We Made This Baby!

I watched the Harvey Karp video long before we became parents because I was so scared of the sleepless nights that I wanted to know months in advance that we would be able to cope with a fussy baby. In his video, he lays out the 5 Ss:

• Swaddle
• Suck
• Side
• Swing
• Shush

I highly recommend this video with a couple of footnotes added that I’ve experienced so far. I should say that I really do not have much experience with the 5 Ss, so if done perfectly correct, then this may work out well all the time.  Here’s my experience thus far:

Swaddle- This is an art unto itself that may take years to perfect. What Lawrence, my son, has shown me is that swaddling can really piss babies off some times. I may never have the answer, but there appears to be times when swaddling works and times when I would not use it.

Suck- Our kid apparently hates sucking anything except his mother’s breast. End of story. Maybe this will change, but I’m not going to force the issue if he’s not having it.

Side- Has worked like a charm for us putting the kid on his side. I especially like the kid on his side when he’s in the sling and I’m walking him. This works wonders, so far.

Swing- (or shake) Harvey Karp shows a method that has worked great except when I’m completely sleep deprived. I can feel myself being more abrupt and not as attentive as I should when I do the Harvey Karp shake. Again, consider the sling and let the kid shake as you walk around.

Shush- The loud shushing seems to work quite well, but it’s actually kind of a workout if done effectively. I’ve found myself having to shush for ten minutes straight which is kind of like singing at the top of my voice for ten minutes. It’s something that will make you sweat, not to mention the loud shushing will wake everyone else up with the extreme volume.

Finally, once you’ve got the kid down, use the swing, Mr. Karp says. I’m going to try this out for the first time tonight. I will keep my fingers crossed.