Why some babies cry
Millions of mothers across the globe at one stage or another are faced with their babies’ uncontrollable crying. This leads to many sleepless nights for both mother and child.
The causes for such uncontrollable crying are many, but according to Professor John Ireland a specialist on children illnesses at the Red Cross Children’s Hospital in Cape Town, up to 30 percent of infants suffer a bout of “colic”. According to Ireland this is normal and it occurs mainly in the evenings when it can last for anything from 20 minutes to a few hours. Ireland says colic babies cry a lot (the baby is not hungry or angry, but in pain) and tend to pull their legs up. According to a report by the Johnson and Johnson Paediatric Institute “The management of prolonged crying by health professionals is important because if the crying is excessive and the mother is not adequately supported she may lose confidence in her abilities (self-efficacy), leading to insecure attachment of the infant, discontinuation of breast feeding and even abuse or shaken baby syndrome.
Thandeka Teyise spoke to Professor John Ireland to find out more about this problem.
The audio is in isiXhosa and English.
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