Emily - posted on 06/26/2010 ( 14 moms have responded )
Does this term bother anyone else? I'm talking about when used to describe an infant. I totally get that toddlers fake cry (my 3-year-old definitely does this when he's mad something doesn't go his way), but an infant???
Moms on my birth month community (my baby is 9 months old) talk about this, how their babies "fake cry" when they're told "no" or like when they're being left to cry alone in their cribs. A family member of mine likes to use this term all the time to describe her son's cries. She's been talking that way since he was an infant. I would be there when he was crying and it sure didn't sound fake to me. It just seems like some moms label a cry "fake" when they just don't feel like dealing with it or they want to convince themselves that there's nothing wrong with their baby. They're just really not in touch with their child's emotional experience. That makes me so sad... because I have a feeling that tuning out your child's emotions from such an early age just sets you up for having a poor relationship as the child grows up.
Arrrgh. Sorry just my vent for the day :)