BECAUSE there’s the idea that newborn days necessarily mean sleepless nights, parents have gone to great lengths to seek out the secret to less crying. In centuries past, people attributed baby crying to everything from the evil eye and the devil to bad mother’s milk. Some even speculated that daytime was for adults to talk, while nighttime was the baby’s turn. The topic of baby sleep has been a buzzing, blooming, state of confusion — until now. For three long trimesters, babies live a happy life in the womb, where they are cradled by the snug walls of the uterus, rocked and jiggled with each breath and movement Mom takes, and exposed to constant low, rumbly whooshing noises. Parents may forget that it’s this bustling environment that babies are used to — not the silence and stillness of their homes. Despite all the new stimulating sensations newborns are introduced to (internal feelings of gas, hunger, and thirst, as well as new external sights, sounds, and textures), they also face disturbingly under-stimulating stillness. After centuries of myths and confusion, it is now clear that the true basis of sleep woes and persistent crying is when babies are deprived of the calming rhythms of the womb. Parents have used rocking, shushing, long drives, and other techniques that imitate aspects of the womb to soothe babies for millennia, but our generation is the first in history to know that they work by turning on the calming reflex. Most soothing techniques fall into one of five categories: swaddling (snug holding), side/stomach position, shushing (white noise), swinging (motion) and sucking. Swaddle: Swaddling recreates the cozy surroundings of the womb and is the cornerstone of calming. It decreases startling and boosts sleep. Side/stomach position: Activate this “S” by holding your baby on their stomach or side. However, it’s very important to note that while you can and should hold babies on their side or stomach, it is not safe to place a baby on the side or stomach to sleep. The back is the only safe sleeping position for babies. Shush: In the womb, the shushing sound of blood flow is louder than a vacuum cleaner! Imitate this sound with low, rumbly white noise. Swing: Life in the womb is very jiggly. Though slow rocking is fine for quiet babies, fast, tiny motions may be necessary to soothe a squawking infant. To do it: Support the head/neck, keep your motions small, and move no more than an inch back and forth. Suck: Lots of fussy babies are best able to relax when they suck on a pacifier. (SD-Agencies) | 