The 5 S’s for Soothing Babies

Otherwise, how would we know that our helpless babies were cold, hungry, lonely, or in pain? Parents have always been told to simply grit their teeth and wait for the baby to grow out of it. But that is easier said than done. Even if you could, it would be damaging to you. Time and again, studies have shown that infant chronic crying—and sleep deprivation that all too often goes with that crying—could increase a new mom’s chances for postpartum depression (PPD). So, what to do to soothe your little one’s crying is valuable for everyone! And…it’s simpler than you think. In my own practice as a pediatrician, I discovered a technique that I call the 5 S’s and it’s the key to calming babies and putting them to sleep. Today, thousands of educators in America and across the world have been trained to teach the 5 S’s in hospitals, parenting classes, military bases, and more. So, what are the 5 S’s and why should we care? Glad you asked! Here’s everything you need to know about the 5 S’s for soothing babies.
Why We Need the 5 S’s: Crying exhausts babies and parents

Babies tend to get crankier closer to dinner time and that can last for hours. (Hi, witching hours!) No wonder parents get anxious, irritable, and extremely tired.

Sleep deprivation caused by prolonged crying puts an immense strain on families. It steals your health, it strings your fuse too short, makes you slow in your head, has you move away from your spouse…and increases the risk of postpartum depression in both parents. It puts babies in jeopardy when an exhausted parent drifts off holding a baby on his or her arm, on an unstable couch or bed, and this subjects a baby to the risk of SIDS and baby suffocation.
Where the 5 S’s Come From: My ‘Aha!’ Moment with Calming Babies

Years back, when I worked on the child abuse team at UCLA, I saw so many babies come through the hospital door who were brutally injured—even killed—for the one crime of crying.

I was also confused at the time by why the medical doctors couldn’t answer—why colic (excessive prolonged crying) would affect babies aged 1 to 4 months. I began investigating everything that had been published regarding this age-old medical enigma. And then in 1981, we heard about the! Kung San, Kalahari Desert dwellers whose mothers would generally calm distressed babies in under one minute! What was their secret? The ! Kung mothers hold their infants almost 24 hours a day, constantly feeding, rocking, and jiggling them. Essentially, they reproduce the womb experience for months. The more I contemplated this, the more I was convinced that we could be just as successful as ! Kung parents. We just needed to embrace two new concepts: All babies are born three months premature.

Because of evolutionary adaptations, human infants are born somewhere around three months premature. Actually, they have to be born early because the developing brain and skull in a baby grow so much by the final trimester that they barely comfortably fit through the birth canal!

Think about it: Foals can gallop within one hour of birth.yet our mushy little babies are completely helpless!

A sort of virtual fourth trimester, with womb feelings (soft touch, bouncy motion, in-close cuddling, etc.) might be just what babies need to become safe and calm.

Babies have an innate calming reflex. I found that the oscillations babies go through in the womb—the jiggling and the continuous hum of sound, for example—trigger a reflex that keeps babies relaxed. The calming reflex is a brain response that develops deep within a baby’s brain months before birth that’s basically nature’s “off switch” for crankiness and “on switch” for sleep.
While I might have been the first to put all of these recommendations together in my bestseller book The Happiest Baby on the Block, the truth is that parents everywhere have long used the same womb-mimicking methods to soothe their babies. Even if parents didn’t realize it, exposing the baby to car rides and vacuuming to quiet babies simulates the womb and triggers the calming reflex.

The Basics of the 5 S’s Method for Soothing Babies
Parents around the world have invented all kinds of variations on the calming womb-like sensations that I’ve dubbed the 5 S’s: Swaddle, Side-Stomach Position, Shush, Swing, and Suck. Here’s what each of the 5 S’s are, what they do, and how to use them to calm and comfort your little one. The First of the 5 S’s: Swaddle Dr. Harvey Karp’s 5 S’s: Swaddling

The First of the 5 S’s: Swaddle

Swaddling, the cornerstone of calming, re-creates the cozy hug and security of the womb, which facilitates sleep. It also cuts down on the startle reflex, wherein babies’ flailing arms knock them in the face and awake them. And wrapped babies can respond more quickly to the other 4 S’s and remain soothed longer because their arms can’t squirm around. To swaddle properly, wrap your baby like a little burrito with their arms close and straight at their sides. But keep Baby’s hips loose and flexed.

You can use a big square light blanket or my Sleepea 5-Second Swaddle, which removes all the guesswork from swaddling.

Babies should only be swaddled during fussing and sleep and swaddling should stop when your baby is able to roll over.

(SNOO babies may be safely swaddled until they transition to the crib.)

The Second of the 5 S’s: Side or Stomach Position

The Second of the 5 S’s: Side or Stomach Position

Encourage this S by cuddling your infant on their belly or side—or even shoulder. But it is very crucial to note that infants can be cuddled on stomach or side, but it IS NOT acceptable to place a baby on the stomach or side for sleeping. Solely the back is an accepted sleeping position.

The Third of the 5 S’s: Shush

The Third of the 5 S’s: Shush Dr. Harvey Karp’s 5 S’s: Shushing Contrary to what most people think, babies don’t need total quiet to sleep. In fact, they prefer noise. While in the womb, babies were exposed to the constant noise of rushing blood 24/7, which was actually noisier than the vacuum cleaner! The most effective way to replicate the womb sound is through white noise. Not all white noise is equal, though.

For example, hissy fans and ocean sounds often fail to calm babies because they lack the womb’s consistent, rumbly quality.
To make sure you’re giving your little one the just-right sleep sounds, try my award-winning SNOO bassinet, SNOObear, SNOObie, or our Happiest Baby SNOO sounds download, each contain specially engineered white noise to calm crying and boost sleep.

The Fourth of the 5 S’s: Swing Dr. Harvey Karp’s 5 S’s:

The Fourth of the 5 S’s: Swing

Swinging Life inside the womb is very jiggly. Babies are just bouncing around in there for nine months while Mom strolls down the stairs, takes a walk, or does just about anything! And all the rockin’ and rollin’ calms them. Research shows that rocking—and rocking bassinets—reduce crying, hasten the arrival of sleep, and improve overall quality of sleep. While slow rocking excels at soothing serene, quiet babies, you have to use quicker, little motions to soothe a crying baby in the midst of a yell. I call this soothing movement the “Jell-O head jiggle.” To do it, support your baby’s head and neck, move slowly, and not more than an inch in any direction.

(For your baby’s safety, never, ever shake your baby in frustration or anger.) While it is tempting for many parents to keep rocking all night long in a baby swing, that’s very unsafe.

(Baby’s head can flop forward, possibly obstructing their airway, causing suffocation.) For safe sleep, babies should always be put on their backs, on firm, flat mattresses.
My SNOO Smart Sleeper holds infants firmly on their backs so they can sleep safely through all-night rocking.

The Fifth of the 5 S’s: Suck

The Fifth of the 5 S’s: Suck

Dr. Harvey Karp’s 5 S’s: Sucking Sucking is “the icing on the cake” of calming. Most picky babies calm down into a peaceful quiet when sucking. That’s because sucking drops Baby’s blood pressure, heart rate, and stress levels. Sucking is such a great pleasure for your baby! If breastfeeding, don’t introduce the pacifier until nursing is strong. How The 5 S’s Fit in with Two Other Favorite S’s—Sleep and SNOO! For centuries, extended family would be the ones to help new parents with so much of the middle-of-the-night rocking and shushing and snug swaddle-like cuddling—three key elements of the 5 S’s. But when that village disappeared, so did the help. That’s when I realized technology could step in and assist parents in using these ancient calming signals. Hence, I collaborated with leading MIT engineers to develop SNOO, a smart baby bassinet that uses safe swaddling, shushing, and swinging to soothe babies and induce them to sleep. Evidence suggests that swaddling, sound, and motion are as effective in soothing babies irrespective of their origin, either from SNOO or from a caregiver.
Additionally, SNOO’s soothing adds 1 to 2 hours of baby sleep at night.

Parents especially love when it calms babies down in an instant for those 2am wake-ups!
What to Do If the 5 S’s Aren’t Working

The 5 S’s are wonderful at calming most babies. But if the 5 S’s don’t seem to be working for your baby, try the following:

Does your baby have a little problem? If your baby is hungry, gassy, wet, or alone, the 5 S’s are not what your baby needs! Fortunately, little problems like these are usually obvious and easy to fix. Does your baby have a larger problem? Fewer than 5% of colicky babies have a medical reason for their crying, including food intolerance, urinary infection, or acid reflux. If you are wondering if this could be the cause of your bub’s upset, contact your baby’s doctor. Are you doing the 5 S’s properly? From my experience, if the S’s are not working on your baby, it is likely okay to consider that your crazy baby needs a few more S’s or you need to adjust your plan slightly.

For example, if you’re just doing the white noise and swaddling, try the pacifier thing also.
(Here’s how to get your baby to take the paci.) And to ensure you’re doing the S’s perfectly right, by streaming The Happiest Baby on the Block 5 S’s how-tos.)