# Chain reaction of crying babies **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 19, 2012, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chain-reaction-of-crying-babies/644478 "2012-12-19T01:56:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Reeses\_Monkey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reeses_monkey/32/2885_2.png) [@Reeses\_Monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeses_Monkey)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2012, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chain-reaction-of-crying-babies/644478/1 "2012-12-19T01:56:40Z")
Why is it when one baby cries, every other one within earshot chimes in, too? I’m not usually around infants so I don’t know how common this is but it kept happening Saturday night when we went out to eat. I think the one setting it off was teething (A great time to take your child out to dinner) and every time he went off, the other three did, too. Why? If you yourself are not in pain, why cry? ---
**Author:** ![Seanette](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/seanette/32/9139_2.png) [@Seanette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seanette)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2012, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chain-reaction-of-crying-babies/644478/2 "2012-12-19T02:02:17Z")
Maybe the other babies think the first one is crying in reaction to a threat, and they need to alert their mothers too? ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2012, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chain-reaction-of-crying-babies/644478/3 "2012-12-19T02:26:17Z")
'Cause crying is annoying, and annoyed babies cry? But actually, I’m going to fight the hypothesis. I don’t find that babies are particularly more prone to cry when another baby is crying. Twins will often take turns crying, in fact, which is something of a blessing to their parent, not having four arms, and gets you some great [“WTF is wrong with you?”](http://www.kveller.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/twins-crying-300x200.jpg) expressions. ---
**Author:** ![Washoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ecae2f/32.png) [@Washoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Washoe)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2012, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chain-reaction-of-crying-babies/644478/4 "2012-12-19T02:34:20Z")
WAG: empathic response. Strangely enough, I was just reading a paper about ten minutes ago that suggested an answer to this question. [Empathy Is Moderated by Genetic Background in Mice](http://ts-si.org/files/journal.pone.0004387.pdf) (.pdf.) ---
**Author:** ![dotchan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9d8465/32.png) [@dotchan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dotchan)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2012, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chain-reaction-of-crying-babies/644478/5 "2012-12-19T02:42:40Z")
Probably equal parts empathy and annoyance. Crying = Upset in a baby’s world (in general), so hearing one of their pals throwing a fit is distressing. And if you subscribe to the theory that they’re collectively trying to manipulate/stress you out, then that first cry is the sign for everyone else to start chiming in. ---
**Author:** ![moriah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b2d939/32.png) [@moriah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moriah)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2012, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chain-reaction-of-crying-babies/644478/6 "2012-12-19T02:57:08Z")
How about crying babies are just damned loud. And loud noises make babies cry. To test the theory of chain crying, record a baby crying and then play it back, but softly with the volume down, to another baby. Observe. Profit.