I recently went to a training with United Way for their Welcome Baby program and the presenter talked about "The Happiest Baby on the Block," a book and video by Dr. Harvey Karp. We watched parts of the video, and I thought it was fascinating. Dr. Karp's philosophy is that babies, for the first 3 months, really need our help to adjust to the changes from being inside their moms. He teaches 5 S's to help calm babies, especially colicky babies.Here are the 5 S's:
-Swaddling
-Placing baby on its Side or Stomach
-Shhh. (A soothing white noise sound)
-Swinging
-Sucking
The video produced by Dr. Karp shows how quickly these techniques can work to calm a crying newborn.
Here's a YouTube video of a dad using the 5 S's for his child. It's pretty amazing.
I've been reading the book now, and I would definitely recommend to any expectant parent, or parent of a colicky baby to either read the book or watch the video. Our first son was a fairly calm infant, but it was reassuring to see that if we have a colicky baby in the future there is hope to help him or her calm down!
I'm excited to start reading "The Happiest Toddler on the Block" next. Have any of you had luck using these techniques, or know of other techniques to calm babies that work?
