5 Tried & Tested Ways To Soothe A Crying Baby

Does your baby cry quite often? Or maybe just a few times a day? Either way, the sound of a crying baby hurts every-time and since you can only find out the cause of their weeping by trial and error, it gets frustrating at times to handle the scenario. If you are facing a similar problem and seeking a way to help you to calm your baby down, you are in the right place. We’ll discuss the causes that make a baby cry and the steps on how to soothe a crying baby in a few minutes by following some simple, yet proven steps.

The first few things you would want to make sure are, that your child is not in pain, have pooped or peed, and not hungry. Also read: How Safe Is It To Give A Pacifier To A Crying Baby? Some infants can get hungry as often as every hour. Offer milk to see if they respond to it. If they do, that’s why they were really crying. If they avoid drinking milk, do not force them to have it. That will only cause more weeping. Once you have made sure they are not in pain, don’t need to eat, poop, or pee, you can proceed with the simple process of soothing the baby called “The Five S’s”.

How to Soothe a Crying Baby in minutes?

Do you know that all babies are born 3 months early? Yes, you read that right and that’s why they need a Virtual 4th Trimester of “Womb Sensations” to feel comfortable while they are getting used to the outside environment. To make this possible, Dr. Harvey Karp came up with a process called “The Five S’s”. The idea behind the steps involved in the process is to create sensations for the infants similar to what they experience inside a womb and help them get through the 4th Trimester. Let’s talk about the five S’s in detail now. Make sure you read this till the end and don’t rush to your “crying” baby just after reading the first few steps to try it on her. Just Kidding! ;)

#1. The 1st S: Swaddle

The first step is Swaddling and is the KEY step among the five. This involves wrapping the baby with a comfortable piece of cloth; with Arms - Straight and Tight and the Hips - Flex and Loose. When infants cannot move their hands freely, they tend to calm down. Make sure not to overheat it for the baby with a very warm cloth. Also read: Do You Know What Purple Crying Is? Find Out When It Will Start For Your Baby Swaddling creates a similar environment as inside the womb and decreases startling. It is not recommended to swaddle a baby all day, do it just during fussing and sleep time.

#2. The 2nd S: Side Stomach Position

Try not to put the baby at rest on the back when she is fussing. Though resting on the back is the safe position for sleeping, it doesn’t help when a baby is restless. Instead, hold the baby on her side, on her stomach, or over your shoulder. You will see the difference right away.

#3. The 3rd S: Shushing Sound

You always thought infants like silence, didn’t you? Well, that’s a myth! When a baby is inside the womb, it hears the sound of the blood flow all the time. This is a Shushing sound and is louder than a sound of a Vacuum Cleaner (for the baby inside the womb). So, the next time when your baby cries, try Shushing 2 to 4 inches from baby’s ear. Make sure you do not shush into the ear but past it. If the baby is crying louder, shush louder too. Loud and harsh shushing is best. Soften your shushing as the baby starts to calm down. The Shushing needs to be continued for a while or else the baby will start to cry again.

#4. The 4th S: Swinging

The babies are not stable when inside the womb. As a pregnant woman move around, the baby inside jiggles and this is a fast movement. Though slow rocking can help you keep a baby quiet and calm, swinging the baby faster helps better when they are crying. Keep your movement fast but don’t move more than an inch back and forth. Make sure you also jiggle the head of the baby a tiny bit too while supporting it. This tiny jiggling of the head actually helps the most but remember to be very careful not overdo it. Never shake your baby in anger or frustration. Also read: Biggest Myth: Crying strengthens your baby’s lungs?

#5. 5th S: Sucking

The last but a wonderful and effortless way to keep a baby calm is by letting them suck. Babies tend to relax and ultimately fall to sleep after sucking for a while. You can let a baby suck a bottle, breast, finger, or a pacifier. Mostly, all of these works the same way but pacifiers makes the process easier for a parent. It takes a little time for a baby to get used to a pacifier but once they do, it would be your “go to” product.

Keep It All Together

If you find your baby crying or fussing, immediately start with Swaddling, followed by the Side Stomach Position, Shushing past the ear loud, Swinging the baby in a fast to and fro motion, and make them Suck when they get a little calm. When trying out how to soothe a crying baby, each step needs to be followed vigorously depending on the intensity of the baby. Some babies may cry even harder when you first try to use the 5 S’s method but you need to stay calm and continue the process until they start to melt. You may not perfect this in one go but both, you and your baby will adapt to it with time. Also read: Why Do Babies Cry Some babies do not like the Swaddling at all. So, if you notice that your baby is not calming down after getting wrapped after trying a few times, you should move on to the next steps. It has been seen that some people do this better than others, so if you fail at this a few times, ask your partner/spouse to do it. You can learn and perfect it slowly.

null

null