The art of soothing and settling babies has been something developed throughout the history of mankind. There have been many approaches, all with varying levels of success. From the rock, the pat, the lullaby, controlled crying...the list is endless.
Most experts agree that the most effective of all these techniques is simply creating a comfortable, familiar environment, so that your baby can feel safe and therefore relax.
With this in mind several steps can be taken. All of these relate to emulating the comfort that your baby felt during his or her time in the womb...when everything was just about them and Mum.
Obviously, one standard practice is to use the swaddling blanket. Keeping baby wrapped nice and tight, which is what they’re used to in the womb.
From here, people seem to use extremely varied techniques.
Some people use white noise to help. Let me elaborate on this slightly. White noise is the high pitched hiss that is heard when you are not tuned into a radio or television station correctly. This, to some extent, emulates the sounds that your baby is used to hearing in the womb such as arterial blood flow and the flow of liquids through the placenta. Some people use mechanical or electrical equivalents of these sounds such as vacuum cleaners, washing machines, or hair-dryers. These will be successful to a degree, however, who wants to listen to household appliances all day? They are amongst some of the most annoying and ‘fractious’ sounds in our everyday lives. If something is going to annoy you over a prolonged period, chances are, it will do the same to your baby. Beyond that, isn’t your frame of mind just as important as your child’s? If you’re not relaxed, how can you expect you baby to be?
There is a very simple answer...it exists all around us...nature.
All of the natural sounds your baby has grown accustomed to hearing completely surround us daily. Most of us are so accustomed to hearing them we don’t even notice them anymore. Sounds like the ocean, waves gently breaking on the shore, wind blowing through trees or the sound of birds and insects. All of these sounds generate the same desired effect with even more benefits as they are intrinsically inherent in our nature as creatures of the earth. More importantly to our psychological well being, they are pleasant, not annoying or grating.
The other sound that can be of great benefit which is used, and has been used, by mothers for generations, is pink noise. This is a sound very similar to white noise but slightly lower pitched. Again this emulates similar familiar ‘womb sounds’. Naturally and instinctively, mothers whilst comforting their little ones say ‘shhhh’ or ‘hush’. This is a very good example of pink noise.  Again, this can be found and reinforced through the same examples in nature as white noise.
Above all of these, your baby has become accustomed to one main sound which was the one constant and the centre of not only his or her sense of self, but also their sense of security and comfort. That is, Mum's heartbeat. If Mum’s okay, then so am I!
Suddenly your child has been thrust into this cold, bright, noisy, un-snuggly world without any of these facets of familiarity. Is it any wonder we struggle at times to get our babies to relax and fall asleep!
By reintroducing some of the sense of familiarity to our baby’s routine, we can also help reinstate their sense of self. All of which goes a long way to helping them relax.