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Our son is approximately 2 months old, and he has problems sleeping at night (he cries like any other baby).

My concern is about letting him cry while he's on my chest or in my arms while I give him kisses and petting.

Looking for info on the Net, I've found many sites about babies where they state that some babies need to cry to free their stress, meaning that letting them cry with love isn't unhealthy at all, and it's even worse trying to prevent them from crying as they're unable to express their emotions.

My point is that while my son cries for 5-10 minutes and then he finally sleeps, it could be just that it's the way my son tries to express "I'm very tired and I don't understand what's going on..."

What's the current recommendation by most pediatricians about this topic?

Update

I want to note that I'm not trying to say I want to leave my baby crying alone. It's not about this.

Actually, it's about baby crying when they're about to sleep and even when you've tried to answer to all baby's needs.

After all, I'm looking for opinions/info about this concrete babies' behavior. He cries because the day ends (and he has received a lot of emotions, information and knowledge, and he simply got stressed...).

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    Hi Matias, and welcome to the site. Your question is interesting and hopefully will generate some good answers. Thanks for specifically asking for references/research (you may even want to make it more specific, but I think how it stands now gets that across); I think this is a much better question when asking for information rather than opinion.
    – Joe
    Commented Jun 2, 2015 at 21:26
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    @Joe In topics concerning parenting isn't hard to not asking for opinion? After all, isn't parenting irrational?
    – Matías Fidemraizer
    Commented Jun 2, 2015 at 21:39
  • Well, some topics are answerable with opinion, some with fact/research, and some both. In this case I was trying to suggest that the way you asked - for the current recommendation from pediatricians/etc. - was a good way to ask, because it basically asked for a more research-side answer. It might be opinion of pediatricians, but at least it's better than my opinion, which is entirely unbased in anything resembling fact :)
    – Joe
    Commented Jun 2, 2015 at 21:41
  • @Joe I see I see... Let's see what other people says :D
    – Matías Fidemraizer
    Commented Jun 2, 2015 at 21:49
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    @anongoodnurse Thanks ;) I think so too. BTW, there's another opinion which says don't let your baby cry (I'm very disagree), since I believe baby cry isn't adult cry. It's just how a baby talks to us, it's his primitive language, so why not let a baby cry in your arms? Maybe he just want to tell you "I feel bad daddy..." :D
    – Matías Fidemraizer
    Commented Jun 2, 2015 at 22:24

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When a child under 6 months old cries it's usually to tell us that they need something. They are telling that they're hungry, or cold, or want a cuddle, or in pain. When a child under 6 months cries you probably want to address the problem - change a nappy or provide a feed or do some winding to relieve trapped air or just have a nice cuddle.

There is an exception. Some babies cry and there isn't a reason. This is very hard for parents. There are support groups to help with this. This crying is called "colic". http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Colic/Pages/Introduction.aspx (Some people also use the term colic to refer to babies with a lot of trapped wind.)

You probably should not leave a child under six months to cry. For example: some sleep training systems must not be started until the child is over 6 months. It's important to help your child learn how to fall asleep without being rocked to sleep, but cuddling them if they're crying is fine.

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    I would include that babies can also cry because they're tired! So sometimes soothing them for their nap/sleep is what they really need, if addressing other needs doesn't yield results.
    – user11394
    Commented Jun 2, 2015 at 20:59
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    Thanks for your answer. Yes, our son has colic, our pediatrician confirmed. Anyway it's not always about the colic. Sometimes it's clear it's not hungry, cold, or whatever. He just cries because we did everything that can be done. For me, he's just very tired and he doesn't want to sleep because he prefers to receive our attention :D
    – Matías Fidemraizer
    Commented Jun 2, 2015 at 21:05

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