You’ve been soothing your crying baby all wrong – scientists crack what really works

WALKING with your baby for five minutes will stop it crying, scientists say.

Cradling or cuddling a tearful tot won’t help – but carrying them on a gentle stroll should do the trick.

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Holding a baby still is not the ideal way to get it to sleep, experts say[/caption]

The feeling of being carried triggers a “transport response” that slows babies’ heart rate and calms them down.

Experts at the Riken Center for Brain Science in Japan found taking a wander also sends infants to sleep around half of the time.

The parenting hack is used by monkeys, dogs and mice as well as humans, they said.

Study author Dr Kumi Kuroda said: “Babies’ night-time crying is such a big issue, especially for inexperienced parents, and it can lead to parental stress.

“Many of us listen to other people’s advice on parenting without testing the methods with science. 

“But we need science to understand a baby’s behaviours, because they’re much more complex than we thought.”

Animal studies found baby mammals are more relaxed when being carried by their mothers.

And Dr Kuroda’s study proved the same is true for humans in experiments on 21 kids.

Scientists measured babies’ heart rates when they were crying and then during parents’ efforts to quiet them down.

Attempts included carrying, pushing the baby in a stroller and holding them while sitting down. 

Going for a walk worked best and all babies stopped crying by the end of the walk – and half fell asleep.

The scientists also found the best way to get a baby to sleep was walk with it for five minutes then hold it still for another eight minutes, before putting it to bed.

Writing in the journal Current Biology, Dr Kuroda added: “We are developing a ‘baby-tech’ wearable device for parents.

“Like science-based fitness training, we can do science-based parenting and hopefully help babies to sleep and reduce parental stress caused by excessive infant crying.”