The Purple Phase Of BabyHood Understanding A Crying Baby

Introducing a newborn into your home is no easy task. All the excitement of starting a new life with a new baby can be exhausting. No matter what advice you ever receive it will never completely prepare you for becoming a new mommy.

It is one of those situations where there just is no guide book.

There is a period in a new born's life that is referred to as the purple stage. The purple stage is a time in a new born's life when they simply cry more than usual, for no apparent reason. This can be a very upsetting time and make you feel completely frustrated. This stage is often misdiagnosed as colic, but colic lasts much longer than this the Purple Phase. This seems to be a rather random event you may have had one child that did not experience the Purple phase while you have one now that is.

First recognize that this is a normal part of infant development a lot of experts are out on how it is beneficial to growth and development, but I like to think of it as something of a mourning period, a period of anxiety caused by the sudden realization that the safety of the womb environment has drastically changed and the crying is born of frustration and fear.  Of course my theory sounds a bit sophisticated for a new born but I still feel it is a time of anxiety.

A lot of parents feel that their baby must be in some sort of pain to react so hysterically to the point where they can not be soothed. There does not seem to be any correlation between this Purple Phase and physical pain.  A study that was done among breast feeding mammals indicated that other mammals of other species also seemed to go through this phase where they were more fussy than usual, where they cried uncontrollably  for no apparent reason.

Most of the time the babies that are affected by this phase seemly cry more in the evening or late afternoon, often when parents are just arriving home from work and are tired as well. It can really upset the entire family.

What Can You do To Ease the Tears?

There are things that you can do to ease some of the crying. You should also make sure that your baby is not suffering from any physical ailments, once you have ruled that out than try the following:

Stay Calm- This can be really hard advice to follow when you have been dealing with a screaming baby for hours, but stay calm! An old country doctor told me thirty years ago when my baby was diagnosed with colic that "nervous parents make for nervous babies" and when babies are stressed or nervous they cry.

Set a Routine -A structured environment seems to help keep babies calmer. Have routines in place from very early on in a babies life. Routines like bathing before bed and reading at a certain time.

Get Some Help!-I had a colicky baby (whom I now believe went through the purple phase) and I know first hand how stressful and challenging it can be to try to soothe a baby that acts they do not want anything at all to do with you. It is an awful feeling. Ask for help. Ask a trusted friend, sister, your mother, his mother anyone for some help. Ask them to keep the baby for a few hours while you rest and recoup. Sleep is one of things that can make you feel brand new. The lack of sleep can make everything worse! Ask for help, if you have no one to ask, pay for it. Hire a high school kid to come and hang out for a few hours a day in the late afternoon when things are typically at their worse so you have some help.

Let em Cry-I know that this is your baby and you never want to see your baby suffer but when you have really given it all you got, you tried the swing, you walked the floors, you rocked, you strolled, you rode around in the car and nothing works. Make sure the baby is clean and fed, place the baby in their cradle, bassinet, crib or other sleeping area and walk away, go outside take a deep breath go back in after a few minutes to check on the baby. You can at any time pick the baby up once you are calm.

The key is to stay calm, babies feed on your vibe. If mommy is stressed and her body language and the scent of her indicates she is upset that is only going to keep things rocking and rolling for so much longer. Babies, new borns have the uncanny ability to "smell" their mothers, they recognize their mothers scent and can also recognize when that scent is altered by stress hormones and react.

This period will pass as all things do, keep that in mind. It may seem a life time away but before you know it peace will be restored ! Hang in there!