The baby’s night-time howling is indeed a bitter tear for parents. Every night as it gets dark, you must be attentive, prepared to respond to the baby’s roar of “declaration of war” at any time. Perhaps parents who have not experienced find it difficult to comprehend why such a young child can cry for such a long time, and does so more than once a night, always starting off unexpectedly. Not only that, when children cry for an extended period of time, their bodies turn bruise green, which causes parents to worry may be breathless and lose consciousness.
Children frequently cry at night, is known as a “night crier” and is more common in new-borns and young kids under the age of one. Most children that cry at night may sleep happily during the day, but start to wail as it becomes dark; On the other hand, some children cry every night, even from twilight till dawn.
Is the child ill because he likes to cry?
For new-borns and infants who have not yet developed the ability to express verbally, crying is a physiological way for neonates and infants to express demands or suffering. Crying is a new-born’s first language at birth, an indication that they are starting to breathe independently, a reflexive reaction to their environment, and a natural manifestation brought on by physiological requirements.
Therefore, infants who are unable to communicate will express their thoughts and needs to their parents through crying, facial expressions, and body language, including “cold, hot, hungry, urination, stool, sleepy, afraid,” and stops soon after parents identify and address the causes of crying, which is a physiological response in infants.
Pathological crying occurs when a baby cries at a certain period every night, especially in the middle of the night, and the parents are unable to soothe them. When the crying stops, baby can continue sleeping and the subsequent sleep is unaffected.
Baby’s night-time howling from the perspective of TCM
1. Babies who cry in the early half of the night have a cold spleen.
The stomach and spleen of the new-born are still developing, and the stomach is prone to being cold. When a baby’s stomach caught wind or consumes raw and cold food, the cold travels directly to the spleen and stomach, leading to cold deficit, resulting in stomach discomfort. In addition, night belongs to Yin, since the temperature at night drops, and the cool temperature aggravates the cold in the baby’s spleen and stomach causes the baby to cry at night because of an uncomfortable stomach and disrupts their sleep. The majority of infants with cold spleens cry quietly, lean over and curl up when they do, have bluish faces, prefer to sleep on their stomachs, and have a cold abdomen.
2. Babies who cry in the second half of night are hot
The majority of babies with heart fire exhibit ‘heaty’ behaviour, being restless throughout the day and crying at night. When mothers decide to breastfeed their babies after consuming spicy, fried, or indigestible food, the nature of the breast milk changes to hot, and babies who consume it are more likely to become heaty. On the other hand, when parents let their babies wear heavy clothing out of fear that they will get cold, the baby’s body heat cannot be dissipated in time, forming internal heat, which disturbs the baby’s mind, making them fussy and cry. Babies with heated hearts frequently have red faces, cry out loudly, have trouble going asleep, and are irritable.
3. Food accumulation in babies who can’t sleep well
Since new-borns and young children’s spleens and stomachs are immature, the amount of food that can be digested is limited. Overfeeding by parents will simply increase the burden on the baby’s already underdeveloped spleen and stomach, directly injure the gastrointestinal tract, and lead to food accumulation. Most new-borns with food accumulation have a bloated stomach, regularly wake up at night crying, do not sleep well, and have sour and odorous faeces, no appetite, and severe food accumulation can cause fever.
4. Babies that regularly wake up are terrified
According to traditional Chinese medicine, babies are young and have all of their internal organs still developing, as well as weak blood and qi and an immature heart, making them especially sensitive to odd sounds from the outside world.When there are too many stimuli present during the day (for example, travelling to noisy crowded locations or being abruptly awakened by a loud noise while sleeping), the heart spirit is disrupted, causing babies to be easily terrified. The majority of terrified babies have extremely tense facial expressions, cry during dreams, sleep restlessly, and, in severe cases, their faces turn blue and grey.
Ways to prevent your baby from crying at night
1. More skin-to-skin contact occurs between parents and their infants
New-borns love to be touched as skin-to-skin contact can calm babies down and provide them with the most intuitive sensory experience. When parents hold their infant, they encourage emotional communication between the two through a close physical connection, stabilize the infant’s emotions, provide the infant with complete safety, satisfaction,and lessens crying.
2. The baby shouldn’t be taken to loud events throughout the day, and parents shouldn’t engage in stimulating activities with the child right before night
Taking your infant to a place that is very noisy throughout the day can impact your baby’s mood and cause your baby to get frightened easily. Parents of frequently crying children should put them to bed on time. Parents should refrain from excessive taunting and from playing stimulating activities with the baby between 30 minutes and an hour before going to bed, in order to prevent making it difficult for the infant to fall asleep due to excessive excitement or emotional stress.
3. Avoid overeating right before bed
Because the infant’s spleen and stomach have limited capacity, overfeeding will prevent the baby from properly digesting, which will impair the child’s ability to digest food. Additionally, allowing the child to consume too much before bed will impact the baby’s sleep, and an inadequately digested meal not only puts more stress on the spleen and stomach but also causes the baby to sleep restlessly due to abdominal distension.
4. You may warm your baby’s belly button once its tummy is cold
For babies whose tummy is prone to cold, mom and dad can wrap a warm water bag in a towel and apply it over the baby’s belly button, or massage their palms together and apply them to the baby’s abdomen to reduce the baby’s discomfort. Typically, you must be attentive to keeping your baby’s belly warm, especially when resting at night, you must not allow the baby to kick the quilt so that he or she does not become cold again.
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