The Happiest Baby on the Block: The New Way to Calm Crying and Help Your Newborn Baby Sleep Longer
by Harvey Karp
20 popular highlights from this book
Key Insights & Memorable Quotes
Below are the most popular and impactful highlights and quotes from The Happiest Baby on the Block: The New Way to Calm Crying and Help Your Newborn Baby Sleep Longer:
“Can young babies inadvertently be turned into brats who demand constant holding and attention? Thankfully, the answer to that question is … No! During the first three months of life (the fourth trimester), it’s impossible to spoil your baby by letting her suck or stay in your arms for hours. Does that surprise you? It really shouldn’t when you remember that you were lavishing her with these sensations twenty-four hours a day—up until the moment of birth. Even if you hold your baby twelve hours a day now, it’s a giant reduction from her point of view. What”
“You don’t have to worry that responding to his cries might teach bad habits. Limit setting only becomes important after around nine months. But during the early months, you have a much more vital job: Building trust. Predictable, consistent, kind responses—whenever he cries—teaches your baby to have confidence in you and helps him grow up feeling loved and worthy of love! Psychologists call this great life foundation a secure attachment”
“La cafeína se concentra en la leche materna al cabo de las cuatro o seis horas y puede volver irritable a un niño a la hora de haber sido ingerida.”
“Most soothing techniques fall into one of five categories: swaddling (snug holding), side/stomach position, shushing (white noise), swinging (motion), and sucking…the 5 S’s.”
“People are wrong when they think that quiet babies are good and fussy babies are bad. In truth, some gracious, softhearted babies are fussers because they can’t handle the turbulence of the world around them. Renée, mother of Marie-Claire, Esmé, and Didier”
“I think America’s favorite pastime isn’t baseball.…It’s giving new moms unsolicited advice.”
“Check the ears and neck. If the ears are red and hot and the neck is sweaty, your baby is too warm. Dress her more lightly or cool the room. If her ears are cold, use a little more clothing or warm up the room.”
“I banish from you all tears, birthmarks, flaws, and the troubles of bed-wetting. Love your paternal and maternal uncles. Do not betray your origins. Be intelligent, learned, and discreet. Respect yourself, be brave.- Ritual instructions spoken when swaddling a baby by the Berber people of Algeria”
“Around nine months is the earliest time you should think about spoiling. Before that, nurturing your baby’s confidence is one hundred times more important than pushing him to be independent.”
“But will being too attentive to your newborn’s cries make him manipulative? Fortunately, the answer to that question is “Hell no!”
“Mary and Phil realized that Stuart needed a few more months of “womb service.” But it’s not easy being a walking uterus! Doing everything your uterus did—holding, feeding, nurturing your baby—takes all day long, and you may find yourself still in your pj’s at five P.M.! (Try not to get too self-critical if the house is a mess, emails go unanswered, and dirty dishes pile up.)”
“Yet, while thousands of clinics have been created to solve feeding problems, very few are set up to help with screaming babies. In fact, most doctors have little to offer families of colicky babies, other than sympathy. “I know it’s hard, but be patient; it won’t last forever.” Or, even worse, “Just put your baby in a dark room and let her cry. She just needs to blow off steam.” (Hey, babies aren’t pressure cookers.)”
“But before you lose confidence remember this: You are part of a continuous chain of successful parents stretching back to the beginning of time! You and your baby have survived because you’re descended from the best moms, most protective dads, and strongest children the world has ever seen. You may not know everything, but that’s okay…billions of parents have done it before you, and they weren’t all rocket scientists.”
“Giving your baby extra milk won’t make her any healthier, but the more touches and hugs she gets, the stronger and happier she’ll become!”
“To decide if your infant no longer needs to be wrapped, try this: After she reaches two to three months of age, swaddle her with one arm out. If she gets fussier, she’s telling you to continue wrapping for a few more weeks. However, if she stays happy without the swaddling, she doesn’t need it anymore.”
“Memory loss is one more proof that your life is temporarily out of your control.”
“To everything there is a season.”
“To make no mistake is not in the power of man; but from their errors and mistakes the wise and good learn wisdom for the future. Plutarch”
“Constipation: Interesting Ideas on a Dry Subject”
“Dads are especially eager to master other calming tricks, because”
