Every parent quickly learns that babies love it and calm down more quickly when their parents walk around with them than when they just sit. Running is a must. Unfortunately.

The study on the best way to fall asleep

In 2022, a Japanese research team found out what the perfect ratio of walking cuddling, then sitting quietly and only then laying down is: The best ratio for these 21 mother/child pairs was 5:8 minutes. Walk for 5 minutes, sit for 8 minutes and then take off.

Of course, this may vary for you and your child, but I think this study is great because it gives you a good idea of timing that you can then experiment with.

My tips

There are a few more tips from me in the video.

And I’ve only just remembered a tip as I’m writing this: very tried and tested during the day! (not at night because of sudden infant death syndrome) is the prone position. Many children are less likely to wake up due to the Moro reflex if they are placed on their stomachs to sleep during the day. Especially when children around 3-6 weeks of age find it very difficult to calm down, this helps. The condition is that you keep an eye on the baby.

Here is the link to the original study: https://www.cell.com/action/showPdf?pii=S0960-9822%2822%2901363-X

Closeness and carrying helps, as this study proves. Nothing calms children more than being close to their parents and then the stimulus of movement. The study is more about taking them off than wearing them. But as a midwife and mother of an ex-baby, you can also bend and misuse this study to once again emphasize the value of babywearing in a sling or carrier. But that’s going too far and will be the subject of another tutorial.