A New Study from RIKEN Institute Reveals That Holding and Walking with a Crying Baby for 5 Minutes Can Help Soothe Them.
The research findings, based on experiments conducted in Japan and Italy, were published in the journal Current Biology on September 13. The authors hope this discovery can help parents reduce stress, especially those who are inexperienced.
“I have raised four children, but I couldn’t have predicted the results of this study until the statistical data was presented,” said lead author Kumi Kuroda from the RIKEN Brain Science Institute in Japan in a video.
The research team previously examined the “transport response” in mammalian offspring, where the young are unable to care for themselves, such as in mice, dogs, and monkeys. When these animals hold their young and move around, the offspring become quiet, compliant, and their heart rates gradually slow down.
The method proposed by the research team to soothe crying babies. (Photo: RIKEN Institute).
Kuroda and her colleagues wanted to explore this further in humans and compare the effectiveness with other soothing methods, such as stationary rocking.
They recruited 21 mother-infant pairs, with infants aged 0 to 7 months, and conducted tests under four conditions: holding the baby while moving, holding while sitting still, placing the baby in a stationary crib, or in a rocking crib.
The results showed that infants cried less and their heart rates slowed within 30 seconds when held and walked around. A similar response occurred when holding the baby in place and rocking, but not when remaining still.
This indicates that contrary to assumptions, merely holding the baby is not enough to soothe them; the movement response is a crucial factor.
Next, the research team examined the effects of holding the baby for 5 minutes and found that this activity caused 46% of the infants to fall asleep, with an additional 18% doing so within the following minutes. These results suggest that holding not only helps the baby stop crying but also promotes sleep.
However, when the infants were placed down in a crib, more than one-third became alert within 20 seconds. Electrocardiogram measurements showed that the infants’ heart rates increased again when they were separated from their mothers. If the infants had been sleeping for a long time before being placed down, they were less likely to wake up.
Kuroda noted that this was surprising, as she had thought that other factors, such as how the baby was placed in the crib or their position, would play a role, but that was not the case.
“Our intuitions are very limited, which is why we need science,” Kuroda added.
Based on their findings, the research team proposed a method for effectively soothing crying babies and promoting sleep: hold the baby and walk for 5 minutes, then sit and hold for an additional 5 to 8 minutes before placing the baby down to sleep.
This approach provides immediate comfort, contrasting with methods that allow the baby to cry themselves to sleep, but further research is needed to see if it can train the baby to sleep in the long term.
