Sorry, Parents: New Research Shows That Infant Crying Doesn't Peak After 6 Weeks

If you are a parent, you may be familiar with searching the internet for explanations for everything from sleep patterns to strange rashes, and one of the queries you might have run through a search engine is "When do babies stop crying so much?"

The most authoritative study on the topic from 1962 suggests that crying peaks at 6 weeks, before stabilizing at a low level after 12 weeks.

A new study shows that crying in infants can last much longer, and the team behind it wants to change the crying curve.

Arnault-infant-Quentin Vermillet is an instructor in cognitive science at the University of Aarhus.

We thought it would be interesting to model all the available data to see what type of pattern best represents the data, and test if this is consistent with the originalcry curve.

The standard definition for excessive crying is to be crying for more than three hours per day and for at least three days per week. In the first six weeks after birth, between 17 and 25 percent of babies are thought to be sick.

Here the team pulled together information from 17 different countries and 57 separate research projects, covering crying habits for a total of 7,580 infants. The 12 weeks that the 1962 study dealt with were not covered by the data.

The researchers crunched the numbers to come up with two models, one showing a peak in crying after four weeks and the other showing a gradual reduction.

The data shows that excessive crying can often continue for months, which is reassuring for new parents wondering about their babies.

"We have created two mathematical models that represent the available data," says Christine.

The graphs that are presented to parents show that the duration of crying falls after five weeks. The data shows that crying is still a part of an infant's routine after six months.

Crying habits can vary a lot between countries, although data is limited in some regions. India, Mexico, and South Korea have lower infant sobbing rates than the US, Great Britain, and Canada.

Crying is an important part of a child's development. It used to get the attention of parents, and how they react can have an influence on the cognitive and emotional development of an infant.

The new research could help healthcare professionals who are tasked with recognizing when something more serious could be happening, as well as reassuring parents about what the norm is in terms of crying patterns.

It is important for clinicians because their job is to help, support, and reconcile the expectations of worried parents.

It is important that clinicians have up-to-date data on what is normal for infant crying so that they can support new parents.

The research has been published.