When you have a fussy baby, the minutes feel like hours and it’s easy to panic. Don’t panic! Take control of the situation and help your baby adjust to life outside the womb. Set aside worries about allergies, diet restriction, and milk production. Get the baby calm, help mama get calm, and then call your lactation consultant.

Hop in the Bath
Babies love baths. Mommies often need one too. Co-bathing can calm and focus your baby. Babies who are frustrated at the breast often respond well to nursing in the bath. Bath tub nursing can halt a nursing strike, help a baby with a shallow latch relax and open wide, and help a mom who is having let down trouble. Safety tip: have another adult present to pass the baby in and out of the tub to mom to avoid slip and fall risk.

Magic Baby Hold
It’s magic. Hold the baby like this. Magic Baby Hold with Bill

This is a variation of the common tummy massages like bicycling legs, rubbing the tummy clockwise, or burping. This can help pass gas or ease a baby who seems constipated. Remember: constipation is hard dry stool, not infrequent stool.

Swing and Sway
Not just the baby swing. Babies calm faster in arms. Swing with your baby on your lap on your porch swing or glider. Wrap your baby in a sling or carrier and walk through the house. Babies like to be near a heart beat. Being skin to skin while swaying through the house is extremely soothing.

Nurse in a Carrier
Nursing in a carrier allows the baby to be upright and compressed. This helps with reflux symptoms and gas. Upright feeding can also ease the stress of fast milk flow or over-active let down. Babies with tongue or lip ties can often open wider because of the firm back support carriers provide while the head can move more freely. Sucking also helps relax babies and their GI muscles. More nursing helps them poop.

Play with Temperature
Take some frozen milk out and spoon feed it to your baby or put it in a mesh feeder. The cold is exciting and different for older babies, especially teething babies. Older babies may like to hold a frozen teething toy or a warm teething toy.

Get Outside
Even if the weather is crummy, just standing on the porch may change things. If you’re able to carry your baby for a walk, this is usually better than a stroller. The upright position and being near an adult care giver are more relaxing than a stroller.

Play with Texture
Let your baby touch something interesting and new. A tooth brush or cotton ball or sand or salt. Watch that these things stay away from the mouth. Novel sensory experiences can change your baby’s outlook pretty rapidly.