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Babies can cry up to six hours a day trying to tell their mothers or fathers they want something. From having a full diaper to feeling sick, infants have a very limited way of communicating. To help ease new parents into the realm of taking care of infants, Ramstein New Parent Support Program brought them together for “Purple Crying: Understanding your Crying Baby” April 6 at the Kaiserslautern Military Community Center.
The event allowed parents to exchange open dialogue with nurses and other child care professionals about how to handle their crying children and tips on how to read their body language to further understand what they want.
According to Barbara Cox, Family Advocacy outreach manager, parents’ lack of understanding of what their babies want is a large source of frustration, and that’s why this problem is the first to be brought to the community’s awareness.
“Sometimes, parents try different things, and nothing seems to help their baby,” Cox said. “We want to help instill confidence in parents by helping them with all of the resources that are available to them for free.”
The occasion is set amidst National Child Abuse Prevention Month, a program that helps build strong, nurturing communities that are supportive of families. It also builds awareness of how they can play a role in preventing child abuse and neglect by promoting child and family well-being.
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.
According to Sara Jordan, the display was a great reminder of how easy it can be to get frustrated at your child and why it’s important to come together as a community to learn examples on becoming better at understanding children.
“It does get very frustrating when I feel like nothing I do can help my child,” Jordan said. “What I enjoy about these kinds of events is getting together with other moms and learning more about parenting from them.”
For information on Child Abuse Prevention Month and how to help spread awareness, call Ramstein New Parent Support at 479-2098 or 06371-46-2098.
