We have all been in that moment: our child, be it a baby or a young child, is going through a difficult time where no matter what we do, he cannot calm down or stop crying. This in particular is an issue that many parents are concerned about and for which there are thousands of tips that we can follow.
But according to a viral publication, there is an infallible (and very simple) advice that can help us calm our children when they are going through those kinds of moments: give them a bath or go outside for a bit in the fresh air.
Posted on the Facebook page The Motherhood Project, the advice is actually the advice of a grandmother, who told her daughter when her grandson was still weeks old and she called him desperate because her baby wouldn’t stop crying.
Grandma’s advice was simple: put it in the water or take it outside. And considering the studies we’ve shared about the benefits of nature on children, and the relaxing effect of a bath, it makes perfect sense.
“Put them in the water or take them outside.” It was the first useful parenting advice I had. “Do you sleep when the baby sleeps?” I think the correct word for that gem is bullshit. But this in particular has saved me many times.
I don’t remember how old my son was when I called my mother crying, because I couldn’t get him to stop, but his age was probably still measured in weeks. Maybe days.
“Nothing is working, I don’t know what else to do,” I cried. “He’s not hungry, he’s not sleepy, and he’s not wet.” “Try giving him a bath,” she suggested. “Or wrap him up and take him outside to get some fresh air. I always say take them outside or put them in the water, and usually their bad mood goes away.
It worked that day, and it has worked many times since. We have had to take baths at 10 in the morning, I have walked in front of our house with a baby in my arms at two in the morning. And today, at five in the afternoon, when my children were arguing again since they came home from school and I was about to lose patience, I decided to bathe one and send the other to the backyard, and now the three of us will survive. until daddy gets home. Almost nine years later, that advice still works.
I can’t give you advice on sleeping or eating routines, or Montessori-inspired toys. I don’t know what we’ll do when TikTok and Snapchat come home in the next few years. But when they are having a hard time for no apparent reason, take them outside or put them in the water.
Oh, and it works in adults too.
The publication went viral, because not only has it been shared more than 103,000 times, but it has also been filled with comments from parents who affirm that doing this always works with their children:
” On instinct I took my baby outside the first time she had one of those moments, it instantly calmed her down and it has worked every time since. She is now two and a half years old. I too find it comforting and love how relaxing it is. it could be a bath. I wonder if this is a way to re-focus, “says one mother.
” The water thing has not always worked for my three children, but taking them outside, even at midnight, has helped calm a baby who cries desperately, ” they explain in one of the comments.
” My son had infant colic and cried for six hours or more a day, every day. On one occasion, I had not bathed and he would not let me let go of him, so I put him in the shower with me and he stopped crying. It was like magic. I started using the shower to calm him down in moments of bad humor and now at five months of age I still do it, “says another.
Even some mothers of children with special sensory needs , such as those with autism, also commented that taking a bath or leaving the house is something that helps them calm down when they have an episode in which they cannot calm down.
So the next time your kids are going through one of those difficult moments where they can’t calm down, try a change of scenery , whether it’s with a bath or leaving the house to get some fresh air.
Photo | iStock
Via | Motherly
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