I have four children, and all them were or are babies. As an economist, I know that becoming more productive includes contributions to labor, capital, and technology. Caring for and pacifying babies is no different. Here are some of my methods for pacifying and employing babies who are 4-18 months old.
Own a pacifier. You don’t need to use it or even force it into your baby’s mouth. But just have it around. Paul Romer said that we learn and innovate by interacting with capital. So, let’s get the capital.
Employ your baby’s labor. Children as small as 2 or 3 can go get the eggs from the hen house. But what about a smaller baby? Of course we need to stimulate, feed, water, change, and rest the baby. But sometimes, you just need them to be quiet. What to do? Babies respond to Pavlovian stimulus at a very early age. If they’re crying or even just somewhat bored, then place the pacifier in their hand and say, in a very low but normal voice, ‘pacifier’. Babies will instinctively put the pacifier in their mouth. If you have it clipped on, then eventually, they’ll be able to find it when they need it. Developing physical human capital takes work experience and time. I always insist that my older children place the pacifier in the baby’s hand rather than the baby’s mouth. Greater human capital will yield productivity gains.
There came a point when my baby would awaken at night. I wouldn’t even get out of bed. I’d just calmly, and dispassionately say ‘pacifier’. And our baby would pop the pacifier in their own mouth. Employ your baby’s labor. Innovation happens when you interact with capital.
In the same vein, I’d balance the baby bottle on my child’s front side, and place their hands on it. Next thing I knew, my baby was holding their own bottle earlier than the internet said that I should expect them to. Those little hands aren’t useless. They’re low marginal product labor just waiting to be employed. Given that home production is a team effort and labors have interaction effects, that small marginal product for the baby frees your labor to have a larger marginal product for the household. Take advantage of interaction effects, specialization, and comparative advantage.
How do you produce sleep in a baby? Let’s examine the production function. It typically includes: warmth, a clean diaper, darkness, a full belly, maybe some motion, and a lack of disruptive noise. Once the baby is asleep, you really only need the warmth, darkness, and peaceful noise. Leverage your capital to make yourself more productive. Capital may not be able to replace you in helping your baby fall asleep. But it can replace you to help keep them asleep. Repurpose your current stock of capital. If only there was a warm, dark, white noise chamber in your house already. There is. It’s called a bathroom. Get your infant to fall asleep, then put them in the dark bathroom with the fan on. Now you can grade your papers, clean the house, or write your articles.
Addendum on diaper changing:
When it comes to changing a diaper, you should act like you have a low discount rate. That is, you should bear the cost of preparing a changing space so that your future self is thankful. This means preparing the changing pad, opening the new diaper, unfolding the wipes, preparing for diaper disposal, and preparing any new clothes. This makes the diaper changing process much easier and mitigates stochastic costs like leaks, mid-change accidents, etc. Further, your MPL is lower when you have to mind a baby who’s on an elevated surface. Employ your labor when it’s more productive – before you lay them down.
Do you have a baby who fights or cries during diaper changes? Take a hint from the Fed and engage in forward guidance. Did you know that if you blow in a baby’s face, that they instinctively close their eyes and mouth and stop flailing? Early on this can act as a reset and interrupt crying. As a baby gets older, they’ll learn to anticipate the blown air. But only if you build your reputation.
When my 12 month old would start to fight, I’d audibly inhale. My baby would immediately stop fighting and clothes her eyes and mouth, and stop flailing in preparation of me blowing in her face. That’s called forward guidance. Building a reputation of action means that signaling action is often just as good as the act itself. But be careful, if you always blow in their face, they grow accustomed to it due to expectations augmented responses. So, I introduce stochastic bluffs wherein I audibly inhale, but then neglect to blow in their face. Stimulus only works repeatedly if you can violate their expectations.
Stay tuned for more economist parenting tips.
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