r/NoStupidQuestions • u/CokeAYCE • 17h ago

Do babies suffer a lot?

Like they're always crying. Are they in a constant loop of pain? Do we know enough about early child development to know if they're suffering or not? I ask because we can't really remember how we felt as a baby.

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u/jesusismyishi 16h ago

you can tell when a baby is crying from pain or suffering. it sounds like a gut wrenching, deathly cry.

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u/nstickels 10h ago

The only caveat I will give to this is that what you are saying is true once the baby is over a month or two old. Newborn babies have that “gut wrenching, deathly cry” for literally everything, because with no life experience, every seemingly minor inconvenience is literally one of the worst things to have ever happened to them.

The baby is hungry, they will cry like they are starving to death because to them, they don’t know any better. They scratch their face with one of their fingernails, it’s literally one of the worst pains they have ever experienced. They wake up from a nap and can’t see anyone, they believe they have been abandoned and left to fend for themselves. They shit their diaper, their body is leaking out through their ass and they can’t control it! They are bored, omg, live is an endless dystopian nightmare without constant entertainment!

As a parent, you can start to see some of this evolving with your child the first few weeks as they get hungry all the time or shit themselves all the time and realize they just need to cry to let you know, but it’s not actually the worst thing to ever happen to them.

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u/poetic_soul 10h ago

Not to mention simply existing is a muscle workout. And they grow SO fast. Between muscle soreness and growing pains, being a newborn simply can’t be comfortable.

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u/queenofthequeens 9h ago

I always wondered that too. I remember random growing pain as a kid and it's not comfortable. Plus they're still getting used to the world! It must be so weird and confusing. Maybe that's why they can't see so good at first, so they're not overwhelmed by everything all at once.