如何哄睡哭闹不止的宝宝？（上）

This is Scientific American’s Science, Quickly. I’m Karen Hopkin.

这里是科学美国人的《科学快讯》栏目。我是凯伦·霍普金。

If you’re a new parent or have ever had any exposure to a baby, you’re no doubt familiar with this sound.

如果你刚为人父母，或曾接触过婴儿，你肯定对这种声音很熟悉。

Now, the emotions you might experience when treated to this exhibition of infant lung capacity may vary, depending on the time of day, how much sleep you’ve had (if any) and how long the show has been going on.

当你观看婴儿哭闹时的肺活量展示时，你所经历的情绪可能会根据当日时间、你的睡眠时间以及展示时间而变化。

But one thing’s for sure: Anyone who has ever heard a baby crying has wondered, “How do I make it stop?”

有一点是千真万确的: 任何听到婴儿啼哭的人都想知道，“我怎么让哭声停止?”

Well, a new study shows that five minutes of motion is all it takes to get a crying baby to finally conk out.

一项新的研究表明，五分钟的动作就足以让一个婴儿昏睡过去。

The work appears in the journal Current Biology.

这项研究发表在《当代生物学》杂志上。

Infant crying is a big issue for parents. But what parents can do is quite limited.

婴儿啼哭对父母来说是个大问题。但是父母能做的非常有限。

Kumi Kuroda is a lab head at the RIKEN Center for Brain Science in Japan—and a mother of four.

Kumi Kuroda是日本理研脑科学中心的实验室负责人，也是四个孩子的母亲。

She and her colleague Gianluca Esposito of the University of Trento in Italy know all the tricks.

她和她的同事--意大利特兰托大学的吉安卢卡·埃斯波西托--知道所有的诀窍。

Some parents put their baby in the stroller and walk around.

一些父母把他们的孩子放进婴儿车里，四处走动。

Some strap them into battery-powered swings or rockers.

有些父母把婴儿绑在电池驱动的秋千或摇杆上。

Others swear by a late-night drive around the neighborhood.

另一些父母则喜欢深夜在附近推车转悠。

But there is one method that’s more or less universal.

但有一种方法或多或少是通用的。

Around the world, parents know that crying babies usually calm down when they are picked up and carried.

全世界的父母都知道，哭闹的婴儿在被抱起后通常会平静下来。

And it doesn’t just work for human babies.

这不仅适用于人类婴儿。

This phenomenon, the transport response, is widely seen in mammals such as mice, rats, lions—and in monkeys.

这种被称为运输反应的现象广泛存在于哺乳动物中，如小鼠、大鼠、狮子和猴子。

When toted by their moms, these baby animals quit their fidgeting and keep distress calls to a minimum.

当被妈妈抱着的时候，这些小动物不再坐立不安，把求救哭喊降到最低。

It’s a response that’s especially strong in species in which the young are physically immature and unable to care for themselves.

这种反应在身体发育尚不成熟、无法自理的幼崽中尤为明显。

Now, when a mama mouse picks up and runs off with a pup, it’s generally not so she can get some shut-eye.

当老鼠妈妈抱起老鼠宝宝逃跑时，通常不是为了让幼崽睡觉。

It is often an emergency that forces animal parents to carry their infants ...To, say, avoid an encroaching predator.

通常，这是一种促使动物父母抱起幼崽，比方说，躲避一只步步紧逼的食肉动物的紧急情况。

So the infants innately cooperate with the parents by withholding their cries and movements during carrying ...

因此，婴儿天生就会配合父母，通过拥抱阻止哭闹。

Because their lives literally depend on it.

因为婴儿的性命完全依靠这个动作。