Let your baby Cry It Out (CIO)?

Talaris Spotlight: Research Corner-July 2007:

In A Parenting Myth: Can I Spoil my Baby? [ANSWER: No, you cannot spoil your baby!] the importance of responding to an infant’s cries is explained. Consistent, warm and nurturing parental responses to an infant in the first year of life help infants develop a secure and loving bond with parents. These loving responses are critical to the young child’s emotional health, brain development and long term life outcomes, including success in school and life. The first months of an infant’s life can be exhausting for parents. Along with the joy of a new family member you may also be overwhelmed, stressed, and sleep-deprived. Sometimes you need to take a break from a crying infant and it is important to listen to your internal signals that tell you so. After you take a deep breath, remember that infants are too young to manage their own emotions and crying is her way of telling you that she needs something. This fact stirs concern and questions about using CIO: Are there harmful effects on children? And, are young children’s needs being met if parents use this method?
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Is there scientific evidence that supports the use of this method?
Macall [Macall Gordon, who is an expert on CIO, at the Biennial Conference of the Society for Research and Child Development, who was hosting a panel of scientists on this very topic]: All the parenting advice that I have seen reports that research supports this method. But when I started looking at this research, I found that very few of these studies were actually conducted on infants. Only about half of them included infants under one year of age. Only two studies included infants under 6 months and no studies have been conducted on infants under 4 months. The studies that included infants also included a large number of much older children. In almost every case, the study reported results for the whole group and not by age. For instance, there was a study that included children between the ages of 9 and 60 months. The study concluded that 75% of this group resolved their night waking issues, but they didn’t say how many of the infants, how many of the toddlers, how many of the preschoolers, how many of the school age kids—they just reported results for the group as a whole. As a result, we really don’t know how the babies did.
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Conclusion: While CIO may be one sleep method, there is very little research to support its use and science does not yet know how safe this method is or what its long term effects are. Science does tell us, though, about the importance of being responsive to a crying infant. Parents have a natural inner drive to respond to a crying infant. Follow what is in your heart and what you feel is right for you and your baby. When you look for parenting advice always be a critical consumer of the information you see or hear. Ask a lot of questions when visiting your child’s health care provider, when attending parenting groups, and when searching for information on the internet. Ask and search for the answer to this question: “Has science researched and supported this method?” Whatever sleep method you choose, make sure that it is safe and that you feel comfortable with it.

Also see: Sleep and Attachment