Child Who Won't Stop Crying
Q: I am a teacher in a classroom of 1-year-olds. Other classroom teachers and I are having some trouble comforting a 14-month-old boy. We try redirecting and stimulating him. Even when we hold and hug him to reassure him that everything is okay, he still cries. The crying is constant and tends to last most of the day. Do you have any suggestions in helping him stop the excessive crying, or even why he may be crying so often?
A: This little one is having really difficult separation troubles. Just a hug will not help. He needs to be held in arms or on your hip a lot. He needs soothing, warm, crooning, murmuring talk. For him, everything does not feel okay. Reassuring him with words that all is okay may seem not true at all to him in a deep emotional sense. He needs to develop a secure, intimate attachment with a special caregiver assigned to him. Make sure one special person meets all his needs for diapering, feeding, dressing, rocking, patting to sleep, etc. You might find it helpful to read my new book: Secure Relationships: Nurturing Infant/ Toddler Attachment in Early Care Settings (published recently by the National Association for the Education of Young Children, in Washington, DC). There are lots of good tips as to how staff can nourish a young child's building of a trusting relationship with the primary caregiver in group care.
Alice Sterling Honig, PhD, a professor emerita of child development at Syracuse University, is the author of many books on infants and toddlers, including Behavior Guidance for Infants and Toddlers and, with H. Brophy, Talking With Your Baby: Family as the First School
