Not sure why the downvotes
this post was submitted on 31 Jul 2024
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I'm going to guess it's that babies cry because they have a need and you shouldn't ignore that, especially at 6 weeks old
Ear plugs =/= can’t hear. Loops specifically are designed to allow you to hear but not have hearing damage.
My baby is colicky AF and will scream while we’re in the process of making her a bottle. Or while we’re burping her. Or when we have to pull the bottle away to wipe spit up. Or while we’re in the process of soothing her but not soothed yet.
I’m pretty patient (with children, not judgy parents though) but I’m not perfect. I can parent better and be more present while not massively overwhelmed by a noise designed by evolution to be horrible and intolerable.
Understood, appreciate the context! I'm sure that colic will resolve soon
I appreciate the sentiment (it hasn’t gotten better per se yet, but we’ve gotten more used to the… nature of the screams) and also I wanted to apologise for being rather combative in explaining the context— which, yeah, was definitely missing in the original post. Gonna edit that now to make this post less rant, more informative.
You can respond to a baby without having your nerves fried. Ear plugs do not mute the world.
Lol. Votes from non-parents and parents who didn't have a child with colick.
A parent should absolutely ignore it, after doing the checklist of basic needs, and after calling for, and while waiting for, whatever additional help is available to them.
A ragged worn out parent isn't any use to the child, and also isn't particularly safe for the child to be near.
A screaming baby is rarely in any immediate danger. It takes strength to scream. That's generally a good sign. If the baby can scream bloody murder, it can afford to wait a few minutes for a more thoughtful reaction to it's needs.
Babies screams evolved to get everyone human in the area off their asses. But babies don't actually know what is a crisis and what isn't. Those are both good and normal things, but the combination is often overwhelming.
Once an adult human has determined that no crisis is impending for the next few minutes, it's time to put the fussy baby down and get some rest and relief.
Yep this. I’ve been given the advice to step away from my baby when she’s crying if I’m overwhelmed and she’s in a safe place. That’s advice from basically every medical professional I’ve encountered during pregnancy and post partum. Because it is so, so important to not let your nerves get fried in an attempt to be a perfect parent, because letting your nerves get fried will lead to shit you’ll regret down the line. Be that shouting or checking out mentally or way worse stuff.
Ok, but this post doesn't say anything about any of that, it just says "if you're going to have a baby, buy earplugs." Most infants don't have colic and don't cry for no reason.
Source: Have had baby
Most babies don't almost choke on their own snot too, but it's too late to buy a snot sucker in the moment. Same with earplugs. They're a few bucks each. I advise new parents to buy both and shove them in a drawer somewhere.
Holding a baby next to your ear ain't ignoring, you are more able to do that if you protect your ear against screetching
I use earbuds, they let in a lot of noise but do make it manageable, and i can listen to podcasts while putting baby to sleep. But i usually have it in one ear only.