Yesterday I saw a 'chunky' baby and it reminded me of my precious angel when she was a baby! Since then, I've learnt that babies don't only cry when they are hungry... As a new mother, I was naive to the sounds of her cries and it shames me to think I taught her to comfort eat at such a young age!As a new mom, you need to know that babies cry for many reasons - they can even sense your mood, so if you are tearful and unhappy, they will be too!
Needing to be burped is a difficult problem to decode, other than perhaps some whiteness above the top lip. Sometimes it is just the comfort of sucking that is required, which can be easily achieved through the use of a dummy or aptly named 'pacifier', or if you are against using these, and your fingers are clean, then try using your pinkie instead.
As your baby grows, teething will be another problem that causes much crying, but may show no other symptoms. Our favourite device for teething was a plastic teether that you could freeze. Also if you are in South Africa, biltong shops now sell a piece on a string for just this purpose, which I can report, works brilliantly!
At the time my daughter was born, the books I was reading seemed to promote demand feeding, but I guess you need to know your babies hungry cry to achieve this successfully! If you are unsure, like I was, then my advice is to try everything else first and if the crying still persists, then go ahead and feed, but remember, breast is always best and check your times that your child is at least getting sufficiently fed! This can be tricky when you breast feed, but if you at least keep a record of your times, the Sister at the Clinic will be able to set your mind at ease. Plus their weigh-ins will be able to tell you if you are under or overfeeding anyway!
Enjoy and remember a crying baby, is not always a hungry one...
