How to Soothe a Crying Baby with a Moby Wrap and a Butt Pat

I posted something about the butt pat on my blog recently. Basically, it goes like this:

1. Baby cries
2. Mama puts baby in a carrier
3. Mama bounces around and pats baby's butt
4. Baby calms down and goes quietly to sleep

It works. Every. Time.

The only time it hasn't worked is if I'm trying to avoid nursing (as sometimes occurs after I've nursed every hour on the hour in the middle of the night and I think baby is just nursing out of habit) but baby really wants to nurse. Then I have to give in and nurse.

During last Friday's babywearing class, I had a sweet mama with an even sweeter 2-month-old baby who wanted to learn how to use the Moby. Of course, attending a scheduled class with an infant isn't always what the infant wants to be doing at that given time. And when infants don't want to be doing something, they cry.

The little sweet pea was a little sleepy, and he wanted a nap. So I held him while mama got the moby situated. He knew I wasn't his mama, though. I didn't smell like his mama. (I smell like natural deodorant, after all). But I did the only thing I knew how. The butt pat. It worked. Little sweet pea was instantly relaxed.

So if you're wearing your baby and baby isn't all that happy about it, or it's time for a nap and baby is being fussy, try the bounce and the butt pat. I love being able to show mamas how to adapt to baby's crying, especially when they're getting used to something new like a wrap.

You can even do it while you already have one child in the wrap. This is what I looked like. (fake baby alert... we didn't think to get a pic while I was holding sweet pea and Little M was asleep in my own moby. But you get the gist). It just took a butt pat and a bounce and both babies were happy: