Looking for a way to soothe your baby when they’re fussy and won’t stop crying? Try the 5 S’s.
Developed by a doctor, these simple activities — by themselves or in combination — can activate your little one’s innate calming reflex and help them relax when they’re feeling uncomfortable, stressed, or cranky.
In this article, we discuss the 5 S’s for babies, what they are, their benefits, and how you can use them effectively to soothe your baby in any situation.
What Are The 5 S’s For Babies?
The 5 S’s is a program created by Dr. Harvey Karp that brought together the most effective methods for soothing fussy babies.
In all honesty, the techniques aren’t anything new — moms, dads, grandmas, and grandpas all over the world have been using the techniques to calm children for centuries, if not millennia.
What’s more, most new parents intuitively know how to calm their babies and they’ll use one or more of these techniques to do so.
What Dr. Karp did was go beyond the anecdotal evidence passed down from one generation to the next and actually study the effects of these techniques on crying babies.
Basically, it all comes down to this: The 5 S’s mimic womb sensations that calm your baby and help them relax.
The 5 S’s are:
- Swaddling
- Side or stomach position
- Shushing (or white noise)
- Swinging
- Sucking
“But, wait!” you say. “Some (if not most) babies don’t normally exhibit the sucking response in the womb. Why is it one of the 5 S’s?”
Great question!
The answer is quite simple: Once your baby is born, the sucking response is hard-wired into their brain and behavior as a way to get food.
They naturally know (or quickly discover) that they can’t cry and feed at the same time, so they’ll calm down when a sucking opportunity — a pacifier, bottle, or breast — is presented to them, even if they’re not actually hungry.
So, even though the sucking response isn’t necessarily part of the womb experience, it, by itself or in combination with the other four S’s, is one of the most effective ways to calm a fussy baby.
You may also be thinking, “‘Calm a fussy baby’ is a pretty generic phrase. How exactly can the 5 S’s help me soothe my baby?”
Read on to find out!
Benefits Of The 5 S’s
Reduces Crying
One of the biggest, and most notable, benefits of the 5 S’s technique is its ability to reduce crying.
Crying is a natural response to discomfort — hunger, wetness in the diaper region, overtiredness, etc. — and the combination of swaddling, body position, shushing, swinging, and sucking typically covers everything that could be causing that discomfort.
And, honestly, that’s the main reason the 5 S’s program was developed: To calm a crying baby.
So, if you’ve changed your baby’s diaper, fed them, applied a moisturizing body lotion, and done everything else you can think of to get them to stop crying without any success, try the 5 S’s.
Improves Sleep
Studies from 2016 and 2022 show that responsive parenting (including the 5 S’s) can improve your little one’s sleeping habits.
Parents in the studies who practiced the 5 S’s on a regular basis had babies who slept longer — sometimes by as much as 20 to 30 minutes — and who woke less during the night.
What’s more, the same studies indicated that the combination of three of the five S’s (swaddling, shushing, and swinging) helped little ones drift off faster and enter a deeper sleep sooner.
That’s every parent’s dream, right?
But why not include the side or stomach position?
Because, while body position can be an effective way to calm a fussy baby and lull them to sleep, repositioning them on their back (which is the way babies are supposed to sleep unattended until they’re older) can actually wake them up.
That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t include the side or stomach position as one of the 5 S’s. It just means that you may not choose to use it right before your little one goes down for a nap or for the night. That way, you don’t have to reposition them on their back and risk waking them up.
But, by all means, use the side or stomach position by itself or in combination with the other S’s during the day when you can continue to hold your baby when they stop fussing.
Eases Pain
The 5 S’s are also effective at easing pain. Whether it’s the after-effects of a vaccine or an upset stomach, one or all of the 5 S’s can help relieve that pain.
It all goes back to the fact that the 5 S’s mimic (or remind your little one) of conditions in the womb when they were safe and snug as a bug in a rug.
Those comforting feelings cause your baby’s body to release oxytocin, dopamine, and serotonin — hormones that elicit a calming, feel-good effect and relieve pain in a variety of forms.
Boosts Your Confidence
The 5 S’s aren’t just good for your baby. They’re good for you, too! The 5 S’s give you — the new parent — more confidence in your ability to calm a cranky, fussy baby.
This confidence translates to competence that, in turn, is linked to overall well-being and feelings that you can handle whatever situations may come up.
Essentially, because the 5 S’s are so effective at helping your baby stop crying, you’re more confident that you’ll be able to handle the fussiness (and even other common and uncommon parenting situations) in the future.
How To Use The 5 S’s To Soothe Your Baby
1) Swaddling
Swaddling recreates the soft hug that your baby felt while they were growing in the womb. Who wouldn’t feel safe and secure under conditions like that, right?
Swaddling also decreases the natural startle reflex that can prevent your little one from relaxing. And, if that’s not enough, swaddling helps your baby respond better and faster to the other S’s on this list.
So, what are you waiting for? Give swaddling a try! To do it correctly, wrap your little bundle of joy snuggly (not too tight, now) in a large square blanket made out of lightweight cotton with their arms down by their sides.
For more information on how to swaddle your baby correctly, take a few minutes to read this article from the Mustela blog: How To Swaddle A Baby: Step-By-Step Guide For Parents.
2) Side Or Stomach Position
Holding your baby so that they’re positioned on their side or on their stomach is a great way to help them relax and stop fussing. Even holding them with their head on your shoulders is a close approximation of the stomach position and can be useful for calming them down.
Keep in mind that — and this is IMPORTANT — it’s not safe to put your baby down to sleep for a nap or for the night on their side or on their stomach until they are much older. The only safe position for sleeping is on their back.
Holding your little one on their side or on their stomach is only recommended if you can continue to hold them or if you think that they won’t wake up when you turn them onto their back.
3) Shushing
While they were in the womb, your baby was surrounded by the constant sound of your and their blood flow transmitted through the amniotic fluid in their ears and all around them (plug your ears to hear an approximation of what they experienced).
One of the best ways to recreate that calming shushing sound is with white noise.
Not sure how to do that? Here are some suggestions:
- Set up a small white noise machine
- Download a white noise sound app for your phone or tablet (make sure the sound isn’t interrupted by ads)
- Purchase a crib with a built-in white noise generator
4) Swinging
Slow swinging is perfect for keeping already-quiet babies calm. But, to soothe a fussy baby, try tiny, fast movements instead.
Think of this as the difference between holding your baby in a slow rocking chair and holding them on your shoulder while you’re standing on your two feet, bouncing up and down and back and forth.
It’s hard to describe here, but most people holding a fussy baby will naturally fall into this latter rhythm to comfort a crying baby. That’s the swinging we’re describing here.
5) Sucking
Under really fussy conditions, you may choose to add a pacifier into the mix to give your little one something to suck on. The sucking action can help lower your baby’s heart rate, bring down their blood pressure, and reduce stress levels.
Couple that with the other four S’s on this list and you’ve got everything you need to calm a fussy baby fast.
Comfort Is Key
When it comes to the effectiveness of the 5 S’s for baby, comfort is key.
Swaddling them, positioning them on their side or stomach, shushing (or white noise), swinging them, and offering a sucking opportunity all mimic comfortable situations that turn on their calming reflex.
Keep in mind, though, that comfort starts with how your baby feels. Yes, a full belly has a powerfully calming effect on babies, but don’t forget about their skin.
No combination of the 5 S’s will work if your little one is dealing with dry, itchy, uncomfortable skin. And, even if they don’t have dry skin, keeping your baby’s skin soft and supple goes a long way toward helping them stay calm and comfortable all day (and all night) long.
Mustela can help! For dry skin, try our Nourishing Lotion with Cold Cream. For eczema-prone skin, try our Stelatopia + Lipid-Replenishing Cream. For very sensitive skin, try our Soothing Moisturizing Cream. And, for normal skin, try our Hydra Bebe Body Lotion.
Help your little one stay comfortable in their own skin so that when they do get fussy, the 5 S’s can easily calm them down.
