Babies: The Four Ancient Principles to a Happy Baby

Dr. Harvey Karp is a nationally renowned pediatrician and child development specialist. He is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics at the UCLA School of Medicine. Over the past 20 years, he has taught thousands of parents his secrets for making children happy.

When he began to study medicine in the 1970’s, he was dismayed that a sophisticated, medical system didn't have one good solution for babies with colic, a terribly disturbing but common malady. He read everything possible about colic, and was determined to discover whatever clues possible to clarify why so many children and their parents were overwhelmed by this mysterious condition.

He first learned there are fundamental differences between the brain of a 3-month-old baby and that of a newborn. During the first few months of life, babies make massive developmental leaps. These disparities, he theorized, account for the huge gap between how parents in our society expect new babies to look, and act, and their true behavior and nature.

His second pivotal discovery came when he learned the colicky screaming that troubled so many of his patients and their parents was nonexistent in the babies of several cultures across the globe. He decided to investigate further to find out exactly why that was the case.  He realized that, in many ways, the peoples living in primitive cultures are ignorant and backward. Though, in some areas their wisdom is great and our culture is actually the “primitive.”

By combining past trusted information with modern techniques and research as well as his own observations from his years of practice in the medical field, he theorized four ancient principles – the missing “fourth” trimester, the “calming” reflex, the five “S’s” and the cuddle cure – are crucial to fully comprehending babies and developing the ability to comfort them and help them develop healthy and restful sleeping patterns early in life.