Canadian researcher Dr. Ron Barr has studied colic and excessive crying and
I think has some useful information. I've interviewed him several times.
He's found that in all cultures, there are some babies who cry more than
others, no matter what the parents do, and sometimes that crying is pretty
much inconsolable. What he sees is that in other cultures, where the baby is
carried and promptly responded to, the frequency of crying is the same (that
is, the baby starts to cry just as often as in "Western" societies) but the
duration is much shorter. A baby who is responded to within ten seconds will
stop crying quickly; the baby who cries for five minutes before someone
finally comes will keep crying much longer before being soothed.

His research has found that carrying the baby in a sling or soft carrier
will significantly reduce crying. He also found that in tribal societies the
babies breastfeed three or four times an hour on average, and that this
keeps their blood sugars stable and is probably the normal way for a baby to
nurse. His recipe for soothing a crying baby is "contact, carry, walk and
talk." Contact means (where possible) - skin to skin. Carry is (ideally) in
a sling, wrap, carrier - so the baby is against mom's body. Then you walk
with the baby, adding that motion, and talk to the baby in a reassuring way.
(I like this much better than the swaddle and soother approaches that are
out there. And Barr's approach is demonstrated by research to be effective.)

Anyway, if you google his name I'm sure you'll find something!

Teresa Pitman

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