If a child is struggling to breathe, is floppy or will not wake, or their skin, lips or tongue look blue or grey: call 999 now. Colour changes are harder to see on brown and black skin, so check the palms, soles, lips and tongue. If you are worried but it is not an emergency, call NHS 111. In Northern Ireland use your GP out-of-hours service.

MarionSleep help for families

Crying and colic

The crying curve, and what to do when it is getting to you.

The short version

  • Never, ever shake or hurt a baby. It can cause lasting brain damage or death.
  • It is OK to walk away if the baby is safe and the crying is getting to you. Go back in a few minutes.
  • Not being able to stop a baby crying does not mean you are doing anything wrong, or that you have a bad or naughty baby.
  • Crying rises from about two weeks, peaks at six to eight weeks, then eases each week. Nothing has gone wrong.
  • Cry-sis runs a free helpline on 0800 448 0737, 9am to 10pm daily. Contact 111 or a GP if you are struggling to cope.

The rest of this page explains where this comes from. You do not have to read it tonight.

About 2 minutes to read

Crying and colic

Crying follows a curve, and knowing its shape helps. ICON, the UK's national infant crying programme, puts it plainly: babies cry more frequently from around two weeks of age, it peaks at about six to eight weeks, sometimes a little later, and after eight weeks they cry less each week. Cry-sis notes the average baby cries for as much as two hours a day. In the middle of that peak, nothing has gone wrong.

The NHS describes colic as when a baby cries a lot with no obvious cause, a common problem that should get better by around 3 or 4 months of age. It may be colic if your baby cries more than 3 hours a day, 3 days a week, for at least a week, but is otherwise healthy. The NHS advises against spinal manipulation and cranial osteopathy.

Contact 111 or a GP if

The crying persists and nothing you try helps; your baby is not gaining weight; the crying is still going on after 4 months; or you are struggling to cope.

That last one is a reason on its own. It is on the NHS list alongside the others, and no one on the end of the phone will think less of you for saying it out loud.

If the crying is getting to you

ICON: the four things to hold on to

  1. Infant crying is normal It rises, it peaks, and it passes.
  2. Comforting methods can help Talk calmly and stroke them, hold them against you and rub their back, hum or sing, skin to skin, a walk in the pram or sling, a feed or a dummy, a warm bath.
  3. It's OK to walk away ICON's wording is: "It's OK to walk away if you have checked the baby is safe and the crying is getting to you. After a few minutes when you are feeling calm, go back and check on the baby." The NHS version adds a clock: put your baby in their cot or pram, make sure they are safe, go into another room, and "set a time limit", for example 10 minutes, before you go back.
  4. Never, ever shake a baby "Never, ever shake or hurt a baby. It can cause lasting brain damage or death."

ICON also says this, and it is worth reading twice: "Not being able to stop a baby crying does not mean you are doing anything wrong, or that you have a 'bad' or 'naughty' baby."

Cry-sis runs a free helpline for crying and sleepless babies on 0800 448 0737, 7 days a week, 9am to 10pm.

Where this comes from

  • NHS (nhs.uk) bronchiolitis, sepsis, croup, colic, anaphylaxis, fever and baby weight guidance, for the 999 and 111 criteria, croup, colic, the crying advice and the centile rule. These pages are cited by name; we have linked the ones whose exact addresses we hold.
  • NHS, reflux in babies, for posseting, the timescales and the instruction not to raise the head of the cot or Moses basket.
  • Great Ormond Street Hospital, obstructive sleep apnoea, for the child-specific signs, the 1 to 3% figure, risk groups and the overnight sleep study.
  • ICON, the UK infant crying programme, for the crying curve, the four ICON messages and the walking-away instruction.
  • Cry-sis, for the helpline number and hours and the average two hours of crying a day.
  • The Lullaby Trust, Baby Check app, for the 17 checks for babies under six months.
  • The Sleep Charity, National Sleep Helpline, for the hours, the age limits and what the service cannot cover.
  • Sheffield Children's Sleep Service and the GOSH Respiratory Sleep Unit, for how tertiary sleep services take referrals.
  • NHS, postnatal depression and Samaritans, for the parental crisis red flags and the 116 123 line.
  • Allergy UK, for the IgE and non-IgE timings, the symptom groups, the over-attribution caveat and the 01322 619898 helpline.
  • NICE guidance on referral for snoring and for autistic children, reproduced second hand: nice.org.uk blocks automated checking, so we have avoided quoting any threshold from it.

Last checked 1 August 2026. This page is general information, not medical advice. If you are worried about your child, speak to your health visitor or GP.