Harvey Karp

Harvey Neil Karp, FAAP (born 1951) is an American pediatrician and children’s environmental health advocate. He is an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California and a fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics. Karp lives in Los Angeles with his wife Nina Montee Karp.

Karp is best known for his techniques for calming infants and promoting sleep. He is the author of a series of parenting books and DVDs, The Happiest Baby on the Block, (2002, 2015), The Happiest Toddler on the Block (2004, 2008) and The Happiest Baby Guide to Great Sleep (2012), which have been published in over 20 languages.

From 1982 to 1984 Karp practiced pediatrics with pediatrician Paul Fleiss in Los Angeles, California. He then opened his own practice in Santa Monica, where he continued to see patients until 2005. He was assistant clinical professor of pediatrics at the UCLA School of Medicine from 1989 to 2009, where he served as pediatric liaison to the Child Abuse Team. He appeared as a regular contributor to the Lifetime cable television show Growing Up Together from 1990 to 1992. In 2009, he became an assistant professor of pediatrics at the USC Keck School of Medicine.

Karp is a founding board member of Healthy Child Healthy World, and has served on the advisory boards of the Green Guide, Babycenter.com, Parents, Ser Padres, and American Baby magazines.

Most recently, Karp has collaborated with Yves Béhar to develop a "smart" bassinet. Karp claims that it is able to calm fussing babies.

Karp’s infant calming technique is supposed to be based on recreating the essential elements of the experience of living in the womb. Human babies, according to Karp, are born less developed than other mammals. Karp calls the first three months of life the "fourth trimester." Karp hypothesizes that all babies are born with a "calming reflex" that quickly relaxes most fussy babies when they are stimulated in a way that resemble sensations that babies experience in the womb. His method for soothing crying babies, the so-called 5 S's, includes swaddling, side/stomach position, shushing, swinging and sucking.

...
Wikipedia