Rhythmic motions and vibrations have a soothing effect on babies. For generations, moms trust the idea of rocking or tapping babies to sleep along with white noise or swaddling. Vibration is an effective way of calming your gassy and colicky baby to help you both sleep through the night. Thankfully, there are products like mattresses, pads, chairs, or bassinets that can help mothers deal with a fussy baby when needed.
Gas is a very common situation that all babies will go through during infancy. Colicky babies who cry nonstop may ingest more air that may worsen the situation.
Letting your baby cry is a good heart exercise, but too much crying is a bad thing for his tummy. So, when you need to, soothe your crying baby to prevent gas from blowing his restful sleep up.
How does vibration help with gas?
Babies get gassy for many reasons…
To mitigate its effect, you may need to do a little tweaking with breastfeeding position and your diet. And to stop a colic attack, pacifying your baby will help greatly.
Parents know how pacifying, and soothing is sometimes easier said than done. Here is the catch: vibration is a foolproof idea to calm down a fussy baby. Why?
With nine months inside the womb, they are accustomed to the vibrations they live with every day. Their mom’s heartbeat, the gushing blood to the placenta, and every noise inside the tummy made it their sanctuary.
Mimicking the womb’s environment is a helpful way of transitioning the baby into the world until about three months after birth. For example, you can snuggle him in a nice swaddle, introduce white noise, or initiate a soothing vibration.
It will make him comfortable and at home with his environment. Vibration also releases gas buildup in his tummy to ease gas problems.
Vibrating products for babies
A gentle rocking or rhythmic tapping of the baby’s body alone can help soothe him down. And though vibrating products are new and suspicious, they do help in relaxing a fussy baby.
The pulsating movement gives them the calming memory of their mom’s womb. Thus, it will make them sleep faster and for longer.
Vibrations also calm their bellies and may help release gas easily. One problem, however, is when babies get used to the setup. It will be hard for you to encourage them to self-soothe themselves to sleep and wean them out of vibrations as they get older.
Here are some vibration products you can try for your gassy baby:
Vibrating mats or pads
Vibrating mats and pads are effective and safe products for babies. Its soothing vibrations act as a gentle massage that can lull babies to sleep. These are trusted products for helping pre-term babies overcome sleep apnea or a brief pause in breathing during sleep.
Bassinets and cribs
Vibrating bassinets also provide the same calming effect as the mattress. In addition, they have rocking features that double the benefits of the vibration. However, parents need to understand and follow safety precautions when using it.
Improper use may increase the risk of SIDS, so parents should always put safety first in the crib and sleeping area.
Vibrating bouncer and cushion
Bouncers and cushions are also excellent vibration products to try for your baby’s tummy time. You can strap the baby into it to calm down an episode of colic and sleeplessness.
It may also relieve the gas problem in babies. But before using it, you should know and adhere to safety precautions to prevent accidents and injury to your baby.
FAQs
Will vibration harm my baby?
Gentle vibrations only stimulate and calm the baby while imitating his mom’s womb environment. The vibration is harmless, but it is the proper placement and positioning of the baby that parents should worry about. You can read about the sleeping environment and SIDS in this post.
What is the best way of introducing vibration for calming a gassy baby?
Vibrating baby products have adjustable frequency vibration controls. You can set it at the lowest level, depending on the baby’s comfort.
Most of these products have auto-shut functions that will stop the vibration after a while – maybe at just the right time that your baby is pacified.
Takeaway
Babies experience discomfort whenever they feel gas build-up. Unfortunately, this unwanted gas also becomes a nightmare for parents as they try to soothe a fussy little one.
However, using products that produce vibrations, such as mats and cushions, will greatly help in reducing gas build-up. Just make sure that you use it wisely, and do not let your baby depend on these vibrations too much.
