I wonder if the couple upstairs can tell that their baby is crying. I wonder if they have even woken up from it. I know I can hear it, and I always want to take action when a child is crying, to try and help them. But I feel stuck here, I don't really know them and I don't even know what to do about a baby crying. I think perhaps the key would be to figure out why they are crying, but if it's random that seems like a poor solution.
I know that when people (of any age) cry such that I can notice, my first instinct is to help. Of course, it is hard to tell exactly what one can do to help, but usually a good start is to ask them why or what made them cry, and then be a good listener. Even if you can't do anything about the causes, being able to listen and share that knowledge seems to help.
2 comments:
Just a couple of thoughts on the subject of crying babies and their parents... Sometimes when a young baby cries there seems to be no way to soothe the baby. I had that happen to me lots of times, and on those occasions I would rock with my baby while he or she cried, so at least the little one could feel loved and cared for until the crying jag was over. A lot of babies have colic for varying amounts of time up to about three or four months of age, and there isn't really any "cure" for colic, as there isn't any one cause in all cases. Also, sometimes when a baby has a vaccination or is running a fever he cries and fusses from the discomfort. Sometimes babies cry from pure exhaustion...
The other thing about crying babies is that the parents oftentimes are frustrated and embarrassed about the crying, knowing that it can be disturbing other people. I imagine this is especially true when the young family lives in an apartment or condo. I would think that the most supportive thing the family's neighbors could do would be to act in a friendly and warm manner whenever they meet up with the parents of the baby. A "How are things going?" comment (along with a warm smile) or just admiring the baby can communicate support in a very simple and direct way. But the less mention made of the crying jags, the better.
One thing for babies is that crying can also substitute for a wide variety of attempts at communication and need not necessarily be about pain or being upset. Sometimes there just aren't other ways to say, for example, "I wants the precioussssss."
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