The 5 S's for Soothing Babies

All babies cry—and that is a good thing. How else would we know if our helpless infants were cold, hungry, lonely, or in pain? Traditionally, mums and dads have just been encouraged to keep their chins up and wait until the baby grows out of it. But, that is easier said than done! So, what are the 5 S's and why are they so important?

Crying Takes a Toll on Babies AND Parents

Typically, babies get increasingly irritable around sundown and can continue for hours. No wonder, parents get concerned, frustrated and very, very tired.

Exhaustion triggered by persistent crying creates huge stress in families, including marital conflict, maternal and paternal depression, and obesity. It causes car crashes and other accidents—people make all kinds of poor decisions when stressed and overtired. It also puts babies in danger when a wiped-out parent falls asleep with a baby in his arms, on an unsafe couch or a bed, which increases the risks for SIDS and infant suffocation. And believe it or not, the national costs of complications of infant crying and parental exhaustion total well over $1 billion pounds a year!

My ‘Aha!’ Moment on Calming Babies

Most doctors say that colic (crying for more than 3 hours a day) is a mystery. That is what I used to say, too, until 1981 when I learned about the !Kung San of the Kalahari Desert, whose mothers usually calm their fussy babies in under a minute! The more I thought about it, the more I realised we could be as successful as !Kung parents, but only if we adopt 2 new ideas:

• All babies are born 3 months early. Newborn horses can run within an hour of birth but not our mushy little babies. A virtual 4th trimester of womb sensations (soft touch, jiggly motion, snug holding, etc.) may just be what they need.