Knowing Their Cries

If I’ve heard it once, I have heard it a thousand times: “Isn’t it crazy how fast you know what your baby’s different cries mean!?!”

For a while this made me feel like a bad mother. No, no I don’t know that there are different cries and I don’t know what they mean other than discontent. Most of the time I either know why he would be upset so I address that (ie. it's time to eat so this cry must mean he is hungry, or he just bopped his head so he must need reassurance, OR wow SOMETHING stinks!) or I would just run through the checklist of things to tend to befor I would just hold him and bounce or rock.

One of the best things I read early on was to remember that crying is the only way a new baby can really communicate so it doesn’t always mean fear or sadness. This helped in those times that I knew I had tended to everything that I possibly could still the baby would whine.

I have, after about 9 months realized that I know some of the cries:

• “I am somehow in pain or uncomfortable” is loud and shrill and usually comes out of nowhere
• “I’m having trouble getting the gas bubbles out on my own” sounds like a muted cry as if something is covering his mouth as he makes the sound
•  “I just need some lovin’” is usually just a droning cry 
•  “I don’t really know why I’m crying but I am” is like he is just moaning on and on but in a crying sort of way- no tears
• The hungry cry is accompanied by my son acting like he is a ravenous animal clawing at things to get to any food source what-so-ever.

 I am still confusing the diaper cry with the “I’m bored” cry which tends to lead to my feeling really neglectful because in bad circumstances it means that I have been telling my son to get over it and play by himself when in reality he is trying to tell me he is sitting in a dirty diaper. Oopsie.