A New Beginning

Overstimulation

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Overstimulation is when babies are having more sensations (light, noise, activity) than they can handle. It’s common in the first few months. Every baby is different in the amount of stimulation they can handle and the things that overstimulate them.

HOW TO COMFORT AN OVERSTIMULATED BABY

SYMPTOMS OF OVERSTIMULATION

• Be calm and reassuring in your touch • Speak quietly and use repetitive or melodic sounds • Move baby to a quiet and semi-darkened room • Swaddle or place baby skin-to-skin • Hold baby’s hands together at chest level • Sway with baby in your arms or a baby sling

• Skin becomes red or pale • Breathing becomes irregular or they have hiccups • Jerky movements or tremors in arms and legs • Baby goes from alert to drowsy • Baby looks away from you or won’t meet your gaze • Baby becomes upset, cries, or goes to sleep to escape the stimulation

How to Calm an Overstimulated Baby

• Recognize signs of overstimulation and intervene quickly • Remove them from the situation or what may be stressing baby • Take them into a calm, quiet dimly lit room

• Use white noise from a fan • Swaddle • Do skin-to-skin contact • Put them down to sleep • Keep to a routine

Newborns may cry anytime from five minutes to a few hours per day. Crying usually peaks in the second month of life and then starts to decrease. Most babies cry more in the late afternoon and evening hours than during the daytime.

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A New Beginning