British babies 'among world's worst for crying'

Tears: Babies in the UK cry more than anywhere else
Shutterstock
Chloe Chaplain3 April 2017

British babies cry more than those born in almost any other country in the world, research has shown.

Scientists found that the UK topped an international “crying chart” – closely behind Canada, whose babies were said to cry the most.

Britain's babies cry more than those from Italy and the Netherlands.

The study revealed that, on average, babies cried for around two hours per day in the first two weeks after birth.

Crying peaked to two hours 15 minutes each day at six weeks and reduced to an average of one hour, 10 minutes.

Lead researcher Professor Dieter Wolke, from the University of Warwick said: "We may learn more from looking at cultures where there is less crying and whether this may be due to parenting or other factors relating to pregnancy experiences or genetics.

"The new chart of normal fuss/cry amounts in babies across industrialised countries will help health professionals to reassure parents whether a baby is crying within the normal expected range in the first three months or shows excessive crying which may require further evaluation and extra support for the parents."

Researchers analysed data on almost 8,700 infants to find out how upset babies in different countries get in their first 12 weeks.

The lowest crying levels were seen in Denmark, Germany and Japan.

The highest levels of colic - defined as a baby crying more than three hours a day for at least three days a week – were also found in the UK with 28 per cent of infants having colic at one or two weeks old.

Additional reporting from Press Association.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in

MORE ABOUT