Rock-a-Bye Baby (18 page)

If you've ever been hushed around a sleeping baby, that's due to the conventional thinking that baby needs absolute quiet to get to sleep. But this simply isn't true for all babies. Some parents swear that their babies fall asleep when it's noisy—at loud parties, restaurants, or with the TV on. One theory is that if baby is overstimulated, she “shuts down” and goes to sleep, so absolute quiet may not work for her.

While many people recommend that you swing your baby back and forth to get him to sleep, some parents used to be a little too vigorous in the past, and shook their babies to quiet them. Now we know that this may cause Shaken Baby Syndrome, a disorder that can cause brain damage, so you need to be careful when swinging or moving your baby.

Most parents are more comfortable feeding Baby while holding her sideways across the abdomen. But Grandma used to recommend holding baby upright while feeding her, saying it helped her process the food better, and therefore sleep better. While this position may be more awkward, it's not harmful, and it just might work.

For a while, women were encouraged to bottle-feed their babies because their milk might not be rich enough or plentiful enough, so many mothers stopped breast-feeding and switched to bottles. Today we know that breast milk is best for Baby. It's easier to digest and therefore causes fewer spit-ups and tummy aches and less gas. The act of sucking on a breast as opposed to a bottle nipple aids in Baby's digestion, by creating waves than push the milk down and reduce the intake of air. Avoid bottle-feeding if you want your baby to sleep well at night.

A diaper rash will keep your baby from sleeping well. Luckily, there are several products on the market that will help prevent diaper rash or clear it up, such as Desitin, Burt's Baby Bee Diaper Ointment, and Boudreaux's Butt Paste. But to clear up the irritation fast, Grandma often used to crush Tums tablets and mix them with diaper-rash cream, then rub the mixture on baby's bottom after each diaper change.

In the past, parents thought certain smells helped Baby sleep, such as the scent of roses or lavender. Today you can buy products with scents, such as Fussy Mussy Spritzer, (which smells like roses), then spray it on Baby's face, avoiding the eyes. Or try an aromatherapy candle (just make sure it's placed in a safe area).

Gripe water is a homeopathic remedy that contains chamomile, fennel, caraway, ginger, peppermint, lemon balm, aloe, and vegetable carbon. Give it to your baby, following the directions on the bottle, to calm him and help him sleep.

Some say that if you turn your baby upside-down, with her feet at the head and her head at the foot of the bed, she'll fall asleep thanks to the new environment.

Parents would once offer their babies strained pumpkin, slightly sweetened, to get baby to sleep. It probably worked because pumpkin is high in carbohydrates, which release serotonins, a natural sleep enhancer.

In the old days, parents thought babies breathed better if there was a plant in the room to help provide extra oxygen. Although it isn't likely that there will be a lack of oxygen in your baby's room, putting a nontoxic plant in her room can't hurt.