Doc's technique for calming crying babies goes viral

If you’ve ever been faced with a crying baby, you’ll try anything to calm him or her down. One California pediatrician created a video demonstrating one technique that’s received over 1.7 million views on Youtube.

Dr. Robert Hamilton, founder of Pacific Ocean Pediatrics in Santa Monica, Calif., posted the video on Sunday.

The technique, called ‘The Hold,’ involves folding the baby’s right then left arm together in front of his or her chest. Then, hold the baby’s bottom with your dominant hand. Keeping the baby at a 45-degree angle— to prevent them from throwing their head back and you from losing control of the hold — gently wiggle their bottom back and forth, and up and down.

In the video, Hamilton demonstrates the method with two crying infants, who are quickly quieted by the motion.

“Everything you do is very gentle,” Hamilton says in the video. “You don’t want to do jerky motions ever.”

The babies should be held with the fleshy part of the hands, not the fingertips, he added.

If the baby doesn’t quiet down, he or she may be ill or hungry. ‘The Hold’ is helpful for the first 2 to 3 months of age, but the baby becomes too heavy for the technique to be possible after that, Hamilton concludes in the video.