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Column: Get relief if your baby only cries
By: Emily Fink
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So when I heard there was a presentation about happy babies at Resurrection Evangelical Lutheran Church last week, I had to go. I had to share with all the parents in Gretna how to keep their babies happy. Turns out that Mary Youngerman, wife of Resurrection’s Pastor Ron Youngerman, is a certified instructor in Nebraska for “The Happiest Baby on the Block.”
“The Happiest Baby on the Block” is a book written by a pediatrician out of California who explains his methods for calming screaming babies. Written in 2002, the pediatrician says newborns are most comfortable when they feel like they are still in the womb where it is noisy and tight and they are always jiggling.
Youngerman said at the presentation she knows parents will fall in love with a bald, toothless little person and that parents want to know how to calm a baby. She added that it’s normal instinct to calm a crying baby, but it’s not a normal instinct to know how to do it.
The pediatrician, Dr. Harvey Karp, says crying is a baby’s reflex and parents can simply learn how to trigger the calming reflex and the crying should stop within minutes.
At the presentation, Youngerman said Karp’s methods follow the five “S’s.” The No. 1 “S” is swaddling, which is wrapping a newborn up tightly in a thin blanket like a tiny burrito. She demonstrated the wrapping process – keep the blanket away from its mouth and keep it snug. Note the baby doesn’t like to be exposed, so understand why the baby is wailing and don’t get frustrated.
Once the baby is wrapped, hold the infant on its side or stomach. Youngerman said putting a baby on his or her back is an alarm for him or her.
If the baby is still crying, try another “S” – shhhhing. Youngerman said when a baby is in the womb, it’s really loud, like a vacuum cleaner, and babies feel better with noise. The video of Karp shows him shhhing directly into the baby’s ear and as loud as the baby is crying. Remarkably, the baby calms down.
The final two “S’s” are swinging or giggling, because the baby is constantly moving around in the womb, and sucking, such as using an adult’s thumb or pacifier.
After Youngerman gave some basic tips, the audience practiced swaddling dolls.
She said she is a lifelong learner and when she became an instructor she felt she had to go out and teach other parents about the “Happiest Baby” methods as a service to the community. Youngerman asked the church’s Health Ministry Nurses to help her with the cause.
To be called the Small Miracles group, Youngerman and a postpartum nurse plan to schedule four classes next year to help parents. The first class will be Jan. 12 for two or three hours with a freewill donation. More details will be available when the class gets closer.
Youngerman said she also would be on-call to parents to help them out at any hour. Parents can contact her by calling Resurrection Evangelical Lutheran Church. They want to reach out to the community to really prevent child abuse and know it can be stressful if a baby just doesn’t stop crying.
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