Period of P.U.R.P.L.E Crying

[submission]

Hello fellow Dads! My wife is in the early stages of pregnancy -- hasn't passed the first trimester, but we did have the first ultrasound and can confirm the heart is beating (160bpm) -- but this being our first child I want to do everything I can to support her after the baby is born. I was started listening to the Beardy Dad's podcast (among other content creators) and they mentioned the "Period of Purple Crying," which is the period between ~2wks to ~3/5months when babies will just start crying and nothing seems to soothe them. So any tips on how to mentally prepare for this? Aside from the "Take a 5min breather because baby's can smell fear and will just keep crying." lol

 

[haziyu]

@submission I mean purple crying is not that common. I have 3 kids from 2-11 years old and none were purple criers. Honestly newborns are pretty easy (when they don’t do purple crying). It’s when they get older and start moving around that they are really exhausting!

But the best preparation for that is probably trying to destress other parts of your life. Plenty of sleep (like sleep when the baby does), exercise, and avenues of relaxation for both of you. Unfortunately those are often the hardest thing for new parents to get. Honestly, a good pair of ear plugs or noise cancelling headphones might be the best thing if you do have a squally kid so you can be present and attentive but also not have your mind shattered by the noise. But really, wait and see what the baby is like before you worry too much about it.

 

[indybap]

@submission I second the noise cancelling headphones. They have helped save my sanity.

My son was the "unicorn" child. Zero problems at all in the newborn stage, no terrible twos or bad toddler stage.

My 8 week old daughter? She's been the "purple crier" witching hour to the 10th degree for the entire 8 weeks she's been alive. Earlier this week slept a total of 10 hours out of 48

Headphones have saved my sanity. Having supportive parents I can take her to every few days until her terrorist phase blows over? Priceless.