Baby soothing

iVillage Member
Registered: 09-10-2008
Baby soothing
1
Sat, 09-20-2008 - 10:32pm
We went to a kids birthday party and one couple showed up with their 4 kids, including a 2 week old boy. They complained that this baby is the first one to not sleep much and must have colic. Now, the other 3 kids range from 5 to 1 and yelled all the time. I took the baby so the poor DM could at least get an interrupted meal - she looked like a zombie. Everyone had been passing the poor little guy around, bouncing him, shoving a pacifier in his mouth and he still cried. I headed down the sidewalk away from the noise with him up over my shoulder. Tried the trick of saying "shh" and patting very lightly in the same rhythm as my heart beat. The theory is that some babies just miss the sound of the mother's heartbeat and "underwater" sounds. I remembered doing this at my nieces christening years ago and she slept thru the whole thing. Sure enough, he stopped crying, opened his eyes and looked around for a while, then fell asleep. The parents were amazed, called me "the baby whisperer". Geez, was it so hard to figure out that the poor tyke was overstimulated and needed quiet soothing? What's with the modern parents who expose such a tiny baby to so much chaos? My DS would put the 2nd baby on the sofa to nap, with TV going, older child screaming, etc., then wonder why the baby never took much of a nap.
iVillage Member
Registered: 09-19-2003
In reply to: jaybee458
Sun, 09-21-2008 - 7:59am
i love it!! the baby whisperer! wow,first of all,that poor mother. thats alot going on there with so many little ones,so much attention that each one needs. im tired just from reading about it! brings back the day when i would walk the floor with mine,and as they grew and became teens,still walking the floor waiting up till they got home safe and sound. do mothers ever get any sleep. i would have to agree about the heartbeat and the water theory,i know when i go to the lakefront on my walks,i sit and listen to the waves beating against the shore,i find