How to help my newborn crybaby?

Yoshi Julia
15 juni 2022

My newborn son was crying all day. He was luckily and surprisingly sleeping through the night, but still it was very tiring to have a crybaby all day. Especially if he is your second one and you want to give your first kid some attention too.

First I though it was just belly cramps, but after a while my intuition told me it was something else and I went to the best doctor I know.

Because I just have to do something with all the new things I learned, and because I am shocked how little is shared with parents I just had to write this blog post. In this article I share with you what reasons your baby could have for crying. How you can recognise the symptoms and what you can do to help you crybaby. I go into a lot of alternative remedies, because regular doctors cannot do much with the symptoms I describe.

Be aware that I am not a doctor, merely a mom who is sharing all the knowledge she came across when she wanted to help her crybaby. I advise you to always use those alternative remedies under supervision of a person who is specialised in that remedy and/or always contact your doctor.

 

Index:

What is a crybaby?

Every newborn cries, the baby needs to to communicate with you, what else could he do? But when is something going on?

Usually, your newborn should sleep for about 16 to 20 hours a day and on average your baby cries 2 to 3 hours a day. It can feel like a lot, but at least you can keep a little track of how much your baby is crying.

Most important factor I think, is your intuition or mom/dad instinct . If you think something is wrong, go check it out.What I noticed with my son is that he was crying and I just could not comfort him or it was just for a couple of minutes when he was having a crying fit. He would cry after burping, a clean diaper, being satisfied. Even when I was holding him and singing & walking, he would not stop crying. I did not keep track of how many hours a day he cried, btw.

Before I go into detail about reasons why your baby is crying it might be good to know about the Dunstan Baby Language.


Dunstan Baby Language

Recognising the cry of your baby is very very very useful. Babies have five universal cries I’ll explain in short:

  • ‘Neh’ means your baby is hungry;
  • ‘Owh’ means your baby is sleepy;
  • ‘Heh’ is discomfort;
  • ‘Eair’ is when your baby is having belly cramps;
  • ‘Eh’ is the sound of a baby that needs to burp.

Best is to watch the video of Priscilla Dunstan and Oprah Winfrey, so you know how the sounds go.

Go straight to 4.30 to hear the sounds 😉

com/watch?v=PgkZf6jVdVg[/embed]

Why is my baby crying? | Traumatic delivery

Now you know all the important sounds your baby is making. So what if your baby is still crying then? Or what if you can’t find out the ‘discomfort’.

I wanted to start with a traumatic delivery. Coming to the world is a huge impact for you and your baby. Of course you want your delivery to go as easy and harmonious as possible, but that’s not always the case. A C-section for example or if you lost a lot of blood, can be really traumatic for you and your baby.

If you can read dutch: here an article with tips to prepare for an harmonious birth.

Signs of traumatic delivery

I did not have a traumatic delivery in that way, but I was holding up the birth because my ex was not home yet. This might have disrupted it as well for my baby, because it gave the signal to him that it was not okay to come.

Knowing when your baby is crying about the delivery is not so easy to pinpoint. I listened with my feeling and felt that he was crying about the birth. Logically thinking this was just after giving birth. Also around the same time of delivery the few following days.

How to process a traumatic delivery with my baby?

Of course the process of giving birth could be traumatic for you as well.

During my pregnancy I chose for centering pregnancy. One of the other women is a baby coach and she said:

‘In case any of us gets a traumatic delivery: talk about it with your baby. Tell him/her what happened and why it had to happen. How it felt for you as a mom or dad. Explain it, so you can both process it.’

She also said that talking to your baby is also good even if your delivery was ‘perfect’. You are probably talking to your newborn anyways ;). If you are pregnant and reading this, talking to your belly is also good for the relationship with your growing baby.

Don’t feel weird doing it, I did it too!

When we had to go to the hospital for extra check ups because of some things that might be wrong with him, I talked to my belly. I explained how I felt, what was going to happen the next day and how much I loved him.

Why is my newborn baby crying? | Headache

Yes, babies can have a headache. A pretty common cause is that the Vomer, the dividing bone in the nose, is stuck in the palate. At least that was why M. was crying in the first place.

To give you a more precise idea of what I am talking about:


Baby’s can have a headache because the Vomer is stuck in the Palatine Bone.


How to recognise the headache of your baby?

It is good to know why your baby could have a headache, so you have a better idea of what you can do about it. Even more important, how to recognise that your crybaby is having a headache.

Your baby is making the following signs if he or she is having a headache:

  • Pulling on his/her ears;
  • Shacking head;
  • Sucking on his/her fists a lot;
  • Having difficulties with sucking on your breast (making lots of noise)

How to cure your baby’s headache?

If the cause of your babies headache is because the Vomer is stuck, the best way to help your crybaby is by going to a craniosacral therapist.

Not all therapist have the knowledge and experience to actually ‘free’ the Vomer, so do your research before you go. Bluntly ask how much experience they have with babies in general and if they feel confident to do this.

Talking out of my own experience: the doctor, or actually surgeon and craniosacral therapist I went to lives in Germany. I was happy to take the 3-hour drive. Until now I found no other therapist who could help me here in the Netherlands.

Also, prepare to go more than once and follow your intuition if you think your baby is crying because he or she is having a headache again. Even if the craniosacral therapist told you, you’ll be fine for another 6 weeks. The bones of a baby are easily set right, but they can also move back again if they are not stable.

Why is my baby crying all day? | Belly cramps

This is a more obvious one, almost all babies do have belly cramps. The bowels simply need to ripe and get used to processing breast milk. However, that does not mean your baby should be crying all day and night because of it.

How to recognise belly cramps?

Even though it can be hard to define that your baby is crying because of the belly cramps. So here some a list to be more certain.

  • The cry-sound your baby makes is ‘EAIR’;
  • Your baby is clenching his fists;
  • And they are pulling their legs up as well

What to do about your baby’s belly cramps?

The ‘normal’ thing to do when your baby is having cramps and crying is this:

  • Carrying your baby around;
  • Shushing;
  • Softly bouncing;
  • Letting your baby suck on a pacifier or your pinky.

Sometimes I also hear: sucking on your breast. For your own sake, don’t do that. You will go into a circle with crying, feeding, belly cramps, offering your breast and then more crying. It was a mistake I made with my first one to offer him the breast while he was crying, because I thought he was hungry again.

The list above will help to sooth your baby temporarily. Here are some things I advise you to do to lighten your life 😉

Hanging Cradles

Because your baby likes the bouncing and swinging, but you don’t want to kill your back: get a hanging cradle. I have one as well and I love it. You can softly bounce and swing your baby without having to carry him/her around. With our eldest the cradle was hanging from the ceiling, it’s more free that way. This time it was not possible, but this works okay too 🙂


This is a hanging cradle from Hussh-Cradles, a dutch brand. All cribs are handmade, eco and planet friendly. You can use them indoors and outdoors and until  your baby is 7 to 9 months old.

Another aspect is that you can change the position. So if your baby is puking a lot you can tilt the cradle to help your baby get rid of the puke.

For more information:  go here.

Baby massage

Massaging your crybaby and the belly of your baby will help relax your baby and you too. Besides; massaging is not only good for belly cramps, it also good for:

  • Your bond with your baby;
  • Your baby sleeps better;
  • Lowering of the cortisol levels;
  • And as a bonus your baby will cry less as well!

There are a lot of studies done about baby-massage, it would be to much to go into detail about that here. It boils down to the points above and basically it has a positive effect on your baby and you. I would say; give it a go 😉

Make sure that you have a nice essential oil, to give the massage the best effect. This one for example 


Homeopathic remedies

I grew up with homeopathic remedies, because my mom is a classic homeopath. A homeopathic remedy is specific and mostly it is constitutional. Meaning that the homeopath is looking at the entire picture and not just the symptoms.

 

Schuessler Cell Salts

This is also a homeopathic remedy in a different form, a little easier to apply because it only has 12 basic remedies.  

There are in total 27 cell salts you can use to balance the mineral balance in your cells and in that way relieve you from pains and diseases.

This is what magnesium phosphate looks like on a microscopic scale.

 

The cell salt you would be looking for your baby with belly cramps is number 7: Magnesium Phosphate. It helps to relieve stress and cramps, especially in the bowels.

Special about this cell salt is that you have the ‘hot seven’. If you boil water without the lid the gasses will ‘leave’ the water. If you combine that with 7 to 10 tablets of Magnesium Phosphate you will get a special solution that helps to relieve cramps and supports relaxation. Order the best quality of Magnesium phosphoricum right here.

Jin Shin Jyutsu

Another very simple method you can use to ease the pain for your crybaby is Jin shin Jyutsu. Until now I know exactly one person who uses this on a daily basis, and that is who told me about it. So that’s why I am sharing it here. More about the method itself in detail you will find here.

Basically you put your hand on meridian points to harmonise energy slots.

Energy locks that help for your babies belly cramps:

  • number 9, on the back between the shoulder blades. You already do this when you want to encourage your baby to burp, funny huh?
  • number 14, at the underside of the ribs. With a baby this basically means putting your hand on the belly.


Now you have some more concrete things to support your newborn with their belly cramps. But what if all this still does not seem to work?


Why is my baby crying after every meal? | Allergies

Another reason for why your crybaby could be having belly cramps is allergies. Allergies are not easy to determine by yourself and your little one can be allergic to a lot of things. Dairy products, gluten, sugar, soy, nuts, the list goes on and on.

How do I know if my crybaby is having allergies?

A big giveaway is if your baby is crying every time after feeding. The surgeon asked me; but like I said, he was sleeping through the night.  I just wanted to be sure and luckily there is a very easy and effective way to test if your baby is having allergies, without taking blood samples: kinesiology, or applied kinsiology is what it is called in the way I mean it.

What is (applied) kinesiology?

In very short: Kinesiology is a method of finding out things about your body by ‘asking’ your body questions. the best way to explain is out of my own experience and a little bit of research I did.

Dr. Gerard asked me to stretch my arm while I am holding my baby. He pushes, for no longer than 3 seconds on my arm. He goes over a box where in little amounts food is stored in little capsules. Whenever Mio was not allergic, my arm would be ‘strong’, whenever he was allergic I could do anything I wanted, but not hold the soft pressure the doctor gave me.

Luckily my son is only allergic to soy and hopefully he grows over it. And of course I will apply the other stuff I am recommending you too. Because I never tell someone else to do something, if I haven’t done it first 😉

A funny way to play with the muscle testing. Hold out your arm and ask someone else to push on your arm for no longer than 3 seconds asking for example the question/saying the statement: I am a girl/I am a boy. Then you can experience it for yourself.

Of course you can always double check by going to the doctor and getting blood samples, but this works as effective and especially for babies it’s not fun with the needles…

What can I do if my baby has allergies?

Change your diet

If you are breastfeeding your baby and you want to keep doing that, my first suggestion would be to change your diet. It is proven that breast milk has a lot of pro’s, one of them is that it decreases the change of allergies. So the best would be to keep giving your baby breast milk, without the allergen in it.

Also, your crybaby can outgrow the allergy. In this study with over 40,104 children surveyed, they found out that just a little over 25% outgrows their allergy.

Acupuncture

When I was in High school I wrote an enhanced article about acupuncture. Don’t know where it is now and it’s in Dutch, otherwise I would love to share it with you. Important thing that I do remember is this:

Acupuncture can certainly help to cure your crybaby from allergies, if at least lessen the symptoms. Most of the time you will have to take a treatment more then once, but in my opinion it would be worth the shot if your baby is highly allergic to common foods.

Schuessler Cell Salts

The two most important cell salts that can support allergies in general are:

  • Number 2: Calcium phosphoricum
  • Number 8: Natrium chloratum

The easiest way to apply them with your baby is putting 10 to 15 tablets in the bath. You can also give it to your baby with a teaspoon as a paste, or put it on your breast. You can only use very small amounts!
I have to add the warning that one of the additives is milk sugar/ lactose. So do not give it to your crybaby if he or she is allergic to milk 😉 Then the bath would be the best way to go.

The tablets I use are gluten free, so I assume others will be too. But just to make sure, check it.

Homeopathy

Also homeopathy can help and support a lot with allergies. I do not have that knowledge so I would say: contact my mom, Britta Schaefer for a consult if you want to use homeopathy to support the allergy of your little one. Just send an email via her website.

Jin shin Jyutsu

Also Jin shin Jyutsu can support the allergy of your newborn and kid.

In short I want to give you the energy lock you can use on your kid or baby, maybe yourself even. These points are for allergies in general, not for something specific.

  • Holding your baby’s big toes, number 7 can support;
  • Energy lock number 9, between the shoulders could help;
  • Or you can hold both 19 energy locks, inside of the elbows.


Why is my baby crying in agony? | Kiss syndrome

When your baby is crying a lot and it also seems like he is in pain when he is crying, your baby might be having Kiss Syndrome.

What is KISS syndrome & how to recognise it?

KISS syndrome is short for ‘Kinematic Imbalance due to Suboccipital Stress’. It basically means that you newborn is having a lot of tension in the neck/upper vertebrae.


The muscles of your babies neck are probably very tens, which results in
stress in other body structures. It even influences the vegetative nervous system. Very painful and a logical cause why your crybaby is crying all day.
Recognising Kiss Syndrome
There are a lot of symptoms what give away that your kid is having KISS.The most obvious & common symptoms I noticed with my son;

  • Looking to one side all the time;
  • Sleeping only short sleeps during the day;
  • Lying down his body looked like a banana… seriously;
  • Arching the back/overstretched.
  • Asymmetric movement of arms and legs: his one leg could go up a lot further than the other. Also, he barely raised his left arm, which was the ‘problem’ side.
  • Crying a lot during changing the diaper/clothes. Basically he hates lying on his back, so I mostly put him on the side or belly. (With my supervision of course 😉 )
  • Crying all of a sudden for no clear reason;
  • Asking a lot to drink, more for comfort than for hunger, because of the pain he was having.

There are a lot more, less obvious symptoms.  If you have the idea that your baby has a lot of tension in the neck/back, or if you cannot find another cause for the many tears your newborn is shedding: I would go to an experienced craniosacral therapist.

How to cure my crybaby from KISS syndrome?

There is not much you can do yourself here, very frustrating I found when he was crying so much.What you could do to relax the muscles in the neck and shoulders is some Jin Shin Jyutsu. My son would relax when I put my hand on his shoulder, neck or upper back. And he would sleep a little better.

However, you cannot set the bones of your baby right. So, I would advise you to go to an experienced craniosacral therapist. A not cured KISS syndrome can have a lot of negative effects for the development for your kid. Be sure that the therapist is experienced and not a starter, you don’t want them to try out things on your baby…


Why is my baby having a crying fit? | Fissure/Anal rip

My second son is born with a fissure. I have had one myself for a long time, I went through a lot of pain just after Riley’s birth. The surgeon/craniosacral therapist discovered that my son was having it during the second session I was there.

I had the feeling that something else was going on, other than the KISS syndrome and the headache Mio was having. So I asked him to check out his belly, if there was something going on our not.

How do I know if my baby is having a fissure?

So thew surgeon looked at his belly and knocked in a special way on his belly. He was mumbling something about that it was typical. He was also saying that a baby’s belly is supposed to be flat. Then he asked me;

“Is he having pain when he needs to poop?”.

I told him yes and he wanted to check his bum/anus.

The two major symptoms I made up out of this anecdote is (I also asked him again to be sure if I was right):

  • A blown, round belly;
  • Pain/hard time pooping.

I also noticed that my son would have crying fits just before he was pooping and also after he pooped. Don’t know why not during, but I can understand now why is was crying so much.

The only way to be sure that your crybaby is having an anal rip is by going to your doctor and letting it be checked out.

What can I do to cure the anal rip/fissure of my baby?

Is there even something you can do? Yeah, there is!

Apply Isosorbide dinitrate

In between the times your baby poops, the fissure is healing again, but every time it rips open again. So, my doctor (still the same one) gave me a salve that consist for 40% out of isosorbide dinitrate. Do not give it in tablet form!

What’s that, you might ask yourself? Well, Isosorbide dinitrate is a nitrate that widens the blood vessels and relaxes the anus in this case. Which gives the anus of your crybabythe time to heal completely.

I have to apply the salve 3 times a day with a cue tip, just like you would temperature your baby. The doctor tells me to keep doing it for at least two months.

“If it looks better, apply the salve for another month, because it needs to heal from the inside too.”

Your physician should be able to give you the prescription for this.

Schuessler Cell salt Calcium Fluoratum

I do not have evidence for what I am about to write down. But I think you might understand my thinking.

Like I said before I was having a fissure too. I found out in the practical guide for schuessler cell salts that you can take number 1: calcium fluoratum for this, together with number 11: Silicea. I also have other sings or symptoms that I have a shortage of these particular cell salts.

My thinking is that because of this, I could not give enough of that mineral to my son during my pregnancy, thus he is born with an anal rip. I am sharing this information with you, so you can find out for you if you need this cell salt too. Or if you are pregnant you can maybe prevent it, by taking the schuessler salt if you are sure you have a shortage. It might be best to contact a practitioner who works with schuessler salts to find out.

So right now I am giving him my son schuessler cell salts:

Those are two most important schuessler cell salts. Additionally you can use tissue salt no. 9 Natrium phosphoricum.

Why is my baby crying? | Radiation

Maybe you think, no way, this is bullshit. I believe that ‘radiation’ of radio towers, the internet & mobile (data)is a little underestimated. There are many researches about the negative effect of these high frequency’s on your health.

How to know if my crybaby is sensitive for radiation?

Your baby is definitively sensitive, I don’t doubt that. Babies are more sensitive for a lot of things. The question is, if your baby is having pain or a hard time processing the radiation in and around the house.

The best way you can do is test this with kinesiology. I wanted to reassure this with my son, because I had the feeling that he got more restless with my phone around. We found out that he was sleeping less because of it and below are some things my ‘doctor’ advised me to do.

What can you do about radiation in the house?

Leave your phone in the kitchen

Even if your kid does not test ‘positive; for being oversensitive for radiation, you can do a couple of things to have a calmer surrounding and fewer radiation sources.

  • Leave your phone in the kitchen;
  • No TV in the bedroom;
  • Turn internet/network router of at night;
  • No tablet/laptop in the bedroom.

Wear stones that absorb radiation

Also there are two stones that pick up the radiation: Rosy quarts and Tourmaline. Whit kinesiology we figured out what my little one needed to feel more rested. For him the Rosy quarts would help and at night I have to entirely turn the electricity off in our bedroom and of course the internet.


 To give proper credit for the bracelet picture: http://www.artsofbeing.nl/[/caption]

The switch on the meter cupboard switches off the bedroom and living room together, so that’s easy. And my baby is wearing a nice bracelet of tiny rosy quarts stones around his shoulder/arm so he doesn’t hurt himself and he can still wear it with him all day.

In this article I did my best to write down the information I gather through the sources below. However, I cannot be held responsible for any wrongdoings from your side. Also, it is possible that your baby is crying because of other reasons. I will keep updating this post with new information to my best ability.

My last advise is:

Always listen to your intuition and mom instinct. You have that for a reason. If you think that something is going on with your baby, there is. Even if experts and doctors say nothing is going on. Don’t stop looking until you found out what it is and how you can help your baby. If you have any questions, you can always contact me.


 

Sources: