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5 effective methods to calm a crying baby

All newborn babies cry, for various reasons, and some cry more than others. Still, not being able to calm your baby down can be very frustrating, upsetting and emotionally exhausting, especially in those first few weeks of their life, when you are still learning to interpret their needs and different cries. So, what else to do if you have already fed your baby, changed the nappy, made sure there’s no temperature or any signs of infection, yet they still won’t stop crying?

As a professional newborn photographer, I spend a lot of time soothing crying babies and today I’d like to share with you few useful techniques I’ve learnt over the years. So here it goes, my top 5 ways of calming a crying baby:

1. Swaddling - newborn photographers use various ways of wrapping, which is not only visually stunning but also helps to keep babies feeling cozy and secure. This kind of wrapping is not suitable for ever day use, you can however try burito-like swaddling. Swaddling is a great way to quiet down a fussy baby and help them sleep better, because it creates a womb-like feeling. It also stop babies from waving their limbs around, which can trigger a startle reflex. You can learn how to swaddle your baby safely here.

2. White noise: before being born, babies spend months in a womb, surrounded by many rhythmic sounds and sounds similar to those can be very calming for them. There are variety of sounds you can try, from recorded hairdryer or shower, through Youtube recording to special white noise machines. During my sessions I use a womb sound I found on Youtube, but go ahead and try few different things to see what works best with your baby. Some babies enjoy classical music as well.

3. “The hold” - if you haven’t yet heard about “the hold”, go and check it out now. Dr. Robert Hamilton’s now famous technique of soothing babies is pretty much like wrapping them with you hands, along with gentle rocking, which creates that womb-like feeling newborns like so much. You could also try a colic hold, which, as name suggest, is especially effective if your baby needs some pressure on their tummy to help relieve gas or colic.

4. Rocking/swinging - the womb is a constantly moving space so movements like swaying from side to side, rocking and even a car ride usually have a calming effect on newborns.  

5. Close contact - babies enjoy the feeling of closeness, sound of your heartbeat and the rhythm of your steps, so try a baby sling or front pack carrier to keep them close to you.

Every baby is different and not everything is going to work for every baby all the time, but I hope that you have found the above tips helpful and managed to get some much-needed cry relief.