Musical Cure for Crying Infants

Mothers of infants will do just about anything to entertain their little ones. As babies age, so do their evolving interests. Despite small attention spans, babies love music and much to the chagrin of parents, infants love to listen to the same music over and over and over again!

I noticed this with our ten month old. Daily, I struggle to find activities to engage our son, however, I can always count on baby genius DVDs, and yes, Barney, Teletubbies, and my personal favorite, the Backyardigans. These programs have provided us with so much relief when our son transforms from a sweet baby into a screaming fit. What is the secret? Music and the repetition of the sights, rhythms, and sounds. There are even bonus CDs to accompany the baby genius DVDs.

My son's fascination with music began when my mother bought the 'Childrens Favorite Nursery Rhymes' Baby Genius DVD. Being three months old at the time, I had no faith in a television program, nor in any music. At the time our son was crying constantly with colic and no matter what we did, he just could not be consoled. However, one day we became so desperate, we finally put the DVD in and miraculously he stopped crying and was just mesmorized. Then we got the bright idea to use the DVD again the next day, then the next, and some days we used it twice a day! We memorized every lyric and line and even dreamed about the music, but it was well worth our son's comfort. Eventually, we got tired of that DVD and expanded his library of DVDs but we still to this day put in the Children's Nursery Rhymes and have been using it for the past 7 months!

So I had to think, there must be some study that addresses this fascination with musical repetition. Interestingly enough, our son does not watch any regular television show, only his DVDs. It is like he needs this musical repetition and expects it daily. Also, we can put regular movies in and there is no interest. He only watches his musical shows that he watches each and every day. Giving the gift of music addresses babies' need for repetition, the importance of music, and how to introduce music to our babies. I remember being a young mother, the emotions surrounding motherhood, and the desperate feeling of not being able to calm a screaming infant. I would read article after article online about how to soothe babies, how to make your baby happy, how to establish a schedule, etc. Now that our son is ten months old I feel so uplifted that we found a way to not only soothe our baby, but how to educate our baby with musical repetition. Words cannot express the importance of music. Even if parents are not musically inclined, playing music on the television, radio, or computer will provide so much more than entertainment to your little one.