The Baby Voodoo of Calming a Crying Infant

Posted by mamas

Posted: November 21, 2008 - 10:16 pm

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The baby is crying….it’s escalating to the point of screams and it’s your job as a parent to “DO SOMETHING”. This scenario is familiar in homes all over the world. Whether your baby suffers from colic, has gas, doesn’t feel well, is over stimulated, or any other myriad of problems; it’s up to you to help them.

After the basics have been addressed, such as, feeding and changing; then it is time to go to work on calming a crying baby. There are so many possible solutions to be tried and every baby is different. Plus the order in which you try the remedy may make a big difference to the baby. For example, you swaddle the baby and then you must swing them. But don’t swing them side to side, this baby likes front to back only. Then you notice their legs squirming and assume that they have gas so you give them the gas drops. They continue to cry as you begin to make a shhhhhh-shhhhh noise to try and calm them. Now you are bouncing and dancing around, making soothing noises, and all the while trying to recognize that there must be an end in sight. My friend calls this process “baby voodoo” because you must do all the components exactly right and for the right amount of time for it to work.

Well, it may sound like a laughing matter, but in the moment it can seem critical to get it right. I like to start with the “five S’s” that Dr. Harvey Karp talks about in the book “Happiest Baby on the Block”. The five S’s stand for: swaddling, side holding, shhhsh-ing, swinging, and sucking. All good ideas when a baby is crying. However, there will be times that these do not work either. I also like the “Dunstan Baby Language” movie which explains the sounds that babies under three months of age make and what they mean. Then there were gas drops and gripe water for tummy troubles. Kangaroo care is another wonderfully soothing tool, such as laying the baby on mommy or daddy’s chest skin to skin. A soothing bath also usually works wonders for an upset infant. Just make sure you dress them warm and snug afterwards.

It’s amazing how each infant differs, yet one must still have an arsenal of calming methods to try. A baby that is extremely auditory will calm easier to sounds. Because the womb is a loud place, sometimes a quite room can make a newborn insecure. I know a mom who would say in a low voice “vroom vroom” to her baby in order to get him to sleep and it worked. My baby loved when I turned the water facet on and it would stop her mid-cry. My son had a special position on our knees where we could rub his stomach in a clockwise motion while creating motion with our legs. So don’t give up parents, if the first thing you do doesn’t stop the crying, just move on to the next step. Even if you feel like you’ve tried everything, eventually something will work to calm the baby.
Babies are so sensitive to their parents, that when we are frustrated with the crying or just plain over tired, they can sense our anxiety. They will pick up on it and be less likely to calm down. There is, of course, a difference between a cry of pain and a normal infant cry. If your child is crying in true pain, don’t ignore what your instinct tells you, call a professional or take them in for another opinion. However, if you are simply trying to get a child to rest, don’t be afraid to experiment with the “baby voodoo” tactics of order, timing, and remedy.

What worked for calming your children down? Do you have any suggestions to calm a crying baby?

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