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4. Swinging: Rock-a-Bye Baby
Lying on a soft, motionless bed may appeal to you, but to
your baby—fresh out of the womb—it’s disorienting and
unnatural. Newborns are like sailors who come to dry land after
nine months at sea; the sudden stillness can drive them
bananas. That’s why rhythmic, monotonous, jiggly movement—
what I call swinging—is one of the most common methods
parents have always used to calm their babies. Swinging usually
must be vigorous at first to get your baby to stop screaming,
and then it can be reduced to a gentler motion to keep him
calm.
In ancient times and in today’s traditional cultures, babies are
constantly jiggled and bounced. Many third-world parents use
cradles or hammocks to keep their babies content, and they
“wear” their infants in slings to give the soothing feeling of
motion with every step and breath. Even in our culture, many
tired parents use bouncy seats, car rides, and walks around the
block to try to help their unhappy babies find some peace.
Mark, Emma, and their two kids were visiting Los
Angeles from London. While I was examining four-
year-old Rose, little Mary, their two-month-old baby,
startled out of a deep sleep and immediately began to
wail. Without missing a beat, Mark scooped her up so
she sat securely in his arms. He began swinging her
from side to side as if she were a circus performer
and he the trapeze. Within twenty seconds, her eyes
glazed over, her body melted into his chest, and we
were able to finish our conversation as if Mary had
never cried at all.
5. Sucking: The Icing on the Cake
Once your cranky baby starts to settle down from the

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swaddle, side position, shushing, and swinging, he’s ready for
the fifth glorious “S”: sucking. Sucking is the icing on the cake
of calming. It takes a baby who is beginning to quiet and lulls
him into a deep and profound state of tranquillity.
Obviously, it’s hard for your baby to scream with a pacifier in
his mouth, but that’s not why sucking is so soothing. Sucking
has its effect deep within your baby’s nervous system. It triggers
his calming reflex and releases natural chemicals within his
brain, which leads in minutes to a rich and satisfying level of
relaxation.
Some parents offer their infants bottles and pacifiers to suck
on, but the all-time number-one sucking toy in the world is a
mother’s nipple. As was previously mentioned, mothers in some
cultures help keep their babies calm by offering them the breast
up to one hundred times a day.