I believe everyone who is having a baby should get a copy of The Happiest Baby on the Block: The New Way to Calm Crying and Help Your Baby Sleep Longer by Harvey Karp, M.D.
My super busy husband has good intentions but is having a very hard time reading the list of books I wanted him to read before our Baby-Sprout enters the world. Since we only have 7 weeks left, I am almost positive he is not going to get through his reading list so I am going to write short book reports for him. This report contains basic information from the book, which I think my husband should know, but does not even come close to being a full book report. So if you find the information here helpful, please pick up a copy.

Dr. Karp believes that babies are born too early. We often divide up our 9 months of pregnancy in three trimesters. Dr. Karp says babies are meant to have 4 trimesters but because of their head size they must be born 3 months too early. Since they are born 3 months too early, us as parents should try to make our babies surroundings as close to how babies would be if they were still inside the womb to make them calm.

To achieve that he suggests 5S’s. These are

1. Swaddling -Most parent-to-be comes in contact with the term swaddling during their pregnancy. There are numerous versions of swaddling blankets out there. We registered for the SwaddleDesigns Organic Ultimate Receiving Blanket – Natural with Trim. Dr. Suggests that we swaddle our baby in a tight bundle because that makes them feel like they are still inside the womb where they were continuously in a tight space. He has illustrations on how to swaddle the baby in the book in pages 115-118. (we have the book which was published in 2002) Some common mistakes that parents make when swaddling is not wrapping the baby in a tight bundle, swaddling a baby with bent arms, letting the blanket touch they baby’s cheek, and allowing the finished swaddle to pop open so let’s keep that in mind.

2. Side (or Stomach) – After swaddling your baby in a tight bundle, Dr suggests you put baby either on her side or on her stomach to calm them down. He says this might be because how babies are positioned while they are inside their mommies, or because being on their back sets of baby’s Moro(Falling) reflex. Dr. Karp suggests holding the baby in a reverse-breast-feeding hold, football hold, or over-the-shoulder hold (Illustrations on pp. 134-135) However, when babies are put to bed babies should sleep on their backs to avoid SIDs(Sudden infant death syndrome).

3. Shhh – Making white noise with your mouth. Since babies were surrounded by constant noise while they were in mommy’s belly, Shh noise you make will help baby calm down. Dr says Shh can be pretty loud. In fact it should match the the level of baby’s cry.

4. Swinging – Use motion to calm the baby. So he suggests jiggling the baby. (very different than shaking the baby which causes whiplash in babies and cause Shaken Baby Syndrome) Dr. Karp Suggests the Windshield Wiper tehnique. (you can find it on pp. 164-166)

5. Sucking – Dr. Karp says Pacifieres are ok. He does list some concerns in using pacifiers, such as nipple confusion, chemical contamination, not sweetening the pacifier, keeping it clean, not hanging the pacifier around baies neck, and he says to get rid of the pacifiers when baby reaches 4-5 months.

He says the combination of all 5S’s will help the baby calm down, and if you are not successful after first try that does not mean your baby is not responding. So Sunshine, memorize these techniques and let’s put them to use!