How do you feel when your baby cries right in the middle of the night? While recent studies in the medical journal Pediatrics indicate that there are no adverse reactions in letting the baby cry at night, is it right to go with it? It is an emotionally tight situation and goes very much against the motherly instinct that resides in you. The child may be trying to communicate something to you and in the event of you not responding to his / her needs, doesn’t it create a thought of mistrust about your deeds?
Well, the specialist doctor of Endoworld Hospital, a renowned gynecological & Endoscopy centre in Aurangabad, quotes that the recent survey conducted in Australia and says it is infact better to let the child cry. Ofcourse it is necessary to assume that the reasons for crying is not due to other aspects such as
• hunger
• wet pants
• illness
Details of survey
Before going into the details of survey, it is essential to understand the techniques that were adapted to pacify the children. The participant families of the survey were divided into three groups
1. Graduated extinction: The group was requested to let the baby cry for few minutes before pacifying them and then gradually increasing the time gap of letting the child cry.
2. Bedtime fading: The second group of parents was told to intentionally increase the delay in bedtime to make babies more tired.
3. Control group: The final group of parents was told to interact with them normally.
The objective of the survey was to check the earlier reports that claimed the graduated extinction technique to enhance stress levels of the babies. The survey was conducted for babies aged between 6 to 16 months and was continued for one year. To measure the stress levels, saliva sample of the babies, which contains the stress hormone cortisol was analyzed. Also the stress levels of mothers were also monitored. After completing the survey, the research scientists analyzed for any indication of emotional problems with babies and the attachment with their mothers.
Results
The analysis report of the survey threw several surprising results
• It was found that the babies and mothers of first two groups had very less stress levels than the third group (control group).
• Babies belonging to graduated extinction enjoyed better sleep and seldom woke again in the night.
• As far as behavioral patterns are concerned, babies of all the three groups were found to be same.
Ofcourse it is nice to get good sleep in the night and still be loved by our beloved kids, but what if behavioral and emotional problems pop up after few years? A similar study was conducted few years back and the behavioral pattern of six year old kids who had earlier undergone sleeping training did not exhibit any sort of problem.
What should be inferred?
Frankly speaking, it is very difficult to just observe babies crying in the middle of night. But it is the way to teach the baby to soothe itself and reduce his / her dependency on you. It is as good as teaching to manage several other stumbling blocks, such as tumbling while walking, failing to emerge victorious in an event, mixing with friends in school and many more. Remember, sooner we teach the kids about the struggle they are likely to face in the life, it is better.
It may happen that your child is crying frequently in the night. This definitely should not be ignored, but referred to your pediatrician. But if your doctor feels that everything is fine, it is not necessary for you to get concerned about every cry of your baby in the night, says the doctor of Endoworld Hospital, a reputed IVF and Endoscopy center in Aurangabad.