Dr. Harvey Karp:
Society’s evolving and technology’s evolving. It sounds odd to use the word technology and children at the same time because you don’t think of it as… Maybe it’s not technology - it’s knowledge. But now we know why babies scream, why they have colic. Now we have ways of calming a fussy baby in minutes or even seconds. Now we have ways of getting baby to sleep an extra hour at night. Now we have ways of taking temper tantrums and cutting them down in length and shortening them by 75 to 90%.
Downtown Joe:
My mom often reminds me that I was a colicky baby and I cried for two years and my sister was so much better than me.
Bob Rivers:
What can he blame it on now?
Downtown Joe:
What is colic? How do we get them to stop?
Dr. Harvey Karp:
Believe it or now, colic is related to babies being born three months before they're ready. I mean, not that I’ve ever talked to women into trying this, it’s just a theory, ladies and gentlemen. But if you ever saw a baby horse, they’re up and running the first day of life. Our babies are very immature by comparison. They have to be born after nine months in the womb because their heads are so big. And so in fact, it’s not until they’re four months that they’re smiling and interacting with you. So what we have to do for those first three or four months is not to get them to tough it out and make them cry on their own, but rather to imitate the womb. And when you do that in exactly the right way with these five techniques, you can literally flip a switch.
You can turn on a calming reflex that gets fussy babies calm and helps virtually any longer -
Bob Rivers:
So give me more specifics on that and how to do that. You’ve got a screaming baby, it’s 2 o’clock in the morning, it’s only a couple of months old. You’re reminding me that humans have this thing: our babies are born early and they’re really very helpless. How do I simulate the womb?
Dr. Harvey Karp:
Okay, so there are five steps. They’re called the “5 S’s.”
The first is Swaddling, which is really snug wrapping with the arms down.
Bob Rivers:
That’s the feeling of security.
Dr. Harvey Karp:
It’s a feeling of security but it also keeps them from flailing around and upsetting themselves even more.
Downtown Joe:
You just take a nice soft blanket and kinda wrap them in it and tuck them under -
Dr. Harvey Karp:
Well, but the way you do it key because there are safe ways and there are unsafe ways. You don’t want to overheat the baby, and so you really have to know how to do it, not just go at it. So that’s the starter. Even when they cry more when you do that, they still need it. They still need the wrapping. Babies don’t need -
Bob Rivers:
Okay. So the wrapping is important because it’s a feeling like being in the womb.
Dr. Harvey Karp:
Right. That’s the foundation. Then the next 4 S’s is, first is the Side stomach position. The back is the only position for sleeping but it’s the worst position for calming a baby because they feel like they’re falling when they’re on their backs.
Bob Rivers:
I still feel like that, by the way.
Dr. Harvey Karp:
Come here.
Bob Rivers:
I know what you mean. I can’t sleep on my back. But babies do sleep on their backs. And they’re supposed to sleep on their backs.
Dr. Harvey Karp:
They have to sleep on their backs. It’s safer. But it’s the worst position when they’re crying. When they’re crying you roll them over. That might or might not work. Every baby’s different, so you kind of play around with these and find the best ones.
The next S is Shushing, which is a loud “Sssssssssh!”
Bob Rivers:
It’s the white noise?
Dr. Harvey Karp:
It’s white noise. And the sound in the womb is “shh shh shh shh.” Except that it’s twice as loud as a vacuum cleaner, 24/7.
Bob Rivers:
So when you’re hearing an ultrasound, which was one of my favourite moments when Lisa had a kid in her and I hear that “Whwhw!” I thought that was just the gel on her tummy and the microphone. But there is a sound inside the womb?
Dr. Harvey Karp:
Yeah. It’s the blood whooshing through the arteries because the baby is feeling fed with all that blood. But it echoes in there. It’s kinda like when you run the tub; you know how the tub sounds. But then you put your head in the water and it’s like thunder.
Bob Rivers:
So how do you make that swishing? With your mouth?
Dr. Harvey Karp:
Yeah, you can swish with your mouth, but it turns out that there are white noise machines and things like that.
Bob Rivers:
Yeah, do you have, ike, a CD?
Dr. Harvey Karp:
We made a special CD.
Bob Rivers:
You have a CD!
Dr. Harvey Karp:
We have a CD. Our tune, “Whoosh whoosh!”
Bob Rivers:
Do you have a womb collection?
Dr. Harvey Karp:
Here’s the weird thing. In the womb, it filters out the high-pitched sounds so what babies are hearing isn’t really “Shh! Shh!” What they hearing is (low pitched) “Nyerrrm, nyerrm, nyerrm.” It’s very deep and rumbly. And that’s the best sound for babies. And I recommend people use it all night long for the entire first year because you think it’s normal to be in a quiet room. It’s not normal for a baby. Maybe for you it is. For the baby it’s weird.
Bob Rivers:
So that’s the third thing. That’s Shushing. And what’s next?
Dr. Harvey Karp:
So the fourth is Swinging or rhythmic motion. It’s a jiggly motion when they’re upset and when they calm down it’s a smoother motion.
Spike O'Neill:
Rock-a-bye baby?
Dr. Harvey Karp:
Rock-a-bye baby but if they’re screaming and you’re just calmly rocking them. Uh uh. It won’t do anything. You have to get a little bit of jiggle going. Now that’s not the same as Shaken baby syndrome. You never ever share a baby.
Downtown Joe:
It’s not bounce-up-and-down-on-the-knee time. Yeah.
Dr. Harvey Karp:
Well, it’s kind of bouncing.
Downtown Joe:
Oh, you can. Just a little bit.
Dr. Harvey Karp:
Imagine you’re sitting on an exercise ball or on the edge of your bed.
Spike O'Neill:
Pick something else. He has no idea what exercise is.
[Laughter]
Bob Rivers:
He used an exercise ball. So now that’s forth. And then the final one?
Dr. Harvey Karp:
And then the fifth S is Sucking, which is kinda the icing on the cake. Once you calm them down, for a lot of babies, sucking is the first thing you’ll go to. You know they’re upset, you wrap them up, you put them on the breast, and they calm down.
