LRGH giving purple caps to newborns through Dec.

LACONIA — We've all heard it. The newborn is crying and the new parent, barely awake and so frustrated, mutters, "What's wrong?"

There's a common belief that if a baby won't stop crying, it's because something is wrong and the parent needs to fix it. Sometimes though, the best thing to do is to put the baby back in its crib and walk away. This is where the purple hats come in.

This November and December, Lakes Region General Hospital, one of New Hampshire's birthing hospitals, is giving a special gift to newborns' families. Babies receive PURPLE, hand-knit hats to serve as a reminder to parents that their baby will likely go through a stage of increased crying. This is in addition to the regular education new parents of over 80% of infants born in New Hampshire already receive on the Period of PURPLE Crying – the normal developmental stage of increased crying infants may go through between two weeks and six months of age.

To caregivers and parents, this stage can be exasperating to say the very least. With an elevated level of stress and frustration, shaken baby syndrome and other forms of infant abuse can happen to even the most unsuspecting new parent. In fact, the most common trigger of Shaken Baby Syndrome is frustration with infant crying. The hope is that these PURPLE hats will remind parents and caregivers to have a plan when their blood starts to boil and that this crying, though at times horribly upsetting, is normal if the child is healthy and comfortable.