cry. While some of you may already be natural at decoding your baby’s cries, some might benefit from some support. So here are some of the most fundamental reasons why babies cry or scream -

1. Dirty Diaper

A dirty baby nappy is one of the most common reasons for your baby's crying. While there are different baby cries, your little one will let you know when their nappy is wet or soiled. Please be sure to watch out for signs of a whiny, nasal, persistent short cry, followed by a longer one.

Pro-tip: You can choose our super-absorbent and dry-feel layered SuperBottoms UNO cloth diapers for newborn babies to ensure they get no rashes and feel comfortable during their diaper time.

2. Hungry Baby

Babies usually cry when hungry; at first, it might sound like fussy crying, but after some time, the cries become more frantic, louder, longer, and more demanding. When you hear, A type of cry sounding like a siren, accompanied by putting their hand in the mouth, and clenching their fingers, know that it is time to breastfeed or formula feed them.

3. Baby is Tired

One of the reasons that your baby is crying is that it might be tired or uncomfortable. Look for signs of them yawning, closing their eyes, making jerky movements, or sucking their thumb, which signals that they are tired and need a nap. If you hear a high-pitched baby crying baby sound with a lot of breath behind them, know that your baby needs rest.

4. Baby is Sick

Babies usually cry whenever they are sick, and you must consider other symptoms like whether your baby is lethargic, eyes are watery, or have a runny nose. Look out for the newborn baby crying sound like weak and tired moans, which are usually high-pitched with low intensity.

5. Baby is Overstimulated

When too much light, new sounds or experiences are happening simultaneously, your baby may get overstimulated. In such cases, your baby crying sound may be intense, rising and falling, similar to those when they suffer from baby gas pain. Therefore, it is best to change their environment, draw the curtains, dim the lights, and add white noise to help your baby relax.

Decoding Baby Crying Sound

Every baby crying sound has a unique underlying message that your baby is trying to communicate with you. So, in this section, we have provided five vocal reflexes that can help you interpret your baby's different crying sounds.

1. Neh Sound – Indicating hunger

Newborn babies use a sucking reflex to create the sound “neh” whenever they are hungry. So the best way to recognise this sound is to observe your baby’s mouth closely. This baby crying sound typically causes their tongue to move to a position behind their teeth.

2. Eh sound – Indicating Burp

This sound means your newborn needs to be burped. The “eh” sound is caused by internal reflexes pushing an air bubble from their chest. Your baby will naturally respond with a short hiss, a grunt, or a sound like “Eh”, which is not a real burp but sounds when trying to burp.

3. Eairh Sound – Indicating gas

This baby crying sound typically occurs when your baby is 6-12 weeks of age and indicates that your baby has an upset tummy. You will notice that your baby makes the sound “eairh” by opening their mouth, tongue held back, and a taut belly. An intense cry accompanies this sound if they have severe pain.

4. Heh, Sound – Indicating discomfort

Babies make this sound when they experience stress and discomfort that signals a soiled or wet nappy. This sound is triggered in response to a skin reflex, such as a sweaty or an itchy feeling.

5. Owh Sound – Indicating sleepiness

Newborn babies sound “owh” when they feel tired, accompanied by yawns and exhales. Typically babies making this sound have an oval-shaped mouth, flattened tongue and spacious room inside the mouth.

Tips to Calm a Crying Baby

Soothing a crying baby can seem challenging, but not anymore, for we have offered some essential tips to help you calm your baby down -

1. Learn to decode baby crying sounds.
2. Find a comfortable spot to nurture them if the sound they make indicates they are hungry.
3. Swaddle them in our SuperBottoms Swaddle cloths made of 100% organic cotton mulmul fabric if they make sounds that indicate they are tired and need sleep.
4. Wipe their nose if they make a crying sound that indicates that they are sick.
5. Change your baby’s cloth diaper if their crying sound indicates nappy changing.
6. Give your baby a gentle and soothing warm bath.
7. Hold your baby, pat them in your arms, and spend some skin-to-skin time with them.

Key Takeaways

We hope that this article has helped you navigate your way through the different baby crying sounds. While watching your baby cry can be heart-wrenching, these expert tips can help you effectively calm your baby down.

Message From SuperBottoms

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