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Crying baby: when the crying won’t stop

For anyone looking after a baby who will not stop crying: a parent, a partner, a grandparent, a sitter, at any hour. This page passes on, by name, what MedlinePlus, the CDC and the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) say: why babies cry and what to check, colic and when it ends, things to try, what to do when you reach your limit, why a baby must never be shaken, the signs that mean a call to the doctor or 911, and safe sleep when you are this tired. It builds the questions to ask at a visit. Take only what you need tonight.

This page and its wording were written with AI (Claude) for Scarlet Beast (our AI policy). No doctor, nurse or child-care expert has reviewed it. The facts were read on October 9, 2026 on three government websites. On MedlinePlus, from the National Library of Medicine, four pages of its Medical Encyclopedia, each read in English and in Spanish: Excessive crying in infants (reviewed October 20, 2024), Colic and crying: self-care (reviewed July 1, 2025), Shaken baby syndrome (reviewed January 17, 2025) and Sudden infant death syndrome (reviewed July 1, 2025). On cdc.gov, in English: About Abusive Head Trauma (reviewed May 16, 2024) and Providing Care for Babies to Sleep Safely (reviewed September 17, 2024). On safetosleep.nichd.nih.gov, in English: Ways to Reduce Baby’s Risk (we found no date in the text we read). The page says whose words it is passing on, and what is marked “ours” is our own. Where the sources differ: MedlinePlus says to cover a sleeping baby with a light sheet and to wrap a baby in a blanket before bed, and the CDC and NICHD say to keep blankets out of the sleep area: this page follows the CDC and NICHD. On a pacifier for a breastfed baby, MedlinePlus says to wait until 1 month, and the CDC and NICHD say until breastfeeding is well established: the page gives both. On sharing a bed, MedlinePlus says never, and NICHD describes how to lower the risk: the page gives both. What we left out or did not read: the name of the gas drops MedlinePlus mentions, and its line about stronger medicines; a warm towel or warm water bottle on the baby’s stomach, because no temperature is given; every figure on how many babies are hurt or die; MedlinePlus’s list of what raises the risk of SIDS, much of which nobody can change tonight; any temperature that counts as a fever, which the pages we read do not give; the steps of infant CPR, which we did not read; the first-aid steps for a vomiting child with a possible spinal injury; the Period of PURPLE Crying program the CDC links to; what the sleep pages say about vaccines, prenatal care, alcohol and drugs; the National Maternal Mental Health Hotline’s own pages (what we say about it is what the CDC’s page says); and Childhelp’s own pages (they were read for our child abuse guide). We called no number. It saves nothing and loads no tracking.