""I always said that abrasives was a 'rough' business," jokes Harris on a phone interview with TODAY.com."
""It's scary," Harris says of entering the NICU. "My job was to keep the babies as quiet as possible because if one starts crying and they all hear it, they all want to do the same thing.""
""They have no idea what I'm talking about. It's just that someone's talking to them.""
""Once they got use to who I was, they were just as bad for me as they were for the nurses," Harris says."
Lynn Harris spent most of his career selling sandpaper and other abrasive materials before retiring and becoming a hospital 'baby cuddler.' He served as an army medic in Vietnam at age 23 and later worked as a salesman. A persuasive conversation at a church potluck led him to volunteer at St. David's Medical Center in Austin, Texas, where he helped in various roles before joining the NICU eight years ago. He keeps infants calm with quiet conversation and gentle movement, noting that one crying baby can prompt others to cry. His deep, male voice initially surprised and soothed the infants until they became accustomed to him, after which he sometimes moves between rooms to avoid triggering group crying.
Read at TODAY.com
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