Why Do Babies Cry?

Scientists have discovered clues about why a baby cries, such as when a baby is angry, frightened, or in pain. Here's what you should know and can do.

Infants cry about two hours a day. It turns out that when baby mice were stripped of neurons that allowed them to cry, their mothers ignored them, and they died.

You probably wouldn’t ignore your baby’s cries. Here’s why they do cry.

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Why do babies cry?

Adults are wired to respond to infant crying about twice as fast as they do to other loud annoying sounds. It’s very hard to stay in bed, for example, through the sound of a baby crying in sleep. But you don’t necessarily want to wake your little one up.

One reason you rush to respond is that cries change unpredictably, instead of remaining on one note, much like an emergency siren. Cries from different animals are similar, in ways that make them noticeable to adults. In one conference, a biologist played an audio clip of cries from a fawn, kid goat, and human baby, and asked the audience to guess which was human. Most got it right, but many weren’t sure. A deer will come running towards the sound of a baby bat, a sea lion pup, a kitten, and kid goat.

Some baby animals have more distinctive cries. A cheetah cub separated from its mother chirps. Baby kangaroo cries sound like coughing.

You want to respond, but the sounds of your baby crying don’t really communicate the nature of the problem. Is your baby having a nightmare? Is her diaper wet? The cause could help a parent decide what to do about a baby crying at night or how long to let a baby cry it out.

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