Purple hats raise awareness of infants' crying period

Patrick Saucier, 4, of Lisbon puts a new purple hat on his 2-day-old brother, Nathan, at the St. Mary’s Family Birthing unit in Lewiston on Friday. The hat was made by an Advocates for Children volunteer and given to Nathan before he went home from the hospital. Zack Fortin of Advocates for Children dropped off hand-knitted purple hats to the maternity wards at St. Mary’s and Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston to raise awareness of “The Period of PURPLE Crying.” Fortin said parents can expect babies to cry for up to five hours a day from the age of two weeks to five months. “Every new baby can go home with a purple hat and that serves as a reminder to the family that crying is normal infant behavior,” Fortin said. “The word period means that the crying has a beginning and an end.” Skye McKenna, holding Nathan, and her fiance, Trevor Henry, welcomed Nathan on Wednesday. Nathan is one of three young boys in the family. (Daryn Slover/Sun Journal)

Nathan McKenna was born on Wednesday, Nov. 28. He, along with other newborns, will go home with a hand-knit purple hat that serves as a reminder that crying is normal behavior for babies. (Daryn Slover/Sun Journal)

Zack Fortin of Advocates for Children drops off hand-knitted purple hats to the nurses station at the St. Mary’s Family Birthing unit in Lewiston on Friday. (Daryn Slover/Sun Journal)