When Perla was born, I had no experience whatsoever on how to handle a baby, especially a crying one. I am the only child and I don't have any cousins younger than me or with babies. Luckily, my husband is the youngest in a family of 4 and so he had babysat for his nephews a lot. He took a lead on handling our baby as I was recovering and getting used to the whole mommyhood.
In one of my classes I had heard of the book "The Happiest Baby on the Block". I read it and started putting in practice what I had read. IT WAS LIKE MAGIC!! Every time Perla cried, both of us had perfected the techniques mentioned in the book, and we used them on our little bundle of joy "baby". Here is what we learned from the book.
All babies are born prematurely, three months earlier!!! There is a fourth trimester that is missing. This sounds very odd, right? No one would want to carry a baby in the womb for another trimester. Because baby are born early, the first three months of life we need to resemble the warmth, snuggled feeling and noise that the womb offers. The 5 S that Dr. Harvey Karp recommends are
The 1st S - Swaddling
• This is the cornerstone of calming
• Swaddle the baby snug, arms at sides (may resist), hips flexed
• No loose wraps…no overheating…during the first weeks…no swaddling in prone…wake to nurse 8-12/day
• When infants have been swaddled and sleep supine, their risk of dying from sudden infant death syndrome
(SIDS) is reduced with an odds ratio of 0.64 to 0.69.
The 2nd S – Side/Stomach
• Hold baby on their stomach or on their side
• Don’t let the baby sleep on the side or stomach
The 3rd S - Shushing
• As loud as crying (Womb is louder than a vacuum)
• Shushing is the only universal learned sound
• Over-stimulation is not nearly as big a problem as under-stimulation! Babies miss the rhythmic, hypnotic
sounds and movement. Being in a quiet room is weird for them.
• Sound at 60-80dB significantly increases quiet sleep and decreases active sleep (SIDS occurs most during
active sleep)
• Don't be afraid that you will make your babies deaf
The 4th S - Swinging
• Tiny and fast (jiggle not shake…ALWAYS support the head and neck)
• Follow her lead
• Dads are great! Once we get over our initial fears of handling a new baby, we usually feel more comfortable than moms doing the “Jell-O” head jiggle!
• May need swing on fast speed for hours (avoid if premie or muscular weakness…ask MD)
• Never in anger!!!! If you’re getting really frustrated …get some back-up or take a break.
The 5th S - Sucking
• Other cultures nurse 50-100 times/day
• Use a pacifier after the baby is used to breastfeeding
With Perla we didn't have to use all of them at once. Sometimes we would hold her on her stomach and shush to her on her ear, or sometimes we would swaddle her and give her a pacifier. But every time it worked perfectly! She has never cried longer than 5 minutes. You can also find youtube videos where you can see Dr. Harvey as he uses the 5 S on some babies and how magically they work.
I hope this is helpful to some of you new mothers out there. Do you have other methods that worked for you to calm your baby? Please share them with me!
Warmly,
Juliana
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