Doctor with the magic touch: Paediatrician reveals secret of how to hold a baby and stop it crying EVERY time

  • California paediatrician has devised a technique to calm infants
  • Dr Robert C. Hamilton says The Hold is guaranteed to stop crying
  • Fold baby's arms across its chest and rock it at a 45 degree angle

By Sara Malm for MailOnline

Published: | Updated:

This may be the saving grace all new parents are looking for.

An American paediatrician claims to have found a miracle way of holding an infant to make it stop crying.

Dr Robert C Hamilton, of Santa Monica, California, says his technique, dubbed 'The Hold', works every time without fail.

Dr Hamilton shared The Hold on his YouTube channel on Sunday, and in just three days it has been viewed more than one million times. 

Dr Hamilton, who has been a paediatrician for some 30 years, demonstrates The Hold on several upset little patients - and it does work.

As the video shows, he picks up the child, folds his or her arms across the chest and holds this tight, lifting the baby's bottom with the other.

Holding the baby at a 45 degree angle with both hands, he then lifts the baby up and down, rocks it back and forth and 'shakes the little booty'.

Trouble: An infant who has just received a shot at Dr Hamilton's practice is crying

Trouble: An infant who has just received a shot at Dr Hamilton's practice is crying

Here to help: Dr Hamilton picks up the crying baby and starts demonstrating The Hold

Like magic: Within moments, the sad, crying infant sits quite content in Dr Hamilton's hands

Like magic: Within moments, the sad, crying infant sits quite content in Dr Hamilton's hands

HOW TO DO 'THE HOLD'

1. Fold arms across the chest

2. Secure arms gently with one hand

3. Grasp diaper area with your dominant hand

4. Rock baby at a 45 degree angle

'Everything you do is very gentle, you don't want to do any jerky motions ever,' Dr Hamilton advices. 

'You hold the child with the fleshy part of your hand [the palm] not the fingertips, and I am supporting his chin, which is why I am holding him at a 45 degree angle.'

He adds that The Hold works best for babies up to three months as they then become too heavy.

Wiggle the booty: Dr Hamilton stresses the importance of holding the baby gently at a 45 degree angle

Wiggle the booty: Dr Hamilton stresses the importance of holding the baby gently at a 45 degree angle

Happy babies: Dr Hamilton shows how The Hold works every time, without fail, on crying infants

But what about later? The only flaw in the experienced paediatrician's technique is that it only works on babies up to three months as they then get too heavy 

But what about later? The only flaw in the experienced paediatrician's technique is that it only works on babies up to three months as they then get too heavy 

YouTube users expressed both delight at discovering the technique and next-level sass in the comments section.

User Pat McCann wrote: 'If somebody trapped my arms to my chest and picked me up by my ass I'd pay attention, too!'

Black Socrates asked: 'Is this like the human version of grabbing a cat by the back of the neck?'

User musicisme656 shared a far-fetched hope that The Hold would transcend to adults, asking: 'Will this work on a wife that nags?' 

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