SO THEY CRY
It makes total sense why babies cry so much. I wish I had understood this concept when my twins were newborns. Up until the day babies are born, their whole existence has been in a confined, cozy, constantly sound-filled environment. Then they are born, and we take them home, placing them in a crib where they lay alone. It’s quiet—a whole new world. It’s scary! So they cry.
But we find it annoying, inconvenient, and tiring because, let’s be honest, if you have a baby (or babies, in my case) that haven't stopped crying and you can’t do anything for longer than a few minutes without them needing you, then all those feelings are very valid! So they cry.
However, we can articulate (some better than others) what we want and need, but our babies are new to it all! Every sound, every smell, every touch, every sight—everything is new! So they cry.
I wish I’d understood that, as a species, our babies are born very dependent, unlike other species that come out fending for themselves. Sure, it seems obvious now, but at the time, I was so consumed with how I was feeling that I didn’t give much thought to how they were feeling. So they cry.
As mums, we start to question: Is it me? Is it something I am doing? Is there something wrong with my child? Sure, in some cases, there might be specific reasons why babies cry. But I’ve come to learn—albeit a bit too late, since my babies are now toddlers—that it must be so overwhelming for them. The worst part is they can’t even communicate in a way we understand. So they cry!
I look back at that first year and feel sorry for my babies. I wish I had understood them better. I wish I had followed my motherly intuition of breastfeeding them more on demand instead of following a routine because that’s what I was told to do. I wish I had just held them longer instead of listening to people saying I was spoiling them and creating a rod for my back. So they cried.
Today, I give myself grace. The better we know, the better we do. Even though I can’t go back in time, I can share my experience in hopes that it may help another parent one day. And so I cry.
