Being a parent is a really special thing. We experience the good, the bad, and everything in between. Sometimes, it’s easy to forget the good and dwell on the bad when consistently dealing with screaming babies.
This article will cover some useful tips that our team at Yalla baby has come up with.

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Babies Cry! It’s Okay

Since people cry when they are upset or in pain, those are our immediate and natural assumptions when trying to understand why our babies cry. But obviously, babies cry for a multitude of reasons, sometimes out of just plain boredom!

If you aren’t able to calm your crying baby down, try not to consider it a failure. Often there is little to nothing that can be done to stop the tears. Many parents have found it easier to cope after understanding that crying is a baby’s only way to communicate and show feelings. Don’t dwell on how much easier it would be if your baby was “different”. You aren’t alone!

Let Them “Cry It Out”

This tip goes against our natural instincts to immediately do whatever we can to get our babies to stop crying. We hold and bounce them gently, burp them, try to feed them, and more, often to no avail.

After confirming to the best of our ability that our baby isn’t in pain or discomfort and that they aren’t hungry or thirsty, sometimes it’s okay to just let them cry. It will be really hard at first to go against your instincts in this way, but this strategy has proven over time to decrease both the frequency and duration of crying episodes. Studies have confirmed that there aren’t developmental consequences to doing this.

Keep Your Cool And Self-Care

This is a big one. After your baby is secure in a safe place “crying it out”, take a moment of self-care. New parents tend to forget or ignore their own needs, which is natural but can be damaging in excess. Take a shower, listen to music, maybe call your friend or family member. If the other parent is in the picture, let them take over for a bit.

It’s understandable to get pretty creative when trying to calm our little ones down, but there are some no-no’s to be said. Never throw, hit, or shake your baby. Babies struggle to support the weight of their own heads due to their weak neck muscles and their brains can face serious danger if forcibly shaken. Babies who were shaken aggressively have been bruised, brain-damaged, gone blind, and even passed away. This is why it’s so important to keep your cool and think about your own self-care.

Accept And Ask For Help

As parents, some of us like to think that we can handle it all while others are just hesitant to ask for help. It’s not shameful to acknowledge that taking care of babies is often more difficult than handling a 9-5 day job.

Ask relatives to get involved. Think of the baby’s grandmother, grandfather, uncle, aunt, and others. If you have an older child who you can trust to feed and or watch over your baby, that can have very positive effects. It will teach your older child responsibility and maturity that will help them in school and respect you as a parent by understanding what you are going through daily. Parenthood wasn’t designed to be a one-person job.

Sleep And Naps

This one may feel impossible for a lot of us. But try and get as much sleep and naps as you can every day. When your baby is sleeping, that is the perfect time for you to go to sleep as well. It may feel like the optimal time to go shopping, start taking care of the house, and cleaning up messes, but those things are secondary when it comes to sleep. A well-rested parent is a better parent!

Websites like Yalla Baby offer custom kits designed to save parents time and money on baby essentials like diapers, toys, wipes, and more. You can rest as your necessities arrive straight to your door.

Hire a Babysitter

If your household has the budget, hiring a babysitter is a go-to option for many. Some parents who can afford it choose not to because they are hesitant to leave their child with someone that they aren’t familiar with. This is understandable. For others, feelings of being overwhelmed outweigh that notion. Hiring neighborhood teens is a cost-effective option. It doesn’t need to be an everyday thing.

Some parents will purchase nanny-cams which gives us the ability to monitor our baby and the person taking care of them. This boosts our confidence that we can let go (at least a little bit) and relax. And if things aren’t going the way they should be, we can find someone else who is more responsible.

Find a few minutes at least of alone time each day to stay sane. Try to get out of the house at least once a week for a few hours so your inner-self can be reminded that the outside world still exists and there is more to life than these challenging years. This also leads to our next tip.

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Connect With Other Parents and Share Experiences

This tip is great because, when applied, it serves as a way to remember that you aren’t alone and can find people who understand. It’s the perfect thing to do when you get those few hours out of the house while your babysitter or family member is taking care of the baby.

Unless you live in a remote area, there will always be other parents in your community who wish to do the same thing. Apps like Nextdoor can help you connect with your neighboring community and find people that you’d be interested in meeting.

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Closing Remarks

Babies cry and that’s okay. Some cry more, and some cry less. Take solitude in the fact that you aren’t alone and there are tips like these out there that can help make life a little easier during the early years of your baby’s development. Our custom baby-care kits at Yalla Baby are a great addition to these tips and we highly suggest having a look for yourself to see the potential time and money that you can save.