Karen Hopkins: this is Scientific Americanof science, quickI’m Karen Hopkins.
If you are a new parent or have ever touched a baby, you are definitely familiar with this sound.
[CLIP: Baby crying]
Hopkins: Now, the emotions you experience when dealing with this infant lung capacity exhibit may vary depending on the time of day, sleep duration (if any), and how long the show is on.
[CLIP: Baby still crying]
Hopkins: But one thing is for sure, anyone who has heard a baby cry has wondered, “How do I stop crying?” A new study found that if she moved a crying baby for just five minutes, it would eventually stop crying.My work was published in a magazine biology today.
Kumi Kuroda: IBaby crying is a big problem for parents. However, what parents can do is very limited.
Hopkins: Kumi Kuroda is a laboratory director at the RIKEN Brain Science Research Center in Japan and a mother of four. She and her colleague Gianluca Esposito from the University of Trento in Italy know all the tricks.
Esposito: Some parents walk around with their baby in a stroller.
Hopkins: Some strap it to a battery-powered swing or rocker. Others swear by late night drives around the neighborhood. But he has one method that is more or less universal.
Esposito: Parents all over the world know that crying babies are soothed when they are picked up and carried.
Hopkins: And it doesn’t just work for human babies.
Kuroda: This transport response phenomenon is widely observed in mammals such as mice, rats, and lions, as well as in monkeys.
Hopkins: When held by their mothers, these baby animals stop fidgeting, minimizing distress signals. This is a particularly strong response in species where the young are physically immature and unable to care for themselves.Now, when a mama mouse picks up a pup and runs away, it’s usually because she can’t close her eyes. It’s not to make it possible.
Kuroda: It is often an emergency where the animal parent has to carry the infant…
Hopkins: For example, to avoid invading predators.
Kuroda: Therefore, infants innately cooperate with their parents to refrain from crying and movement during childbirth…
Hopkin: Because their lives literally depend on it. Now, to test transport responses in humans, Kuroda and her colleagues asked 21 mothers to use four different methods to silence fussy babies. I had them try the approach. They held the baby while walking or just sitting. I shoved it in the stroller, put it on the crib and sofa, and it was only 5 minutes.
Kuroda: They found that all infants stopped crying, and more than half fell asleep during or shortly after the five-minute hold, even during the day.
Hopkins: that is A time when they usually don’t try to take a nap. Laying the baby down or sitting with it did nothing. But in the stroller, which seemed to work as well as the carry-and-walk approach, babies relaxed. Their heart rates slowed and they fell asleep. Then came the tricky part.
Kuroda: More than a third of babies wake up again when mothers try to lull them to sleep.
Hopkins: that It turns out that being away from the mother triggers a physiological response that wakes the baby up quickly. that is…
Kuroda: Sleep in the early stages is light.
Hopkins: During the early stages of sleep, which lasts about 8 minutes in a 4-5 month old baby, even a gentle touch or a soft door slam can get your heart rate up and vocalize your opposition to your current state. can remind you. A minute or two ago. solution?
Kuroda: Wait 5-8 minutes after falling asleep to stabilize your sleep.
Hopkins: That’s why Kuroda says you need to sit with the dozing offspring for an additional eight minutes before trying to put them to sleep.
Kuroda: This 5 minute walk and 5 to 8 minute sitting method is inexpensive, science-based and effective. So I think it’s worth a try before your baby cries or you get frustrated and stressed about what’s wrong with your baby.
Hopkins: If it works for a lioness, it should work for a tiger mom, or an exhausted parent just wanting a few minutes of peace.
for Scientific Americanof science, quick, My name is Karen Hopkins.
