Hi Joanne,
I could be wrong, and Dr. Karp can correct us both if I am, but what I
understand from 'exactness' is that each child has his/her own level of
quietness of the shushing and amount of swinging and need for or tightness
of swaddle or even the need to suck.  Finding out what that individual child
needs is where the 'exactness' comes in, imo.  Also I think it's very
helpful to start at the beginning and move on with the 'esses' as needed.
Not every child will need all the s's to trigger the calm.  But just
swinging probably won't be enough.  Same with just shushing.  I have
personally seen this progression work 'like magic' and pretty consistently
too.  I have yet to have to give a newborn something to suck.  The farthest
I have to go is the shushing.  So I think the 'exactness' Dr. Karp refers to
is the method as a progression.

I believe that if parents learn tools to calm their babies from the start
(and this method is just another tool) many of the problems with "colic" can
be avoided.  I have been teaching this to moms to calm their babies enough
to breastfeed well with good success.  How many times have you seen a baby
who was too wound up to nurse?  Of course this goes hand in hand with
teaching 'cues' and feeding *before* crying starts.  But if a baby is crying
inconsolably, I won't just tell a mom (and I doubt any of us would), oh,
well, you should have caught him *before* he started to cry.  I want to show
her how to deal with the problem *now* and urge her to try not to get to
that pass in the future.

Another thing I have noticed is that if parents learn how to trigger the
calming reflex from the start, after a time they become so adept at it that
they no longer need to go as far in the progression as before.  Pretty soon,
simply putting the infant on it's side may be enough.  I'm not sure if this
is the best analogy, but I think of it somewhat like math (ok, so I'm
weird).  Anyway, we learn math by going through each step and showing our
work, writing everything out.  As we become more adept and know our
addition/subtraction/times tables, etc we start to do the work 'in our head'
and take shortcuts.  We still get the same answer, but it's quicker and
easier not to write everything out.  As for triggering the calming reflex,
we also learn that step by step, and gradually, as we see what works with
our specific child we may start the shortcuts.  We get the same result but
it's quicker and easier as we become quicker with the progression and as we
gain confidence in our abilities.

I don't see the 5 's' as a rigid, static system.  I see them as just the
opposite -- dynamic, flexible, and adjustable to each child.

Respectfully,
Cindi Swisher


> -----Original Message-----
> From: Lactation Information and Discussion
> Sent: Thursday, July 24, 2003 12:16 PM
> Subject: Is system another S?

> > However, the 5 S's must be "done correctly" because this reflex, like a
> > knee reflex, requires great exactness to turn it on (if you whack a
> > knee, but you're off by an inch NOTHING happens.  Likewise, if the 5 S's
> > are done incorrectly (the shushing is too quiet or the swinging isn't
> > jiggly enough - it may simply fail to turn the reflex on.
> >
> >
> This surprises me, because precision is towards the end of my list of
> parenting helps. It seems to me that each child needs something
> different, and often a totally other thing the next week.
>
> The only thing that is consistent, in my house, is the unpredictability
> of parenting and the creative spirit in which we approach children's
> needs. Systems and programs give us the satisfaction of doing something
> about a problem, but give us the impression that we are in control.
>
> Of course, this is a parenting question, and is therefore a matter of
> opinion and experience -- and I may have too much of both.
>
> Jo-Anne Elder-Gomes, mother (most important qualification for this post)

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