Tessa, now five years old, is a “pistol”—smart, funny, and
passionate. However, during her first weeks of life, she would get
as frantic as a hurricane. Her parents, Eve and Todd, wrapped her,
walked her, and even went for car rides, but nothing worked.
One afternoon, Tessa was really wailing but Eve couldn’t hold
her because she had to get the house ready for company. So she
left her baby to cry and began to vacuum. The instant the vacuum
was switched on, Tessa became stone silent!
Eve bolted over to check her. Tessa was sleeping sweetly, her
body relaxed. She wasn’t sleeping despite the ruckus but because of
it! Amazingly, the womb experience that Tessa was missing most
was “channeled” to her through the sound of Eve’s seven-year-old
upright vacuum.
From that moment on, whenever Tessa went ballistic, her parents
used the vacuum cleaner to soothe her. Eve and Todd began to joke
that Tessa was receiving secret messages from the planet Hoover.
This calming trick was so predictable that they began inviting their
friends over during Tessa’s fussy time to watch the show.
Over the next six months, whenever Eve had to take Tessa to
work with her, she always brought along a little portable vacuum
to help Tessa settle in for a good long nap!
The Whys About the “S’s”: Questions Parents Ask
About Shhhhing
1. Which sound will calm my cranky baby the best: a heartbeat,
lullaby, or shhhh?
When your baby is resting peacefully, all of these can lull her into
a deeper level of relaxation. However, if she’s really upset, the most
effective calming sound is a white noise
that imitates the turbulent