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Science Quickly

The Scientific Secret to Soothing Fussy Babies

Science Quickly

Scientific American

Science

4.2639 Ratings

🗓️ 8 March 2023

⏱️ 5 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Some animals’ babies physically relax when their parents whisk them away from danger. The same thing works for tiny, wailing humans. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Understanding the human body is a team effort. That's where the Yachtel group comes in.

0:05.8

Researchers at Yachtolt have been delving into the secrets of probiotics for 90 years.

0:11.0

Yacold also partners with nature portfolio to advance gut microbiome science through the global grants for gut health, an investigator-led research program.

0:19.6

To learn more about Yachtolt, visit yawcult.co.

0:22.7

.jp. That's Y-A-K-U-L-T.C-O.J-P. When it comes to a guide for your gut, count on Yacolt. This is Scientific Americans. Science Quickly. I'm Karen Hawken.

0:47.2

If you're a new parent or have ever had any exposure to a baby, you're no doubt familiar with this sound.

1:08.0

Now, the emotions you might experience when treated to this exhibition of infant lung capacity may vary,

1:12.9

depending on the time of day, how much sleep you've had, if any, and how long the show has been going on.

1:18.9

But one thing's for sure. Anyone who has ever heard a baby crying is wondered, how do I make it

1:25.1

stop? Well, a new study shows that five minutes of motion is all it

1:30.3

takes to get a crying baby to finally conch out. The work appears in the journal, Current Biology.

1:35.3

Infant crying is a big issue for parents, but what parents can do is limited.

1:40.3

Kumikrhoda is a lab head at the Rikin Center for Brain Science in Japan, and a mother

1:46.6

of four. She and her colleague, Gianluca Esposito, of the University of Trento in Italy, know all the

1:53.2

tricks. Some parents put a BB in the journal and walk around. Some strap them into battery-powered

1:59.7

swings or rockers. Others swear by a late-night

2:02.8

drive around the neighborhood. But there is one method that's more or less universal.

2:08.0

Around the world, that parents know that kind babies usually come down when they are picked up

2:13.0

and carried. And it doesn't just work for human babies. The phenomenon, the transport response, is widely seen in mammals, such as mice, rats, lions,

2:23.3

and in monkeys.

2:24.3

When toaded by their moms, these baby animals quit their fidgeting and keep distress calls to a minimum.

2:30.3

It's a response that's especially strong in species in which the young are physically immature

...

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