The Happiest Baby on the Block

On Tuesday, Paul and I went to a class that I signed up for called The Happiest Baby on the Block. The class is based on the book written by Dr. Harvey Karp. It was a pretty full class with about 10 couples there - 4 of them brought their new born along.

One of the babies was not a happy camper at the beginning of the class and you can see how stressed out his parents were. The instructor who is also a full-time douler offered to help them with the crying baby. She swaddled the baby and turned him on his side and held him on her forearm. Almost immediately the baby stopped crying. It was amazing to watch. She then told us that she actually just demonstrated 2 of the 5 steps she'll be introducing at the class. She held the baby for the rest of the class and he eventually fell asleep. She was also able to demonstrate step 3 (shushing) when he started to fuss again.

What I find interesting is the research that Dr. Harp did, he found that in other countries they either do not have or have very low rates of postpardum depression, colic babies and child abuse. I believe that in most other cultures, new moms tend to have more support from their families to help relief some of the stress. Also, in most other cultures, they do not have fancy baby carriers or beddings or equipments like we do in the U.S. In recent studies, swaddling has proven to help colic babies. Interestingly swaddling babies is a very common practice in other countries such as Asia, Africa and parts of Europe. It provides the baby with a sense of security and comfort that they are use to when they are still in the uterus.

We learned a LOT at the class. After her live demo, I am convinced that the steps really works and plan to follow the DVD which we'll be getting. I highly recommend the class to any new parents. The Happiest Baby on the Block book is available on www.amazon.com

~ Mina