All infants cry. Crying is an infant’s primary form of communicating with you. Through crying, infants are learning how to get their needs met. Each time you are responsive to your infant’s cries and needs, showing them love and care, they feel understood and learn about the two-way nature of communication. It is natural for a parent or someone in a parenting role to think that something is wrong when an infant cries. Sometimes, despite your best efforts to respond to your infant’s needs, their crying may continue. 

Managing your feelings in healthy ways when your infant cries is essential. Finding healthy ways to calm yourself models how to manage big feelings for your infant. Your infant can sense when you are upset and when you are calm. Your infant is learning about their world through their relationship with you. When you manage your feelings in healthy ways you are building trust between you and your infant. You are also providing foundational experiences that allow your infant to learn to predict how you will respond, and this has a calming effect on your infant’s brain.

This podcast, from the creators of ParentingMontana.org, talks about ways a new parent can soothe their infant when they are crying as well as ways to recognize and manage their own exhaustion, frustration, and overwhelming feelings when their infant is crying. Montana Department of Health and Human Services and the Center for Health and Safety Culture at Montana State University are striving to equip parents with the tools and skills necessary to parent infants to teens with the mental, emotional, and behavioral development for success.  Listen here for tips on how to soothe your crying infant and manage your own emotions as you respond to their needs.