PARENTS
How New Grandparents Can Build an Extra-Sweet Bond With Baby
Tips for calming your grandchild so you can build a special bond.
Escrito por
Dr. Harvey Karp
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PARENTS
Escrito por
Dr. Harvey Karp
COMPARTIR ESTE ARTÍCULO
Más vendidos
On an airplane I once watched a delicate Chinese grandmother calm a crying baby so swiftly and gracefully.
Halfway through the flight, the infant in her arms suddenly erupted into intense crying. After a few piercing wails, the woman picked up her frantic traveling companion and launched into a ritual repeated by adults around the world…since time began!
She nestled the little girl’s stomach against her shoulder; made a continuous “Shhhhh” sound in her ear; rhythmically thumped her bottom and simultaneously swayed her torso, side-to-side, like a snake working its way up hill. In less than a minute, her tiny bundle was sound asleep.
It’s tempting to believe someone who’s good at soothing babies has “the gift.” But calming babies has nothing to do with special talents and everything to do with understanding a simple, yet totally counterintuitive, fact about babies…they are all born 3 months too soon!
Allow me to explain. Humans are very immature at birth. Baby horses are able to walk, even run, on their first day of life. Our newborns, by comparison, need our help even just to…burp.
Consider their first 3 months as an extension of fetal life, a virtual 4th trimester. That’s why our job in caring for babies is to imitate the uterus – a confining space where there’s lots of jiggly motion and sound louder than a vacuum cleaner!
Most grandparents instinctively rock and embrace their crying tiny grandchildren. It works because these sensations can turn on the calming reflex, nature’s “off-switch for crying!
There are 5 different ways of turning on a baby’s calming reflex, which I’ve dubbed the “the 5 S's”:
Some babies only need 1 or 2 of the S’s to calm, but the fussiest babies need all 5 simultaneously.
Try it as first-time grandparents. It’s a fantastic way to bond with your grandchild and help out your son or daughter as they find their groove as new parents!
Did you know? Happiest Baby invented SNOO, a bassinet that mimics the 4th trimester sensations described here. It stretches sleep longer to give exhausted moms and dads a little more rest. It can’t cook a mean lasagna, but we sometimes joke that SNOO is like an extra set of hands, to help out after the new Grandma leaves!
Descargo de responsabilidad: La información en nuestro sitio NO es un consejo médico para ninguna persona o condición específica. Solo se proporciona como información general. Si tiene alguna pregunta o preocupación médica sobre su hijo o sobre usted mismo, por favor contacte a su proveedor de salud. La leche materna es la mejor fuente de nutrición para los bebés. Es importante que, en preparación para la lactancia y durante la misma, las madres lleven una dieta saludable y equilibrada. La combinación de lactancia materna y alimentación con biberón en las primeras semanas de vida puede reducir la producción de leche materna y es difícil revertir la decisión de no amamantar. Si decide utilizar fórmula infantil, debe seguir las instrucciones cuidadosamente.
