Holding your baby is good

The maternal instinct of holding your baby is one of the best things a mother can do to bond with her child and there is no question where you cannot spoil a baby by holding her. "Babies who are held often and have their needs met right away are more likely to have higher self-images and learn they are respected and worthy," says Linda C. Donovan, RN, MHA, IBCLC. So, even if you keep hearing people tell you not to do it, rest assured that holding your baby is a good and natural thing. According to the researchers, maternal walking may be more effective in calming infants than other kinds of rhythmic motion, such as rocking.

A study in 2013 from Japan confirms what many mothers may know instinctively: Picking up and carrying a fussy baby usually calms down and relaxes the child, making the move a good one for both moms and infants.

ts became noticeably more relaxed and stopped crying and squirming. The babies' rapidly beating hearts also slowed down, evidence that the children were feeling calmer.

"Infants become calm and relaxed when they are carried by their mother," said study researcher Dr. Kumi Kuroda, who investigates social behavior at the RIKEN Brain Science Institute in Saitama, Japan.

A strong calming effect

For the small study, researchers monitored the responses of 12 healthy infants ages 1 month to 6 months. The scientists wanted to discover the most effective way for mothers to calm a crying baby over a 30-second period — simply holding the baby or carrying the infant while walking.

Young babies carried by a walking mother were the most relaxed and soothed, compared with infants whose mothers sat in a chair and held them, the study found. As a mother stood up and started to walk with her child cradled close in her arms, scientists observed an automatic change in the baby's behavior. Kuroda said she was surprised by the strength of the calming effect from maternal holding and walking.