Crying Cures

Soothing Sounds

Clean Sweep
"After Jonathan was born, I realized that the whirring of the vacuum cleaner really calmed him. Since we didn't want to drag it up and down the steps all the time, my husband recorded the sound, and we played it when Jonathan was upset."
Fran Howe; Charlotte, NC

Phone Smarts
"I downloaded a white-noise app for my smartphone and then clipped it to the bottom of Abigail's bassinet. The static sound worked for us every time during the first few months. Though the app was free, I would have paid $5,000 for the peace it brought us!"
Debra Allison; Palo Alto, CA

Drying Tears
"When I went back to work after having my first child, I told our new sitter how I stopped Maire Claire's crying: by turning on the hair dryer. Although she looked at me as if I were a little crazy, when I got home that evening she raved about how well the method worked."
Deirdre Giblin; Boston, MA

Magical Note
"If you play a really low tone on a harmonica, most babies will stop crying and forget what they were upset about. As a photographer, I've used it for years on infants who visit my studio, and it worked on my own kids too. My clients often say, 'Wow -- we're going to buy a harmonica on the way home.'"
John Engler; Apple Valley, MN

Classical Favorite
"One night, my husband and I played some music by Johann Strauss. Our son Benjamin, who had terrible colic, stopped crying. From then on, we spent many evenings with Strauss. We even took turns waltzing around the house to the music with Benjamin in our arms."
Marie Wheat; Arlington, VA

Kitchen Cure
"I used to put Charlotte in her baby swing next to the dishwasher. When I ran it, the loud noise soothed her."
Collette Parker; Atlanta, GA

Good Vibrations
"When Ben was very little, what worked best was humming gently in his ear. He would quiet down immediately and stay in a Zenlike state for as long as I kept going."
Julianne Weiner; Boyds, MD

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