What if a 3-month-old baby is crying and sucking their hand? Can it be teething? Hunger? Pain? Let’s take a look at a few different options!
Mom’s Question:
My 3 months old son has been crying off an on all day. He will only take 20-30min naps, wakes up and cries. He has been feed, changed and everything. He keeps sucking on his hand as if he is hungry but its not time… Could it be teething, ears, belly? How do I know? I’m getting frustrated.
Sheri
Tips For Crying 3-Month-Old Baby
It is really hard to know what is going on sometimes when our babies are telling us something is wrong, but we can’t figure it out.
It is unlikely to be teething at three months, but not impossible. The sucking on his fist is more likely him trying to self sooth or hunger, but check his gums just in case he is an early teether.
If he has a tummy ache he may be pulling his knees up and his tummy will look bloated. I’m assuming you aren’t giving him solids yet, he is really too young, but assuming your are breast feeding, have you been eating something different? Sometimes seasonal food that we suddenly eat a lot of might cause problems. If you are formula feeding, have you changed his brand of formula?
Sometimes babies have headaches. So when they are upright or cuddled up with Mom they are less grizzley, but when they lie down the pressure builds up.
Similarly with ear-ache. He might not notice it so much when upright or getting lots of cuddles and comfort feeding with you but when on his own and asleep it is enough to wake him. I think it might pay to take him to a doctor and get him checked. At the least it will narrow the list of possibilities down!
The other thing, babies do go through growth spurts, so he might be going through a hungry phase and need extra feeding. The fist suckling can be a sign of hunger at this age.
From my own experience, my daughter rarely slept more than ten minutes in the day at this age, and woke every two hours at night to be fed! She always wanted to be carried around and be in on the action and hated being left on her own. I can tell you at the time I thought I’d never sleep the whole night again, but don’t worry they do grow out of each stage!
If the visit to the doctor doesn’t highlight anything, then just relax and go with the flow of what he needs – YOU! The most important thing is to give him lots of love and cuddles and extra feeds even if you think he shouldn’t be hungry. He is obviously uncomfortable or unhappy and if you can just tune into him he may well settle in a day or two.
Good luck!
Enjoy your lovely wee boy!
Paula
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Paula Dennholt founded Easy Baby Life in 2006 and has been a passionate parenting and pregnancy writer since then. Her parenting approach and writing are based on studies in cognitive-behavioral models and therapy for children and her experience as a mother and stepmother. Life as a parent has convinced her of how crucial it is to put relationships before rules. She strongly believes in positive parenting and a science-based approach.
Paula cooperates with a team of pediatricians who assist in reviewing and writing articles.
