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Researchers reveal 13-minute method to get babies to sleep

By Georgia Weir|

One of the biggest challenges that parents may face is getting a baby to sleep. From white noise to special jigs, it seems there is a mountain of advice and folklore surrounding babies and sleeping.

However, researchers out of the University of Trento in Italy have claimed there is a two-step, 13-minute process to put a crying baby into a deep sleep.?

According to the research, parents should simply follow this two-step process:

Step 1: Carry the baby for about five minutes.

Step 2: Sit with the baby for five to eight minutes.

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According to new research, carrying a baby for five minutes and then sitting for a further eight minutes can get a baby to sleep. (Getty)

That is supposedly it! After doing this, you will be able to lay your snoozing baby down for a deep sleep.

The researchers, who originally published their findings on Current Biology, found carrying a baby decreases their heart rate and calms them.

To put the new findings to the test, the researchers put heart rate monitors on 21 babies that ranged from newborns to seven-month-olds to monitor their moods as their mothers carried them around a room.?

"We tested the physiology behind these things that tend to be kind of common knowledge, though it's not really well understood why they work," developmental psychologist at the University of Trento in Italy, Gianluca Esposito said speaking to Science News.

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Researchers also found a baby's heartrate can increase and decrease depending on the movement of the parent holding them. (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Esposito also said the heart rates of babies are heavily influenced by the movement of the parent carrying them. For instance, a baby's heart rate can quicken if a parent turns quickly while walking or tries to put the baby down.

During the study, researchers observed babies' heart rates slowed and they stopped crying when their mothers picked them up and carried them around for five minutes จC some babies even dozed off.

Furthermore, when the mothers sat with their babies for five minutes after being carried tended to settle into a slower heart rate and would stay asleep once put down to sleep. In comparison, the heart rates of babies whose mothers sat with them for less than five minutes accelerated and became restless when put down to sleep.

The researchers have admitted that while this isn't a "magic wand" solution to sleepless nights, it is a proven solution that parents can try.

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