Calming Babies

Occupational Therapy Recommendations to Calm 

1. Swings, movement and baby carrying can be a wonderful way for infants to calm.  These rhythmic movements can calm them much like the womb environment did.  Use womb like sounds for music, white noise or hum/ "shhh" sounds to about 60 bpm like in the womb along with gentle bouncing, rocking, or swinging motions. 

2. Infant massage can be wonderful and touch is very therapeutic for infants.  Skin to skin time is very important for touch development and bonding.  There are lots of great You Tube videos to show how to relieve colic and fussiness with massage.  

3. No sudden sounds in baby room, such as music, crickets, etc. Use white noise that is a consistent sound that doesn't change and has a rhythm. May need it to be louder than you would like, to "filter out" any noise changes in the rest of the house. When in the room all you should hear is the white noise.

4. Many infants that aren't good sleepers after 6 months of age still have a heightened Moro or Startle Reflex:  you can seek the advice of a Primitive Reflex trained OT or PT to help them integrate this startle reflex. 

5. Colic is often tummy troubles and many infants are very sensitive to dairy products (cow's milk, cheeses, yogurts, ice cream, creamers, etc.) as the protein casein is very hard to digest (remember cow's and calfs have 4 stomachs and the protein is made to be digested 4 times, humans only get one chance).  Check out http://www.colichelp.com

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