My three week old baby was really good, but now he won’t settle and cries every time I put him down. What should I do?

In the first three months, infants are in a normal state of adjustment where erratic feeding and sleeping patterns, periods of crying and unsettled behaviour are common. At about two weeks of age, babies start to cry more. The crying peaks at around two months of age and then decreases.

Crying may start for no known reason and is more common in the late afternoon or evening. A baby may not stop crying no matter what the parent tries. During the first months of life 95% of infants cry after waking and cannot return to sleep without intervention. On average, most babies cry between one and two hours each day.

Crying is your baby’s only form of vocal communication. Assess your baby and the cry. Look at and listen to your baby. Crying is part of the normal behavioural spectrum and can be related to a number of reasons such as hunger, thirst, temperature, over-stimulation, a soiled nappy, a need to be repositioned, being unable to relax, or the need for comfort to get into a calm state.

Respond to your baby in a timely and sensitive manner. This prevents over stimulation and decreases the potential of your baby becoming distressed. If that happens baby will requires significant levels of intervention.

Consistent, sensitive and responsive caregiving promotes the development of the infant’s emerging sense of self, security and trust. Early sensitive nurturing sets in motion the ongoing development of neurological pathways for emotional modulation. When the parent/s comfort their crying infant, hormones such as ‘dopamine’ flood the brain, helping the baby become calm and enhancing the bond between the infant and the parent/s.

During this period there is a gradual emergence of synchronicity as your baby adapts to their environment and develops their own rhythms.

The challenge for parents is to help their baby adjust to the environment whilst they are also learning to identify and respond sensitively to the infant’s cues. Responding sensitively to the infant’s cues tends to decrease the amount of infant crying over time.

The effectiveness of settling methods is based on the soothing nature of predictability and repetition, for example a soft steady voice, speaking over and over in a slow, rhythmical, unchanging, calming manner.

Tired signs indicate that an infant is beginning to get tired. They differ between individual infants and may include yawning, jerky movements of the limbs, clenching fists, fretting, facial grimacing, pulling at the ears, rubbing eyes and/or increased physical activity. Read the cues and prepare the baby for sleep before they become overtired.

Gentle rocking or stroking can offer the infant security and help them to calm.

Wrapping can help to lessen the effect of the startle response. It also provides a sense of security by replicating the snuggled sensation in the uterus and promotes calming into a sleep state. Assess the infant’s clothing prior to wrapping as wrapping increases the potential to overheat. Use a light material to contain the arms allowing for hip flexion and chest wall expansion. Wrap the infant with the arms up above the waist.