Letting babies cry themselves to sleep not harmful, study says
If you have a restless tot who cries himself to sleep, researchers suggest you should let him.
In a recent study published Tuesday in the journal Pediatrics, Australian researchers found that allowing babies to “cry it out” can help babies fall asleep sooner and sleep more soundly throughout the night.
The study randomly divided 43 sets of infants and parents into three groups – “graduated extinction,” “bedtime fading” and a control group.
In the “graduated extinction” group, also known as the “Ferber method,” the infant was left to cry for longer and longer periods of time before the parents stepped in to soothe the child until he or she falls asleep.
While you won’t earn any points with your neighbour, the study reports that parents can sleep (somewhat) easy knowing that ignoring their babies’ cries won’t cause long-term damage.
This finding challenges other concerns that by ignoring a baby’s cries, the child may lose trust in his or her parents which can lead to behavioural and emotional issues in adulthood.
In the second group, parents and infants adopted the “bedtime fading” method, where the child’s bedtime was pushed later and later to induce sleepiness in the child so he or she would fall asleep easier.
Between the two methods, there was little difference between the infant’s stress hormone level, but infants in the “graduated extinction” group fell asleep faster and slept more soundly than the “bedtime fading” group or control group.
While it may be difficult to ignore your baby’s cries, lead author Michael Gradisar told Today that it prevents parents and babies from falling into “a coercive behaviour trap” where the reward by their parents’ responses is greater than falling back to sleep.
“This is especially true if the parent responds quickly after the child cried,” he said.
By allowing the infant to cry it out, the child is less likely to cry over time as well as more likely to fall asleep faster and stay asleep longer, making for a happy well-rested baby and parents – and neighbours too.
