Controlled crying and its uses seem to be a taboo subject on social media, as not many people seem to want to talk about the topic in fear that the 'MumsNet' crowd with gather and unleash 140 character rants about how you wrong and how your opinion is worthless.
There are pros and cons in everything we do, you can read about the pros and cons of controlled crying here. There are studies that contradict studies into controlled crying. One of the 'largest' concerns centre around the emotional distress a baby suffers when the tactic is deployed. I get that, i understand that, however in my experience it took less than two weeks to get both boys into an establish routine. In that time i bet they cried less than babies that were being demand-feed and waking-up crying 8 times a night?!
Yes it was tough, we hated it but we now have two boys that fall asleep almost instantly. The thought of leaving your baby to cry and go through the ordeal of controlled crying to some i guess is unimaginable. To me it important as not only could we all rest, we found a peaceful balance in an established routine.
Well researchers at Flinders University in South Australia found that controlled crying decreased the amount of time it took for babies to fall asleep without resulting in any harmful long-term effects.
Lead researcher Michael Gradisar said it was natural for parents to worry about their babies crying at bedtime but avoiding the urge to cuddle them could prove more beneficial.
“We ran the numbers and found that those children who experienced delayed sleep or were allowed to cry longer ended up falling asleep faster.
They were not waking up so much in the night either,” he said.“The significant finding in this study was there were no elevated cortisol readings in the infants. They stayed within normal limit.”The study included a randomised controlled trial that involved 43 infants past six months of age who displayed night-time sleep issues.
The infants were split into three groups: a graduated extinction group where babies were initially allowed to cry for varied increments of time; a bedtime fading group where the bedtime was extended; and a control group.
Researchers took saliva samples and measured the cortisol levels in each of the children. They found there were no increases in chronic stress levels during the 12 months.Infant attachment to their parents was also recorded on video and parents were asked to report on their child’s emotions and behaviours.
“Initially all children were taking 20 minutes to fall asleep but after one week the children in the graduated extinction group and the bedtime fading group were falling asleep between 5-10 minutes and maintained that throughout the year. The control group still took 20 minutes to fall asleep,”
Assoc Prof Gradisar said.The potentially heart-wrenching decision of whether to comfort a crying baby at bed time or let him or her cry their way to sleep plagues most new parents.“Obviously there still needs to be more research but we would encourage parents to try the bedtime fading technique because it’s definitely a gentler method.
BRAND NEW VIDEO!! Controlled crying | What I think.. https://t.co/RufdLa8tPz #controlledcrying #parenting #sleep #selfsooth #baby— My Mummy Spam (@Mymummyspam) May 24, 2016
The study titled Behavioural Interventions for Infant Sleep Problems: A Randomized Controlled Trial will be published in the June edition of American Pediatrics
1 comment:
I wouldn't say that this is a taboo subject at all in fact if say that it is quite the opposite in that everyone has an opinion on this and isn't usually too afraid to share it! Personally, controlled crying was never something that I considered with my own children. It goes against every instinct I have as a mother to leave my child to cry. That said, I am a big believer that only a parent knows what is best for their own child. The only thing I would say that is on the surface, this research does seem a little flawed. For starters it only uses a tiny number of babies in the research? I'd be very hesitant to make claims that controlled crying leads to better sleeping on the evidence shown here alone? I guess it's up to each parent to do their own research into this but personally I would always say follow your instincts and cuddle that baby!
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