For all of those who are not familiar with happiest baby on the block, I will give you a quick summary. The person who wrote it is a pediatrician and has been for many many years. He said that when a baby is born you need to still think of her as a fetus and that the next three months are the "fourth trimester". Keeping that in mind will help you to be able to keep you baby happy. He gave 5 S to sooth a baby and stop crying generally in seconds to minutes.
The first S is swaddling. He showed how to swaddle a baby with a blanket and explained that swaddling is a way to help the baby calm down and stop scaring herself with all of her movements which she is not used to. The baby in the womb had little to no space and felt comforted by the close quarters. Swaddling is as close as the baby can get to feeling that way again.
The second S is side/stomach. It is recommended to have the baby sleep on their back, but one of the quickest ways to calm a baby is to hold them on their side slightly tilted toward their stomach.
The third S is shhing. When the baby starts to cry you can shh the baby making sure your shh is as loud as the baby is crying. If it is not than the baby can't hear it and it is like you aren't doing anything. As the baby calms and isn't as loud, so should your shhing. Besides saying shh you can have just static noise. The reason these are so helpful is because as the baby is in the womb, she is constantly hearing noise and it is quite loud as loud as a vacuum cleaner.
The fourth S is swinging. The swinging motion or a giggling motion mimics being in the womb because the mom is constantly moving and thus leaving the baby in constant motion. Swing or giggle at the rate the baby is crying, lessen as the baby's cry calms down. Just like shhing.
The fifth S is sucking. Whether it is a bottle, a pacifier, or a finger sucking is one of the best ways to calm a baby. Remember, to build the baby's sucking muscles, you should slightly tug on the pacifer. Yes tug not hold in place its a little bit of the reverse-psychology.
Dave and I were amazed to see him calm the babies so quickly. It was like magic! I hope I can get these down for when Lucy is here to help keep her happy and calm. Apparently doing these steps help the baby to sleep better and longer-which would be fantastic!!
For all of those keeping track with me I have 6 weeks until her due date!!
2 comments:
Ohh how exciting! you guys sound like your ready. There was something that help me out when I was a new mom. I saw it on Opra and I think it's call the baby language, or something like that. Kellen "spoke" it, there is a different sound for each thing like, when they are hungery, or need to burp, or gassy. It was really cool. So when are you going to post a photo of that baby belly?
That sounds like a really helpful class! I'm really glad you got a tour of the hospital too. That way you can plan in your head where you're going to go, where you'll be etc. That was really helpful for me. Good luck. We're thinking of you.
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