Why do babies cry?
It’s a million dollar question but one gadget apparently has the answer
Stumbling in the semi darkness to calm a fractious baby is a familiar scene to any parent. Wishing your baby could tell you what is the matter rather than just screaming is another. After having had a selection of possible problems addressed most babies will usually go back to sleep. But wouldn’t it be better all round if there was a gadget that would tell you why your baby is crying? After all, there seems to be a gadget for almost everything else.
The WHyCry baby cry analyser is just such a gadget. About the size of a small radio it will, when placed the correct distance from a screaming baby, analyse the scream and narrow it down to one of five catergories. A light on the machine will let the anxious parent know what is the problem. Solving it is then child’s play. Well, at least that’s the theory. But does it work? Apparently so.
Available in Cyprus, the WhyCry has been put through its paces by several infants. Maria and Neil Smallwood were at their wit’s end when six-month-old Daniel would not stop crying. They found he cried far more than their older daughter, Angelina, two, so turned to WhyCry in an attempt to understand what was troubling their son. “It certainly gave us more options. In Cyrus we have this thing that you have to pick up a crying baby, this explained why he was crying,” Maria said.
“Once it showed he was hungry which was surprising as it was only a little while after he had eaten, but it was right,” she added. “Another time it showed me that he was bored and once I put some toys and things around him he settled down. It did the trick really and showed that he was crying for a specific reason.”
Similarly, Tracy Leontiades found her third child, nine-month-old Maia cried more than her two older brother, Leontios, 8, and ALexandros, 5. “I started off putting the WhyCry to the test when I knew that she was hungry or I knew that she was tired,” Tracy said. “I found that is worked every time.”
It sometimes surprised. “One time I had put her down after feeding her and she just kept crying. It was wearing me out so I placed the WhyCry next to her and it showed that she was hungry. I must not have fed her enough.”
The Why Cry machine is distributed in Cyprus by Julie Rumbold, herself the mother of a two-year-old, Daisy, who discovered the gadget’s benefits for herself. “My husband was working long hours and I was exhausted. In the middle of the night, she wouldn’t stop crying. I went into the room and the WhyCry said she was uncomfortable. It allowed me, in my groggy state, to comfort her, change her nappy and settle her back down.
“It meant that she was able to settle back down very quickly and I was able to crawl into my bed for some well deserved sleep.”
The battery-powered device was created by Spanish electronic engineer Pedro Monagas, who was trying to work out why his own son, Alex, was crying. He has said “My own son Alex was always crying and after night after night of not very much sleep I decided I had to find a way of finding out what he was trying to say to me – if only for my own sanity.
So Monagas spent three years visiting nurseries, analysing the crying patterns of babies of around 100 babies. The resultant device is apparently 98 per cent accurate and only works until a child starts developing speech patterns. “It will really help to understand why infants are crying and to react accordingly.”
Why Cry works by analysing the baby’s crying power, the frequency of the cry, its correlation to an established pattern and the interval between cries. In this way, the baby’s problem is narrowed down to one of five categories: hunger, boredom, discomfort, sleepiness and stress.
So how can you tell what is the problem?
Hungry: Energetic shouts in a sharp and demanding way
Bored: Moans that disappear when playing with the baby
Discomfort: starts with a long moan and then holds breath
Sleepy: Moans grow louder if the baby is stimulated
Stressed: Intense and initially short cry, falling slowly and then rising again.
WhyCry is available fromLittle Angels in Nicosia. Tel: 77777400. www.catalogue-house.com Or call Julie Rumbold on 22 359036
According to scientific studies compiled by Chicago and Rhode Island Universities, understanding and attending to a baby’s needs early on is directly linked to the intelligence that it will develop. Consequently, a well understood and attended to baby will develop its intelligence by about 25 per cent more in comparison to another baby who is not and its IQ will be ten points higher than if developed under normal conditions.
Becoming a father ‘civilises’ men
Fatherhood significantly reduces men’s testosterone levels, a study has shown.
US researchers compared levels of the male sex hormone among single men and married men with and without children amongst Chinese students.
Those who were fathers had the lowest levels of all, the Proceedings of the Royal Society study found.
A UK expert said the fall was nature’s way of ensuring men behaved in a “civilised” and non-aggressive way around newborn offspring.
The researchers, from Charles Drew University of Medicine and Science in Los Angeles, Harvard University and the University of Nevada asked 126 men aged 21 to 38 to fill out a questionnaire.
The men also provided two saliva samples to researchers, in the morning and afternoon.
The 66 unmarried men had slightly higher levels of testosterone than the 30 married men who did not have children.
But the 30 fathers had significantly lower testosterone levels than men who did not have children, whether married or not.
The researchers, led by Dr Peter Gray of Charles Drew University, said elevated testosterone levels were associated with mating efforts – “male to male competition, mate seeking”, while lower levels were linked with relationships – and particularly with fatherhood.
They added: “In other words, the lower levels of testosterone in fathers may reflect both their withdrawal from the competitive arena and their involvement in paternal care.”
Dr Nick Neave, a psychologist at Northumbria University, said the study findings fit in with a recognised pattern, seen in people and animals, related to the bringing up of young.
“There are obviously social elements to parenting. But we are a biological species, and are not that far removed from animals – although we like to think we are.”
He said the hormone reduction was aimed at making males stay around to help care for the child.
Neave added: “Nature doesn’t want testosterone levels to be high at a time when there is a baby.
“It’s nature’s way of making males civilised – at least for a short time.”
