(BABY CRIES)
Dr. Harvey Karp, MD, FAAP:
Now let's add a little shushing.
Narrator:
From colicky …
Shhhhhh….
Narrator:
To content.
(BABY QUIETS DOWN)
Narrator:
Pediatrician Harvey Karp makes soothing a crying baby seem simple.
And it is, he says, when you learn what he calls the five S's. They are the cornerstone of his bestseller book and DVD, The Happiest Baby on the Block.
Dr. Harvey Karp, MD, FAAP:
The five S’s are swaddling; the side or stomach; position; shushing; swinging; and sucking.
Narrator:
Done in the combination Dr. Karp recommends …
(BABY CRYING THEN CALMS DOWN)
Dr. Harvey Karp, MD, FAAP:
Now we roll you over … shush
Narrator:
No more tears.
Dr. Harvey Karp, MD, FAAP:
Shhhhhh…..
When parents understand their babies are born, in a weird kind of a way, they are born three months too soon, then they imitate the uterus.
They do the five 5 S's. They meet their baby's needs as well as they can every time the baby cries.
That's not spoiling your baby – and in fact it's just the opposite.
They need to learn to trust you. They need to learn that you are predictable. That's what they need to learn over the first six months of life.
And in fact that's the foundation of having a secure personality later on in life.
Narrator:
Dr. Karp arrived at all of this as a young pediatrician – frustrated with the struggles of new parents in this country – and struck by the age-old wisdom that's common practice in other cultures.
Dr. Harvey Karp, MD, FAAP:
I learned about a tribe in Africa where the parents could calm their crying babies down in under a minute.
That made me realize that we were missing something in our culture, that there was some missing piece of information that these other parents had that we needed to learn.
Narrator:
There are now "Happiest Baby on the Block" classes held in some 6 countries around the world. Parents attending this session were grateful – and impressed.
Parent 1:
Amazing, how fast the shush works!
Parent 2:
It's a magical kind of experience really.
Parent 3:
Oh! Finally something to give you the relief you've been looking for after hours and hours of crying.
Narrator:
Dr. Karp urges new parents always to take a break or call for help when they feel on edge or overwhelmed. He also oversees programs that address the more serious consequences of excessive crying.
Dr. Harvey Karp, MD, FAAP:
We have 2000 trained educators and 1800 in the process of training and they are teaching of course in university hospitals, postpartum depression programs and child abuse prevention programs,
but also in military basis across the country and around the world.
Narrator:
His latest book and DVD: The Happiest Toddler On the Block.
Audio from DVD:
When somebody's mad and they say I don't like what you are saying to me…
Dr. Harvey Karp, MD, FAAP:
These techniques, of The Happiest Toddler, are just good communication techniques. But they are especially adapted to be effective for kids as young as eight months of age.
Mother:
Shhhhhh…
Dr. Harvey Karp, MD, FAAP:
Twice as loud.
Narrator:
Dr. Karp hopes these parenting techniques will have staying power.
Dr. Harvey Karp, MD, FAAP:
It's an instinct to want to calm your baby, but it's not an instinct to know how to—that's a skill.
Within the next generation or two, it's not going to be something that people go to a book to read. It's something that they are going to pass on from generation to generation.
So, it's kind of come back into our culture the way it probably was there hundreds of years ago and we just forgot it.
