A recent study published in the “Current Biology” journal looked at exactly this question. The authors took the question seriously and conducted a fantastic experiment.
The researchers compared four different approaches:
- Mom holding the baby, sitting
- Holding the baby while walking
- Placing baby in a cot
- Placing baby in a moving cot
They even looked at different ways of walking. For example the mom walking back and forth or in a circle.
They also looked at changes in the babies’ heart rates and assessed how sleepy or awake they are, etc.
Photo by Jonathan Gallegos on Unsplash
Drum Roll: The Best Way To Soothe a Baby
Here is what you should do, according to the results:
- Carry the crhing baby and walk with them for 5 minutes
- As they calm down or sleep, sit down for another 5–8 minutes, they will fall asleep
- Place the baby in their cot
Sitting while holding the baby (without walking first) didn’t calmest babies.
The study is free to access and read. You will find videos, graphs and all kinds of statistical analyses. They also made a summary video.
You are thinking “I knew this already”, right?. Me too. But now we have the evidence to support it!
—
This post was previously published on medium.com.
***
You may also like these posts on The Good Men Project:
 White Fragility: Talking to White People About Racism |
 Escape the “Act Like a Man” Box |
 The Lack of Gentle Platonic Touch in Men’s Lives is a Killer |
 |
—
Photo credit: Isaac Quesada on Unsplash
