Tips for soothing an unsettled baby
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Category: Have A Baby?
Forum Name: First baby? Second or more?
Forum Description: Want help? Need support? Want tips? Men and women share advice and tips in this supportive community
URL: https://www.ohbaby.co.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=24776
Printed Date: 07 September 2025 at 4:26pm
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Topic: Tips for soothing an unsettled baby
Posted By: Maya
Subject: Tips for soothing an unsettled baby
Date Posted: 24 February 2009 at 2:00pm
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Hi all,
I'm currently working on a series of articles to go out weekly to new mums for the first year of their babies' lives and one of the things I want to include is some tried and true tips for soothing unsettled babies. So I'd love to hear what worked or didn't work for you?! Hugs, Emma -------------  Maya Grace (28/02/03)
 (02/01/06)
The Gremlins:Sienna Marie & Mercedes Kailah (14/10/06)
Lil miss:Chiara Louise Chloe (09/07/08)
Her ladyship:Rosalia Sophie Anais (18/06/12)
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Replies:
Posted By: arohanui
Date Posted: 24 February 2009 at 2:28pm
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The biggest thing was the 5 s's from the Happiest Baby on the Block. Honestly these are amazing.
Swaddle - nice and tightly Side - hold them on their side Swing/sway - move them back and forth quickly Sshhh - make the sound really loud in their ear Suck - suck (dummy, knuckle etc) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WkR_e1L6zxI - In action ------------- Mama to DS1 (5 years), DS2 (3 years) and... http://alterna-tickers.com" rel="nofollow"> 
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Posted By: james
Date Posted: 24 February 2009 at 2:29pm
mine was take time out and hand the baby to nana it works relly well ,or a warm bath for baby and you and massage i lrent the iloveyou massage from my doctor and it worked wonder for james .hope that helps ------------- <a href="http://lilypie.com"><img src="http://b4.lilypie.com/nLJ5p13.png" alt="Lilypie 4th Birthday Ticker" border="0" /></a> |
Posted By: Chickoin
Date Posted: 24 February 2009 at 4:06pm
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When my bubba is upset I stand up and hold her in my arms so she is tummy down, legs and arms dangling (I support her under her belly and chest with her head resting on my arm) and walk around. I bounce her a little at first then when she stops crying I just walk. She dribbles everywhere! But it works everytime. -------------   
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Posted By: Chickaboo
Date Posted: 24 February 2009 at 4:36pm
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put in pram and rock or shake the pram - also got told years ago to put a rolled up carpet or a towel and push over that cause it give a little bump
Also baby massage worked for #1 but the other 2 hated it ------------- http://lilypie.com">  
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Posted By: kaaza
Date Posted: 24 February 2009 at 8:22pm
Bounce with baby on a swiss ball....it works wonders!! , don't know what I would do without it.
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Posted By: mum2paris
Date Posted: 24 February 2009 at 8:23pm
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I often found that my girls would get unsettled around what we now call "jungle hour(s)" in our house, about 5 pm, right when mike was getting home from work and you wanted to start cooking dinner. I found that a front pack worked for some of that if baby really couldn't be put down.
but I then learnt to bath baby about 4.30 give her a feed, and often it would settle her to sleep just before that cranky time started which meant usually i'd then have about an hour to get dinner sorted so that even if she woke up after that, dinner maybe just needed dishing up, or i could pop her on to feed and still eat my dinner, or if she woke sometimes and was happy to wait I could pop her in the bouncer until ihad finished my dinner. I do have what i now call the "bounce and shush" method, lol, which i still use now at work and tended to work well with my girls when they were little. Swaddle well, hands in, turn to face the outside world (face away from you) hold them upright in between your breasts, with head just up on your chest, one of your arms across their chest and one across their body or holding under their bum - however they prefer., talking gently to them, kinda bouncy-walking (as if you are dancing slowly in a bouncy sort of way) and shushing as you go. i do tend to end up with the hand that's across their chest tapping gnetly on their arm, or sometimes tapping their bottom gently in time with my shushing and moving. i think it works in that same way as the pushing over a bump in the buggy, a familiar rythym of movement, tapping, noise, and you aren't having baby faced towards you crying in your face, so they don't pick up on your stress as much. I usually go for a small walk about in theis way talking gnetly about things we see around the house on the way etc, and while you're talking and nattering queitly about absolutely nothing, you calm down and they just get quieter and quieter and tend to either calm right down or often will fall asleep. works for me nearly everytime no matter how upset the baby i am looking after is... my workmates probably look at me weird but it works... i just look a bit funny kinda quietly walking/dancing about. ------------- Janine and her 2 cool chicks, Paris & Ayja 
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Posted By: Danaj
Date Posted: 26 February 2009 at 12:20pm
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Holding her close to your chest and singing or humming works for us. DH sits on the puter and plays music while he sings to her. She loves it and the music playing gets her used to noise while sleeping. ------------- http://www.TickerFactory.com/weight-loss/wyI1oWn/"> 
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Posted By: crakars
Date Posted: 26 February 2009 at 4:38pm
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when sitting down lie them down (face up) on your legs so head is by knees then move each leg up and down to make a rocking movement - works well with my one -------------  http://lilypie.com"> 
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Posted By: Bumble
Date Posted: 26 February 2009 at 4:56pm
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Sitting on the couch, putting bubs across your knees ~Face down so their tummy is on your lower thighs and gently rock your legs side to side whilst rubbing/patting their back. ------------- formerly known as "Bee" Ethan ~ March 2003 Big 6 year old school boy! Micah ~ Aug 2008 ~ Smiley pants who loves telephones! |
Posted By: oscarboo
Date Posted: 27 February 2009 at 2:55pm
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The last few nights making sure she is swadded well and tucked in tight, I can then just pat her bottom and make sure the dummy is in and within a few minutes she is calm enough to be left to go to sleep on her own. I have found the pram doesn't work for us. Have used a sling a couple of times during the "witching" hour as she can then sleep while I can still get some jobs done ------------- http://lilypie.com" rel="nofollow">  
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Posted By: Lulubell
Date Posted: 27 February 2009 at 9:15pm
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My son falls straight to sleep when I put him in the baby sling but before I bought one I would lay him on his tummy over my knee and sway from side to side- he loved it!
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Posted By: jessm
Date Posted: 28 February 2009 at 4:12pm
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Walk!! That was my girls demand when she was upset (and I still have no idea how they can tell a jiggly walk from a jiggly sit!). Or if she got desperate and wouldn't sleep, I'd put her in my moby wrap and walk around and that normally worked. And if I can, take her for a shower, that seems to work every time - she loves it! ------------- http://lilypie.com"> 
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Posted By: Katie_R
Date Posted: 01 March 2009 at 11:16am
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I second the Moby wrap, the swiss ball and the general WALK methods!!
One that works too sometimes (which is very frustrating) is giving baby to anyone else. It's like magic sometimes. Standing outside or anywhere different is good too. Chamomile tea, cooled and diluted is nice. Another peculiar one, which most def does not work all the time, is putting bubs down in a nice quiet room on his own. Sometimes after trying *everything* I can think of - I do that and discover that he just needed some alone time  That one is either going to work or really, really not, but you will soon figure it out!! ------------- 
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Posted By: VannesaD
Date Posted: 03 March 2009 at 9:27pm
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My tried and tested methods are (in no particular order):
- put in sling and walk - in pram, running it over a bump consistently - swaddle firmly and rock/sway in arms - hold on shoulder and rock/sway or pat bottom rhythmically - in bassinet on tummy, rock bassinet or pat bottom rhythmically - tiger hold (as described by Chickoin above - this is really good if baby has upset tummy or wind) Rocking fast is important as it stops baby from focusing on surroundings and getting stimulated .. the eyes can't focus and get tired doing so - so they eventually give up and close 
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http://lilypie.com"> 
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Posted By: kriss
Date Posted: 16 March 2009 at 4:11pm
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I do a combination of the above methods too.
If gentle hushing and cuddles don't work, then I usually jiggle while walking and singing quietly. ------------- http://lilypie.com"> 
http://lilypie.com"> 
Little Angel, April 10
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Posted By: busymum
Date Posted: 16 March 2009 at 7:55pm
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Cuddle them facing out from you (their back to your tummy) or lying down on your forearm. This seems to help babies with sore tummies, reflux or not. ------------- |
Posted By: caitlynsmygirl
Date Posted: 25 March 2009 at 12:03pm
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So far , in my 27 years of life, I have managed to calm nearly every baby crying (screaming ) in my ear by holding them close , gently bobbing up and down and going shhh shhh shhh constantly in their ear .
Honest, ....whats the bet Tyler wont have a bar of that ?
I did read tho , that babies pick up on your stress, so if the sound of baby is starting to get you anxious etc, hand them to someone else for a few minutes and often they calm down ------------- 
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Posted By: caitlynsmygirl
Date Posted: 25 March 2009 at 12:04pm
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BTW , I don't think the shhh shhh shh thing calms them as such , I think its more a case of them going quiet cos they're wondering what the hell that noise is -------------
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Posted By: Jam08
Date Posted: 12 April 2009 at 10:32am
| Our childbirth educator told us it was similar to the sound baby hears in the womb of our blood moving and that's why it comforts them. |
Posted By: Danaj
Date Posted: 13 April 2009 at 6:51pm
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The vacuum cleaner. ------------- http://www.TickerFactory.com/weight-loss/wyI1oWn/">
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Posted By: peanut butter
Date Posted: 13 April 2009 at 9:14pm
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ditto! |
Danaj wrote:Posted By: caitlynsmygirl
Date Posted: 13 April 2009 at 9:35pm
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Vacuum cleaner , always a good one, soothes baby and cleans at the same time ! (or is supposed to , ive been told, forget what mines used for half the time ...."oh it makes noise, oh look at that , it sucks too !" -------------
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Posted By: FionaO
Date Posted: 15 April 2009 at 8:30pm
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It was the ssh pat method, I was stoked when I read about it and then tried it.
Hold baby upright over shoulder, sssh loudly and pat pretty firmly on their back apparently they can't concentrate on anything but the sssh pat. He grew out of it, but its all I did for months and it worked like a charm. ------------- 
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Posted By: kmarie
Date Posted: 17 April 2009 at 6:12pm
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A dummy and a bouncinette = our recipe for silent bliss! We learned early on (thankfully) that in the early days with Bethany when she hit her windy patch at night, if we gave her her dummy, put her in the bouncinette and bounced her, she'd relax, fall asleep and the wind would sort itself out. Amazing!! Even as she got older and the wind wasn't the problem it was always the winner ------------- 
twins in heaven Oct07 Is 40:11 "He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart." |
Posted By: Niecey
Date Posted: 24 April 2009 at 10:06am
The 5 S's work well. At night, I will make sure I've worn him out...then give a bath, a feed and wrap him up (not too tight). I sing the See ya later Alligator lullaby and he smiles at me (he absolutely loves it!) and then within 30 mins he is asleep. I know I'm lucky  so I'm living in the moment.
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Posted By: Niecey
Date Posted: 24 April 2009 at 10:08am
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He enjoys singing---even when I'm not settling him!!!
And when I'm putting him down after his 430/530 feed, I just pop him into his bed and as long as it's still dark he'll take about 20 mins to settle himself (he'll be talking to himself or just making sounds but no crying). |
Posted By: oscarboo
Date Posted: 24 April 2009 at 2:35pm
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One thing that works for us at the moment is rubbing the palms of her hands. If she is grouchy after her bath, rub her palms and it calms her down! ------------- http://lilypie.com" rel="nofollow">
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Posted By: Danaj
Date Posted: 21 May 2009 at 6:45pm
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We've started baby massage and it wears them out really quickly. It's a good way to extend tummy time as M seems to love her bum being rubbed lol. ------------- http://www.TickerFactory.com/weight-loss/wyI1oWn/">
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