From ancient times, mothers put babies to sleep, rocking them in their arms or in cradles. With the development of scientific knowledge, motion sickness has begun to cause numerous disputes, especially in the medical environment. Today, this method has both adherents and opponents. We will try in this article to shed light on these disputes and tell how to rock the child correctly, without harming him at the same time.
Baby's motion sickness: “FOR” and “AGAINST”
Being nine months in the stomach, the baby swam in the amniotic fluid, gently swaying in time with my mother's steps. Therefore, according to proponents of motion sickness, this method is natural for calming the baby and laying down to sleep. In the process of motion sickness, the vestibular apparatus of the crumbs is strengthened, the work of internal organs is synchronized. Being in close contact with mother, the baby feels comfortable and safe, which is necessary in early infancy.
Answering the question: “Is it possible to rock a child?”, opponents of this method categorical. In their opinion, active swaying of the baby often leads to fainting, mistakenly mistaken by parents for deep sleep. The child gets used to this method of falling asleep, and it’s rather difficult to re-educate him to fall asleep in the future. (we read the article: when the baby sleeps only in the arms, and you start to lay in the crib wakes up). There is an assumption (not yet scientifically proven) that motion sickness can become a platform for the formation of such harmful addictions in the future as craving for extreme entertainment, alcoholism, and smoking.
From the first weeks of life, crumbs need to determine their position on the question: “Rock or not rock?”, focusing on the behavior and tendencies of the baby. If your parental instinct suggests that motion sickness can harm your child, use other ways to lay the child. If your little one is a troubled, easily excitable child, perhaps soft motion sickness will be an ideal way to fall asleep.
Is it possible to rock a child (opinions)
Opinion Komarovsky:
How to properly rock a newborn baby
The baby can be rocked in his arms while sitting or walking at a calm pace around the room. Great strollers equipped with shock absorbers and cribs. If you have a fitball or a rocking chair at home, you can use these devices.
Shaking the baby, lull him, sing a lullaby or turn on soft music. Musical accompaniment can be a good alternative when it comes time to wean the baby from motion sickness. Parental movements should be smooth. It is unacceptable to shake a child vigorously in a stroller or in your arms, this can lead to fainting and even spinal injury.
Separately, it must be said about the sling, a special bandage for carrying children. For newborns, the best option would be a sling on the rings. In this device, the baby, like in a crib, is tied to his mother. While doing household chores, many mothers do not even notice at what point the child fell asleep to a calm rhythm of steps (See about slings).
Video: How to rock a child
How old can I get sick
The optimal age for weaning to fall asleep with motion sickness is one year, the time when the child has already developed a regime of feeding and sleep, because, according to pediatricians, children under one year of age do not need to strictly observe the regime.
At the age of 5-6 months it is worth trying with crumbs other methods of falling asleep, which are described in detail in the article “We go to bed without tears and vagaries”, So that motion sickness does not become the only way to fall asleep. The article describes in detail ways how to stop rocking a baby and teach him to fall asleep without tears and tantrums. The daily performance of "sleepy rituals", which include an evening bath and light massage, reading fairy tales, singing a lullaby, "farewell to the sun", gradually accustom the baby to fall asleep on his own.
We also read:
- How to lull a baby quickly: 7 proven ways
- How to teach a child to sleep separately (in his crib)
- When is the best time to stop swaddling your baby and whether you need to rock it
- How to put a child to sleep without tears and vagaries
- Video: 5 secret ways to put your baby to sleep (LIFE HACKS for MOM)
- Tracy Hogg shares the secrets of laying babies
- An ingenious trick - how to put a child to sleep in 1 minute
- 6 things to help the baby fall asleep
- 5 secret ways to put your baby to sleep (LIFE HACKS for MOM)
- How to teach a child to sleep separately from parents
We look at the trick how a child can be euthanized in 40 seconds 🙂
I rocked my baby from birth, first in my arms, later in the crib, in another way he could not fall asleep, but even by the year the child did not want to fall asleep without motion sickness, I struggled with this for a long time, I managed to completely exclude motion sickness before going to bed somewhere then by two years.
All four of my children went through motion sickness, take it by the hand, hold it against you, the baby becomes warm and comfortable, you go there swaying slightly and after a couple of minutes you can already put in cribs.
They began to swing their baby almost immediately, as they brought it from the hospital. Downloading on fitball seemed to be a convenient way. But then they realized that after the motion sickness the son falls asleep for a short time, for about 40 minutes. Then he wakes up, and he had to swing again. At the age of six months he was taught to fall asleep without swinging and he began to sleep all night! Now we are waiting for the second, I will not swing at all. I believe that motion sickness prevents the child from learning to fall asleep correctly himself.
Sausages) Komarovsky compares motion sickness with bad habits: smoking and alcoholism, he does not say that motion sickness can lead to them.