Before I post anything else, I need to share something that change my life and hopefully will change yours as well. Before our twins were born, I had probably changed two diapers in my life, so you can guess what my level of experience was with trying to calm a crying baby.
About two months after the twins were born and we had spent countless nights pacing and rocking crying babies (sometimes two at a time), we stumbled across The Baby Whisperer, otherwise known as Dr. Harvey Karp, and his book and DVD called "The Happiest Baby on the Block". Dr. Karp has five steps to calm a crying baby and, I can honestly say that if you employ them properly, it will absolutely find your baby's "off-switch" (he calls it the "calming reflex"). In general terms, it involves swaddling correctly, rocking, holding them in your arms so they are on their side or stomach (anything other than on their back, which is supposedly a position of alarm for upset babies), white noise or "shushing" and so on.
In any event, get the DVD, watch it a few times and enjoy extended periods of time where your baby is calm, which helps them get to sleep faster and sleep longer. The best part about it is that knowing you have Dr. Karp's toolkit of steps to use to calm the baby helps keep you calm, which is key to actually getting them calmed down. I know that sounds like a "duh! of course!" kind of revelation, but your forget all of that in hour two of your little guy or girl screaming in your ear and you just become a ball of anxiety, especially if you are flying solo and your wife has gone out for a well-deserved break.
I cannot recommend Dr. Karp's method strongly enough and, Dr. Karp, if you are reading this, next time I am in LA, the beers are on me.
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