Why Do Babies Stop Crying When Picked up?

According to the scientists from Japan, full automatic relaxation while being picked up by the parent hands is the reason why most children’s crying can be stopped only this way.

Researchers Kumi Kuroda, Gianluca Esposito and Sachine Yoshida at the Riken Brain Science Institute found similar behavior in young mice and infants, when their mother carried them. They believe that muscle relaxation and the decrease in heart rate when picked up is part of the close relationship preserved by the evolution between mother and child.

According to Kuroda, this reaction makes carrying the child easier for the mother and brings benefit to both. The researcher points out that little mice calm down and stop beeping when picked up, and they also try to have a compact position, bending their legs, just as other mammals, like cats, do.

A series of experiments helped the researchers establish that the babies’ heart rate slows down considerably as soon as they are picked up and carried. But this will not happen if the child is just picked up and kept on hands.

The researchers believe that their discovery is important for parents and children from the point of view of preventing ill-treatment, to which they relate long inconsolable crying of an infant.

Although the researchers have conducted a research on mothers, they are confident that this feature of the babies can be used by anyone, who cares for them.