Harvey Karp Knows How to Keep Babies and Toddlers Happy

Ask any new parent about their infant's sleep patterns and you're bound to get an earful. Many new parents have found salvation in Dr. Harvey Karp's "Happiest Baby" books and DVDs.

Most neophytes are baffled as to how to comfort their screaming bundles of joy. For millions of parents, Dr. Harvey Karp has been the solution to their family's sleep dilemma. For more than 25 years, Dr. Karp has been studying babies. He has taught thousands of parents, from working moms to superstars like Madonna, Michelle Pfeiffer and Pierce Brosnan, his secrets for making children happy.

Dr. Karp is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics at the UCLA School of Medicine and author of The Happiest Baby on the Block, a perennial bestseller. In this book, Dr. Karp's explains his theories of "The Fourth Trimester," the five "S's" and the cuddle cure.

Dr. Karp has a new book and DVD titled The Happiest Toddler on the Block. In this book, he shares his advice for successfully communicating with toddlers.

I recently caught up with Dr. Karp to find out more about his baby-friendly research.

Dr. Karp, how many babies do you think you've met over your 25-year practice?

About 10,000.

Tell us a bit about the importance of understanding "The Fourth Trimester."

This is the KEY idea for new parents to understand. Babies are not like horses (ready to run the first day of life). They are immature. In many ways, they are still like fetuses. Babies come from an environment where they were constantly massaged by the soft walls of the uterus, fed, and exposed to the whooshing sound of the womb. So even if you hold your baby 18 hours a day (which seems like a lot to us), compared to the hold you were doing when the baby was in the womb, that's a 25 percent cutback!

Okay, I think I understand. Once you get through this period, do things get easier?