Canadian babies cry more than other babies and we think we know why

Ever felt like your baby cries more than anyone else’s in the world? Well, if you’re Canadian, your suspicions might be true. A 2017 meta-analysis from The Journal of Pediatrics found that Canadian babies cry more than infants from just about every other country.

Psychologists in the UK set out to find how much babies really cry and, in doing so, ended up finding some major differences in infants across the globe. When they reviewed crying rates of about 8,700 babies, they found that, for the first six weeks of life, the average time for a baby to fuss or cry each day is 117 to 133 minutes; by the time a little one reaches 10 to 12 weeks, that number tends to drop to about 68 minutes. But, if you’re a parent in Canada, you can expect to hear about 150 daily minutes of crying at three to four weeks of life. The only babies with more powerful lungs live in the Netherlands, where parents hear a half-minute more fussing a day. German parents, on the other hand, are blessed with an average of just 80 noisy minutes.

Colic, which is generally diagnosed when an infant cries for three or more hours a day for at least three days a week, was also significantly higher for Canadian babies. While lucky parents in Denmark and Germany had colic rates around six percent at three to four weeks of age, we suffer from a whopping 34 percent colic rate at the same stage of life.

Though the study authors say they can "only speculate" on the reasons why there are differences among countries, the Canadian parenting experts at Today’s Parent hazarded a few guesses.

Here's why we think Canadian babies cry so much:

- They keep getting “Please play again” on their Rrroll Up the Rim to Win cup.

- They just looked outside and saw we still have snow in April. April!

- They realized they’ll never have enough money to buy a house in any of our major cities.

- They just Googled the American-Canadian exchange rate.

- They tried to make a recipe but realized one of the ingredients was only available at Trader Joe’s.

- They heard YouTube TV isn’t available in Canada.

Have any other ideas why Canadian babies cry more? Let us know.

Read more: Understand your baby's cries Fussy baby: Nightly infant crying Baby talk: What your baby is trying to tell you