All parents develop their own tricks to calm our children when they are babies (and also when they cease to be), although those that work with some are not always effective with others.
After cradling my daughter in my arms, singing nannies and filling her with kisses, I remember to start the vacuum (because someone told me it worked) and give her a ride in a car (because she slept when we went on a trip) until I discovered my weapon secret: caress her back. And even today, as adults, my children ask me to continue doing so because it relaxes them.
Now Honda has presented 'Sound Sitter', a coupe-shaped teddy that reproduces the sounds of its NSX sports car. As Engadget explains, the idea was born from a previous experiment in which the brand detected that the low frequency sound, like that of the motors, seemed to have a calming effect on the little ones.
In Babies and more Seven ways to calm your baby's cryThe soothing effect of low frequency sound
Its creators tell us that this soft red plush car toy has been created based on the premise that babies react positively to the sounds of engines. In addition to the rhythmic rattle of cars numbing them, Honda empirically proved that certain engine sound recordings calmed them.
The brand tested up to 37 different engine sounds, the Honda NSX Turbo being the most effective for reassuring babies between 6 and 18 months: 11 out of 12 babies calmed down and seven out of every twelve babies experienced a reduction in their pulsations .
Honda explains on its website that the comfort experienced by children may be due to the fact that The low frequencies of motor sounds are comparable to those heard in the womb.
It is still in the testing phase in Japan, but the parents who have tried it, say it works. The manufacturer has no plans to distribute the toy, although it has posted the sounds of three engines (the NSX, the Integra Type R and the S2000) on its website so that parents can check if they are effective.
The Japanese brand has also provided a video about the effectiveness of the stuffed animal and how they conducted the study. Although it is in Japanese (difficult for most of us to understand), it does help us see how babies react to engine noise.
In any case, Honda is not the only car manufacturer that has developed an invention based on the calming effect of cars on babies. Ford designed a crib that simulates its movement to sleep the little ones.
It is called 'Max Motor Dreams', and in addition to reproducing a slight sound of the engine and a smooth movement that mimics a journey by car, it incorporates warm-lighting LEDs that reproduce the exterior lights.
Calm the baby with white noise
This stuffed animal is based on what is known as white noise: a sound signal that contains all frequencies (this toy only low) and these are of the same power. Being monotonous, it favors relaxation and sleep.
This means that when listening to a sufficient volume, the rest of the surrounding sounds are canceled, and the person is left in a kind of sound isolation situation, hearing only the white noise.
When a baby who is crying hears it, he slowly stops crying, calms down, and in some cases he even falls asleep (especially if he cries because he wants to sleep and does not find a way to finish falling asleep).
Our partner Armando tried to explain, through the studies that exist on the subject and by his experience as a father and nurse, whether or not this method is beneficial:
We know that white noise masks the sounds of the environment and leaves the baby in a situation of lack of auditory stimuli. This, which many people say is bad, does not seem to be so in view of the behavior of babies and their pulse: the baby relaxes and falls asleep (my logic tells me that when a baby is stressed does not sleep, but does the opposite: cry, and cry more and more).
Other studies also talked about the fact that white noises remind the baby what they heard when they were inside the womb, and that is why it relaxed them, while others concluded that a baby exposed too many hours a day would probably have serious problems understanding noises, sounds , etc., because we would be doing it "artificially deaf".
In Babies and more Is it safe to use white noise to calm and sleep the baby?So considering that these resources are not totally good or bad, everyone can choose what to do when the baby does not stop crying and does not calm down or in his arms: let him remain stressed, without auditory stimuli because he only hears himself same cry, and a quiet baby for a few minutes listening to white noise.
I, like Armando, I bet because he calms down with the noise of the vacuum cleaner, the kitchen fan or the dryer. And if I had a stuffed toy with the noise of the engine when my children were babies, I would surely have used it on occasion if I had managed to calm his continued crying.
Of course, just for a while, and after having rocked them in my arms, the best method to calm them. Because although it is not proven that white noise is harmful, it is better to be cautious. And you do you think?
Photos | Honda and iStock
