# Why is this baby crying **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 9, 2013, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-baby-crying/673484 "2013-11-09T04:04:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2013, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-baby-crying/673484/1 "2013-11-09T04:04:29Z")
while mom sings; https://www.rightthisminute.com/story/31596/video/embed?for=twitter_card Is it for sorrow or beauty? Peace, mangeorge If this is already being discussed, please show me. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2013, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-baby-crying/673484/2 "2013-11-09T04:27:48Z")
I love that video! It’s such an odd little tearworks. Babies that age do get little friable moments, where they teeter-totter between about to bawl and about to laugh. But what’s unusual about that little lady is how long she sustains it in perfect silence - a minute and 45 seconds! If I had to guess, it would be that she doesn’t like the expression on her mom’s face on the higher notes. But you never really know. My daughter used to start whimpering at the word “dolphins” for no apparent reason. I sit next to her isolette and tell her all about birds and turtles and squirrels and she’d blink contentedly. Mention dolphins and her face would screw up and she’d start to whimper. Kids, like cats, is weird sometimes. ---
**Author:** ![DonLogan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/51bf81/32.png) [@DonLogan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DonLogan)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2013, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-baby-crying/673484/3 "2013-11-09T15:18:25Z")
[ul] [li]Baby is drunk and nostalgic[/li][li]Someone off camera is alternately tickling the bottom of her feet and then twisting her ankle[/li][li]Baby thinks the song is prelude to the mother eating her and thinks, well it’s been a great life[/li][/ul] ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2013, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-baby-crying/673484/4 "2013-11-09T15:21:35Z")
Why do babies do anything? Babies are idiots. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2013, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-baby-crying/673484/5 "2013-11-09T15:47:34Z")
She starts to smile during the silences and starts to cry during the loud, high parts. Could be the sound or her mama’s face. Adorable, whichever one. ---
**Author:** ![Hamlet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hamlet/32/2818_2.png) [@Hamlet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamlet)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2013, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-baby-crying/673484/6 "2013-11-09T15:58:54Z")
> [@Biggirl](#): > > She starts to smile during the silences and starts to cry during the loud, high parts. Could be the sound or her mama’s face. Adorable, whichever one. I used to do this with my girls when they were babies. They would be focused on the face and tone of voice, and have no idea what I was saying, so I’d say stuff like “You’re the result of a lab experiment gone horribly wrong” or “Mommy is going to throw you in the oven for dinner!”, but do so in a melodic, high pitched voice and smile. Of course they would grin right back, because facial cues and tone are more important than the words. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2013, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-baby-crying/673484/7 "2013-11-09T16:00:12Z")
Maybe she’s reacting to the mom’s facial expressions. ETA: curses, ninja’ed! ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2013, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-baby-crying/673484/8 "2013-11-09T16:12:31Z")
> [@Hello\_Again](#): > > Why do babies do anything? Babies are idiots. That. ---
**Author:** ![67java89](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/6/aeb1de/32.png) [@67java89](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/67java89)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2013, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-baby-crying/673484/9 "2013-11-11T18:41:54Z")
I think something else is going on off camera. Either the baby is sad and someone is doing things to make her smile, or she is happy and something in the room is making her scared. It is weird, though. I’ve never seen a baby alternate facial expressions so quickly like that. The theory about the Mom’s facial expression is good though. Some people close their eyes when singing high notes and it could be that the baby doesn’t like that. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2013, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-baby-crying/673484/10 "2013-11-11T20:28:34Z")
> [@67java89](#): > > I think something else is going on off camera. Either the baby is sad and someone is doing things to make her smile, or she is happy and something in the room is making her scared. It is weird, though. I’ve never seen a baby alternate facial expressions so quickly like that. The theory about the Mom’s facial expression is good though. Some people close their eyes when singing high notes and it could be that the baby doesn’t like that. The story behind is that the baby reacts to that song that way and only that song. The mom didn’t randomly start filming, she knew she was going to get that reaction from that particular song. I have no doubt the mom sings a lot of other songs too without that effect. ---
**Author:** ![dada2fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ccd318/32.png) [@dada2fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dada2fish)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2013, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-this-baby-crying/673484/11 "2013-11-11T23:23:35Z")
My son used to whimper and tear up like that when we’d squeeze the belly of his little toys called Singamajigs. They would sing notes in a high voice. We concluded he thought the toys were crying. It was very cute, but I felt bad doing it, so we only did it a couple times. That video is cute though.