I used to hear it when I was younger, waaaaay before I was a mother. I would babysit for my nieces and nephews a lot and I have specific memories of getting up and running to their rooms at the back of the house. Instead of a squalling baby, a peacefully sleeping baby. This happened at least twice a night. It was maddening!
We put our spare bed into the nursery when our son was born and I pretty much lived out of that room for the first 3-5 months, after that we wanted to break him of his 3 am feeding through Ferberization. It wasn’t really until the 6 or 7th month that I realized I was still getting up.
I hear phantom crying!
The most disturbing thing is that when the baby monitor is shut off… I can still hear sounds coming from it! So much so that I’ll roll over in my sleep and pick it up to look at it, expecting to see its little lights blinking and, instead, finding that it isn’t even on! And the baby is sound asleep.
Arrg!
Phantom Crier Syndrome
Am I crazy? (My husband thinks I am.) Is this some sort of new-mother-mania? Am I disturbed, obsessed, defective?
The internet is not a lot of help, at least not scientifically, but there’s a lot of anecdotal information. I guess the best that could be said is that women (and some men) do this out of a natural need to keep our children safe and alive. It may sound a bit non-scienc-y for me to say it, but I think phantom crying was bred into us through the generations to make sure the species stays alive.
If I’m constantly checking on my baby because I think I hear him crying, I’m probably more likely to catch something else that goes wrong as it happens. Like a blanket over my baby’s face. So, while the phantom crying is annoying as heck, it’s also natural, and maybe even necessary!