Most new parents often face the frustrating experience of their baby crying and refusing to sleep, as well as keeping them awake. According to New Japanese research workThe best way to calm a persistently crying baby is to take him in your arms and take him for a short walk for five minutes at first, then sit and continue to hold him for another eight minutes.

It is not enough for a mother to simply hold a crying baby in her arms and sit from the very beginning, or even stand but still, or leave the baby constantly in the crib or in its motionless cradle and try to lull him there. . It is important that the baby feels that his mother is wearing it.

The researchers suggest that parents, if they have a child who cries a lot at night, walk with him around the house for five minutes, and then keep him sitting for another five to eight minutes before putting him to bed. Although only mothers participated in the study, the researchers believe that a five-minute walk with a child is also calming when done by the father or another person who cares for the child.

Researchers led by Dr. Kumi Karonda from the RIKEN Center for Brain Science, who published in the biological journal Current Biology, compared 21 infants using electroencephalography and reaction camera video recordings in different conditions. , such as their mothers who walk, hold, but sit, leave in a stationary cradle or in a rocking cradle.

Previously, scientists have studied what is happening in the animal kingdom, and noticed that when various animals (rodents, dogs, monkeys, etc.) take their cubs with their mouths or hands and start walking, their cubs become calmer and their heartbeat slows down.

Research results

A new study has found that a mother’s best response to crying is to walk with her baby in her arms. After about 30 seconds, the baby’s heart rate drops, and after five minutes, all the babies have relaxed and stopped crying, and about half have also fallen asleep. The second best option is to put the baby in a gently rocking bassinet, again when the baby experiences some movement. Neither hugs when mother sits, nor a motionless cradle do not have the same positive effect.

A new study has shown that babies are extremely sensitive to the slightest movement of the mother. If, for example. the mother makes a turn when walking or stopping, immediately the child’s heart catches the “turns”. Even when the baby has fallen asleep in her arms and the mother has taken him away from her to put him in her crib or in the crib, his heart beats faster, manifesting signs of stress. As the researchers note, this explains why almost all mothers experienced disappointment when the child woke up again, when he left her arms and was left alone. That’s why, according to Dr. Kuronda, it’s important to follow a five-minute walk with a static cuddle period of up to eight minutes.

“Many parents suffer from the fact that their child cries at night. The problem is serious, especially for inexperienced parents, because it can cause them stress and even in a small number of cases lead to child abuse,” said Dr. Kuronda. He clarified that the “chip” with a five-minute walk “helps sleep, but only for crying babies.” Does not “grab” when the kids are already calm, but not sleeping.

Why some babies often cry excessively and can’t sleep, while others are much quieter and fall asleep easily, is another hard-to-explain question that the new study hasn’t answered.

^{Source: APE-MEB}