How to calm your crying baby

Anybody who has been able to experience living with a fussy baby would understand just how stressful having to deal with one can be. Crying would be the only form of communication your baby can do and though not all types of crying has been or can be explained, there would always be those general reasons on why he does. These reasons would include stress, hunger, sleepiness, discomfort, pain, fear and a lot others. It would be important to respond to your baby’s needs as he cries.

There are some occasions, however, when a baby could cry for extended periods for no apparent reason. These cases can be attributed to colic. Colic was originally believed to be caused by problems in the baby’s digestive system, causing gas pains. However, after recent studies, this has been disproven. A lot of experts today believe that colic is caused by an extremely sensitive reaction by the baby to his surroundings, including the sounds, lights and activities going on around him. However, there still have been no definite evidence for this. The good news, though, is that all babies eventually outgrow the colic phase in around three months. For the time being, you could try out these techniques in helping your baby be calmer.

1. Try giving him a warm bath. By giving him a warm bath right before his bedtime, he would be more calm and more comfortable, similar to how adults feel after having a warm bath. After that, dress him up in soft clothes to make drifting off to sleep a lot easier and more pleasurable.

2. Hold your baby close to calm him. Try to keep him away from any activities like people talking or doing things, as the more stimulation they are exposed to, the longer the time it would take for them to be calmer. You can try transitioning into sleep from playtime through gradually lessening the noise and putting on some soft music or lullabies. Try not to talk too loudly and dim the lights, while avoiding any sudden movements.

3. Try to rock your baby calm. You can make use of a rocking chair for this so it would be easier for you. You could simply rock him to sleep. Just make sure that the rocking chair is situated just near his crib or his bed so that it would be easy to lay him down once he has fallen asleep. You can also dim the lights and put on some lullabies, or even better, sing to him .

4. Try to swaddle your baby. Swaddling is commonly used for soothing those fussy babies. The ancient practice of swaddling would involve wrapping your baby up in some swaddling cloths or swaddling blankets so that movement would be restricted and the baby would feel more secure and warm. As a matter of fact, there have been some research done that suggests swaddling could help in letting babies have REM sleep much longer, resulting in less awakenings.

5. Ensure that your baby has a quiet space. Try to avoid having the baby or his bed area within any loud sounds like phone ringing, hammering and shouting, as the effects of these noises are magnified in babies compared to their effects to adults. Make sure that you would be trying to block out external sound as much as possible. Try to close windows, especially if the baby’s room has a window overlooking a busy street.

6. Ensure that they baby’s room would have dim lights. This would lessen the distractions which could make the baby feel tenser.

7. As for music, try to play some lullabies of soft melodies at a low volume to help calm the babies and gradually lull them to dream land. You can also try rocking your baby in your arms gently while singing to him. Newborns have been studied to be calmer with soft and steady music, as well as help in the development of his brain and development.

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August 4, 2008 | Filed Under Baby nursery