A baby who cries constantly and cannot be soothed is usually not sick, and you are usually not doing anything wrong. Around the first six weeks of life, crying normally peaks, and some babies simply cry more than others. The NHS defines colic as crying more than three hours a day, more than three days a week, for at least one week, in an otherwise healthy baby, and it typically improves by three to four months of age.
This page explains why some babies cry this way, what the constant crying does to both nervous systems in the room, what actually helps, and when crying needs medical review.
Dr Safeera Kholvadia is a medical doctor who works with unsettled babies and their parents at The Reset Room in Houghton Estate, Johannesburg. Infant craniosacral therapy is one of the practice’s core areas.
Why Some Babies Cry More Than Others
Crying is a baby’s only communication channel, and in the early weeks it rises predictably. The pattern is well enough recognised that paediatric literature gives it a name, the period of purple crying, starting at around two weeks, peaking near six weeks, and easing by three to four months.
Within that normal curve, some babies cry far more. Three factors explain most of the difference: an immature digestive system producing wind and reflux discomfort, feeding difficulties including tension affecting latch, and a sensitive nervous system that has not yet learned to regulate itself out of an alert state. Birth itself can play a role, and the practice’s page on infant craniosacral therapy explains how birth strain is assessed.
Ruling Out the Medical Causes First
Constant crying deserves a medical look before anything else. A doctor checks feeding, weight gain and growth, examines for reflux, infections, tongue tie and other physical causes, and confirms that the crying is not a sign of illness. Most of the time the baby is healthy, and that diagnosis matters: it shifts the question from “what is wrong with the baby” to “what does this baby’s nervous system need”.
Certain signs do need urgent attention regardless of how familiar the crying has become. Fever in a young infant, poor feeding, fewer wet nappies, vomiting that is not normal posseting, a bulging fontanelle, drowsiness or a high-pitched different-sounding cry all warrant prompt medical review.
What Actually Helps a Crying Baby
- Recreate the holding environment. Swaddling with arms free if the baby fights it, steady rhythmic movement, a steady shushing sound near the ear, and skin-to-skin contact all speak directly to an immature nervous system.
- Reduce the stimulation. Dim light, fewer visitors, one voice at a time. Easily overwhelmed babies cry less when the input drops.
- Work the feeding mechanics. Winding, pace and latch review with a professional where feeding is part of the picture.
- Consider body-based assessment. Very light-touch infant craniosacral work assesses whether birth strain or tension patterns are keeping the baby’s nervous system in an alert state.
The Part Nobody Warns You About: Your Nervous System
A crying baby is a nervous system event for the parent too. Prolonged crying pushes the adult into fight-or-flight, and babies regulate off the nervous system holding them. A stressed arm holds a baby differently. This is not a blame point, it is a mechanism, and it is why effective help often treats the parent’s regulation alongside the baby.
Postnatal recovery support is part of that picture, and where the birth was difficult or surgical, both nervous systems in the pair may be carrying something. The practice treats mothers and babies together for exactly this reason.
What Most Parents Get Wrong
- Trying every soothing trick at once. Stacking five techniques becomes its own stimulation. One approach, held calmly for a few minutes, works better than rapid switching.
- Reading the crying as failure. Consoling does not mean stopping the crying. It means staying regulated while the crying completes.
- Waiting past your own limit. A parent at breaking point should put the baby down safely and step away for minutes. Bouncing a baby or shaking, even briefly from frustration, causes real injury.
- Treating it as purely behavioural. When tension, feeding mechanics or birth strain are involved, the crying has a physical layer that responds to physical assessment.
Get help with an unsettled baby
Physician-led assessment and infant craniosacral therapy.
The Reset Room, Houghton Estate, Johannesburg.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much crying is normal for a baby?
Crying normally rises from about two weeks, peaks around six weeks and eases by three to four months. Colic is defined as crying more than three hours a day, more than three days a week, for at least one week, in an otherwise healthy baby.
Why does my baby cry more at night?
Evening clustering is typical of the normal crying peak. Tiredness, the day’s accumulated feeding and stimulation, and an immature body clock all converge, which is why the same baby who fed and settled by day can become inconsolable at night.
Can craniosacral therapy help a crying baby?
Infant craniosacral therapy assesses whether birth strain, feeding-related tension or an alert nervous system pattern is contributing to the crying, using extremely light touch. A medical review first excludes illness, and the evidence base for the therapy is still developing.
When should I worry about my baby’s crying?
Seek urgent review for fever in a young infant, poor feeding, fewer wet nappies, forceful vomiting, a bulging fontanelle, unusual drowsiness or a high-pitched cry that sounds different. Otherwise, colic-type crying in a healthy baby improves by three to four months.
Disclaimer. General health information, not medical advice. Fever, poor feeding or drowsiness in a young infant needs urgent medical review.