52 Books: Book 51

The year is drawing to an end and I think I just might make it to my goal of 52 books – new baby and all.

A friend recommended that I read The Happiest Baby on the Block by Harvey Karp. I have been reading it off and on since Jack was born. At times it felt odd to read a book that is specifically addressing parents of colicky babies as Jack is already a pretty happy baby and generally sleeps well. However I pushed on and discovered that the steps recommended in this book work for my happy baby too.

Those evenings that Jack is fussier than usual or when Daniel is watching Jack while I run errands or when I need to lay Jack down for his nap but he just wants to be held. In each of these scenarios, the 5 S's have worked marvelously for us.

The steps are Swaddle, Side, Shhhh, Swing, and Suck. We had been kind of lax on the swaddling because Jack likes to have his hands available – he is a very tactile baby. But when he is fussy, swaddling combined with the other steps really does work.

I think these steps help Daniel to feel like he can do something to calm Jack down instead of waiting for me to get home so that I can feed him. 

I would definitely recommend this book to new parents.