Do you know what ‘purple crying’ is? No neither did we, which is why we’ve invited a guest blogger on today – Katie Hilton – to explain exactly what consitutes ‘normal’ baby crying…

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For a number of years I worked as a Registered Perinatal Nurse in Canada, during this time I observed many differences in practice, some good, and some bad. One thing that really stuck in my mind was a programme delivered to all new parents called The Period of Purple Crying.

The Period of Purple Crying was developed by the National Centre on Shaken Baby Syndrome with the purpose of educating parents about the normalcy of infant crying and the dangers of shaking an infant. Research shows that frustration with an infant’s crying is the number one reason a child is shaken, primarily because people don’t understand the normality of early increased crying in all infants and that it is a phase all normal, healthy infants go through.

What is The Period of Purple Crying?

The Period of Purple Crying is the phrase used to describe the point in a baby’s life when they cry more than any other time. This period of increased crying is often described as colic, but there have been many misunderstandings about what “colic” really is.

The Period of Purple Crying is a new way to help parents understand this time in their baby’s life, which is a normal part of every infant’s development.

It is confusing and concerning to be told your baby “has colic” because it sounds like it is an illness or a condition that is abnormal. When the baby is given colic medicine it reinforces the idea that there is something wrong with the baby when infact the baby is going through a very normal developmental phase. That is why this time is referred to as The Period of Purple Crying. No, it is not because the baby turns purple when he/she cries but provides a meaningful and memorable way to describe what parents and their babies are going through.

The Period of Purple Crying begins at about 2 weeks of age and continues until about 3-4 months. There are other common characteristics of this period, which are better described by the acronym PURPLE (see below). All babies go through this period, it is just that during this time some can cry a lot, some far less, but they all do go through it.

When these babies are going through this period they seem to resist soothing. Nothing helps. Even though it helps when they are fussy or crying at other times, it is different when they go through these inconsolable crying bouts. Nothing seems to soothe them.

During this phase of a baby’s life they can cry for hours and still be healthy and normal. Parents often think there must be something wrong with them or they would not be crying like this. However, even after a check up from the doctor which shows the baby is healthy they still go home and cry for hours, night after night. Often parents say their baby looks like he or she is in pain. They think they must be or why would they cry so much. Turns out though that the babies who are going through this period can act like that even when they are not in pain.

The acronym PURPLE is used to describe specific characteristics of an infant’s crying during this phase and let parents and caregivers know that what they are experiencing is indeed normal and, although frustrating, is simply a phase in their child’s development that will pass.

Katie Hilton is a Registered Nurse and Registered Midwife and owner of BabyPrep, a pregnancy and parenting education and support company based in Staffordshire. You can find out much more about Katie and BabyPrep at www.babyprep.co.uk