More on Cry-It-Out

By kim ( April 25, 2010 at 12:12 am) · Filed under Uncategorized, , , ,

As the mommy wars wage on, a new article by the BBC points to science, yet again, to prove that cry-it-out is bad for babies. A quote from the author and mother of two, Dr. Penelope Leach states:

If you do not respond and if you refuse to respond, the baby knows no response is coming … The reason that a baby gives up after half an hour, three-quarters of an hour or an hour is that it has given up and that its expectations have been altered … I’ve heard it said that babies stop crying because they have learned that mummy wants them to go back to sleep. Babies are not capable of that sort of learning.

Now it remains to be seen. Will the proponents of cry-it-out ignore yet more scientific evidence that this method of ’sleep training’ is harmful for babies?

I hope not.

5 comments »

  1. Nicole said,

    April 25, 2010 @ 8:06 am

    Now I’ve not read any books on cry-it-out or controlled crying, but do parents actually leave their child crying for 30+ minutes? For me I know that if they are just fussing, I leave them be, or if crying ensues, I will wait for a minute or two to see if my presence will help calm them down, but if not then plan B. But really, up to an hour!?! Yeah, I’d agree that is bad.

  2. kim said,

    April 25, 2010 @ 8:09 am

    Cry-it-out is just that: baby cries until baby falls asleep. Controlled crying is where you leave baby for increasing periods of time before checking on them/settling them down (ie. 2 minutes then 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 20 minutes, etc.) And apparently at some point you start over at 2 minutes.

    I agree - fussing or a minute or two of crying? That’s okay! 30+ minutes? Wow.

  3. MumUnplugged » Blog Archive » Cry-it-out “harms babies” - expert said,

    April 26, 2010 @ 3:22 am

    [...] came across this article on the BBC via Kim’s blog (which is weird, considering she’s in the US!) and just wanted to share. Basically, [...]

  4. Catherine said,

    May 25, 2010 @ 1:09 pm

    I feel sad reading this blog hearing she let her baby cry it out for 30 minutes. http://www.kellyskornerblog.com/2010/05/our-day.html

  5. kim said,

    May 26, 2010 @ 12:39 am

    That is really sad, Catherine! :(

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