Soothing a Sick Baby

Dealing with a sick baby is definitely one of parenting's greatest challenges. It's hard enough to see your little baby so miserable, but the constant crying and lack of sleep can really take a toll on you too. While there is nothing that will really make dealing with a sick baby easier, here are some things that might help soothe your baby and give you some peace too.

Give the Baby a Bath

This is a great idea, particularly if your baby has a fever. The bath doesn't even have to be cool. Doctors will suggest lukewarm, but even a little warmer is fine. As the water evaporates, it will cool your baby.

Giving your baby a bath is also very soothing to the baby who is not feeling well, fever or not. Some experts suspect that the warm liquid is reminiscent of the womb, but even my 6-month-old loves getting baths, and I don't know if he would still remember the womb.

I have found that the best, most soothing way to bathe a sick baby is to get in the bath with the baby. While a healthy baby will normally like playing in a baby tub, sick babies are not so much for playing. A sick baby enjoys being held, so your presence in the bath with him will comfort him even more.

Baby Einstein's "Baby Mozart"

I will continually be baffled by the power of these DVDs. In my eyes, Baby Einstein is one of the greatest things that has ever happened to parenting. When nothing else seems to work, I put my baby in front of the television with a blanket and put on Baby Mozart. Sometimes I feel guilty for doing this, but in the middle of the night I have even played it twice through because the peace it provides is so wonderful.

Vacuum Cleaner

This trick has been around since my parents were babies, but it really does work! At first, I was skeptical to try just running the vacuum to calm down my baby. When my son had been crying hysterically for about half an hour, I was at the end of my rope. Something in me said that the vacuum cleaner might work, so we gave it a try.

It was like a miracle! He stopped crying and became eerily calm. He just stared and the vacuum and then back up at me, over and over again. He calmed down enough to take a little bit of a bottle, and then he actually went to sleep. It was wonderful! Since that, I have tried the vacuum several times. Even if he doesn't go to sleep, it always calms him down at least a little bit.

Car Ride

When my little sister was a baby, I remember my mom driving around aimlessly just to get my sister to stop crying. This has also worked for me very well! I pop a classical music CD or a Disney songs CD into the player and drive around the neighborhood for 15-30 minutes. Usually, if I am lucky, it puts him to sleep. Then the only challenge is getting him from car seat to crib without waking up.

I find that the car ride is doubly soothing. Baby enjoys the ride, and I enjoy the silence and the change of pace. When I have been sitting at home listening to a baby cry all day, driving around town listening to music is a nice break.

Singing

If your crying baby has not gotten to the point of complete hysterics yet, then you can try singing. It doesn't matter if you don't know any special kids songs. I sing songs from my favorite musicals, like "The Sound of Music." Really any song will work, as the soothing factor is really more in your voice than it is in the song.

You may find that your baby has a favorite song, which can be an incredible blessing. If there is a special song your baby likes, don't feel bad singing the same song over and over! Lately, I have sung "Raindrops on Roses" more times than I can count, but if it calms my baby down, that's fine with me.

When Nothing Works...

If all else fails, and the baby is still up all night, you could always try working out a schedule with your spouse. If you are a single parent, you might want to see if there is anyone who can come help you out at night. Perhaps your mother, or a sister, or a good friend would be willing to sleep over and share baby-soothing shifts with you so that you can get some sleep.

Also, remember that sicknesses are always worse at night, and that goes for babies too. You might find that your sick baby feels like sleeping all day and then is up all night. While limiting sleep during the day is a good idea for healthy babies, do not limit sleep for a sick baby. Your baby's body needs all of the sleep he can get to help his body fight the sickness. Instead of trying to schedule your baby's sleep (because it won't work when he/she is sick), try to sleep when your baby sleeps, if at all possible.