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Thursday, August 19, 2010

"The Happiest Baby on the Block" - Book Review

"The Happiest Baby on the Block", by Harvey Karp, M.D., is an easy-to-follow guide for parents of new babies.  Following are a some of the key concepts from Dr. Karp's book.

1. The "Fourth Trimester."  Dr. Karp compares the first three months of life to a fourth trimester during which infants are still very immature neurologically.  Because infants do not have the ability to self-soothe well during the first three months of life, they need adult caretakers to calm and soothe them.

2. "The 5 S's." These five concepts are the ways Dr. Karp suggests that parents create a soothing, womb-like environment for young babies.  The "5 S's" are SWADDLING, SIDE/STOMACH position, SHUSHING SOUNDS, SWINGING and SUCKING. Click here for a more detailed description of each of these techniques.

You may need to use all five of these concepts, or just one or two, depending on your baby's preferences. 


How did you best CALM your FUSSY NEWBORN?

1 comment:

  1. This book is wonderful! I hope everyone will read it! Thanks for the review.

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