A new study has revealed that walking while holding your baby is a much more effective way of calming them down than rocking. This was discovered by a group of researchers after they conducted the study to find out the best way to calm a baby down. What was found was that when hysterical babies who were held and walked around with became calmer, their rapidly beating hearts would slow down due to this. I used to think just holding a baby in your arms would be soothing but it’s the walking that is crucial in this case. What is more fascinating is that the same response was also found in rats, not sure how the experiment was conducted though.
The study was conducted by Dr. Kumi Kuroda, and a group of researchers. The investigation took place at the RIKEN Brain Science Institute in Saitama, Japan. For the research 12 healthy infants ages 1 month to 6 months were monitored. Young babies carried by a walking mother were the most relaxed and soothed, compared to infants whose mothers sat in a chair and held them. As a mother stood up and started to walk with her child cradled close in her arms, scientists observed an automatic change in the baby's behavior.
This however does not mean we should neglect to try n figure out why the baby is crying first. You should make sure that the baby is not hungry, in pain or needs a nappy change etc. I guess this means those who believe so much in the cry it out technique can now stop using it, babies want to be held. So instead of leaving him/her to cry till they can’t anymore, carrying them and walking around could be the quicker solution.
Come to thiink of it this is also kind of the same with piggy-backing a baby with a towel of course, it helps them calm down most of the time. Mommies sometimes its best to hold your baby while walking in a mall or wherever even just for a while, they will be forever thankful lol.
What do you think?
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