Crying Baby Clinic (ZePP)

Parent-Baby Clinic: Emotional first aid for parents, infants and toddlers in distress

Crises involving excessive crying in babies often take a dramatic turn in the first weeks and months after birth: the babies are unhappy and cry for hours on end, unable to be soothed by their parents. The infants' bodies are stiff and tense. Their eyes avoid eye contact and show little interest in the world. Parents often feel powerless in this situation.

Despair and helplessness define their time with the babies. The loss of emotional contact with their child is particularly painful for the parents. Besides general irritability, physical tension, exhaustion, and sleep disturbances are the most common symptoms of the postnatal crisis for parents.

The crying baby clinic (also: crying clinic) offers help:

• for restless, tense and frequently crying babies
• in babies after overwhelming experiences surrounding pregnancy, birth and early life (e.g. cesarean births, premature separations, operations)
• for babies with sleep and feeding problems
• in babies who show no interest in their environment
• in parents who are completely desperate and helpless as a result of the situations described
• in parents who feel violent impulses towards their baby and/or physically abuse them
• for parents who feel chronically exhausted and overwhelmed

Further information