Crying it Out
Is there evidence that letting your baby cry causes long-term damage?
by Heather Turgeon
October 30, 2009
Ignoring baby cries during sleep training is linked to all kinds of problems later in life — ADHD, antisocial behavior, lower IQ. At the root of these claims is the idea that the stress of crying and the absence of a responsive parent release intense levels of chemicals that alter a child's brain development. But is there scientific evidence to back this up?
It needs to be said from the outset that this is not a pro- or anti-cry it out article. How you approach sleep is as personal and complex as any aspect of parenting. And, rightly so, many moms and dads use their instinct as their guide. The intent of this article is to examine the scientific evidence that sleep training (the kind that involves a distinct period of crying to sleep) causes long-term brain damage — a very serious claim that should not be tossed around lightly.
The work of big name researchers and clinicians comes hand-in-hand with the anti-cry it out stance. For example, UCLA researcher Dr. Allan Schore is often cited as showing that stress hormones like cortisol, released during intense crying, damage nerve cells in the brain, leading to unhealthy attachments and psychological disorders. He demonstrates that a repeated pattern of unmet needs disrupts a child's stress-regulating systems and can alter the way her limbic structures process emotion.
But Schore's research is actually about how trauma, chronic neglect, or abuse affects a small person. No doubt, if ignoring distress were your every day parenting philosophy this would apply, but sleep training against the background of caring, responsive parenting, does not. In fact, this is the case with a lot of sources opposing the cry it out method — the claims of brain, personality, and attachment damage come from research conducted with grossly neglected children (some studies use data from Child Protective Services cases) not healthy children with loving parents who let them cry for an isolated timeframe.
Another well-respected source that makes the rounds on the Internet is a list of studies put together by Dr. Sears that conclude crying it out is dangerous. There are too many to explain each here, but for example, one states that infants who cry excessively have a higher incidence of ADHD, antisocial behavior, and poor school performance. When you look at the original study, though, the crying clearly has nothing to do with sleep training.
U.S. parents emphasize independence, while mommies from other cultures co-sleep and respond faster to their little ones.
The study shows that extra fussiness and subsequent crying (regardless of what parents do in response) might be a symptom of an underlying problem that could come up later in life. Sears quoted another study as showing that crying early on makes a child fussy and emotionally unbalanced. Again, the actual study says that babies who already cry a lot might be showing early signs that they are slower to develop emotional control. None of the Sears studies listed shows negative consequences as a result of a structured sleep training program.
A Harvard study often surfaces in this debate to show that CIO is bad for baby. This is not actually an original research paper, but an opinion paper based mostly on anthropological studies of parenting practices. It describes how U.S. parents emphasize independence, while mommies from other cultures co-sleep and respond faster to their little ones. It does not have any data about sleep training.
On the other hand, there isn't a robust body of evidence showing that crying it out is safe. When you think about how complicated emotional health and brain development are, it seems like a difficult conclusion to draw absolutely. Maybe certain children are more vulnerable to stressors and maybe if crying it out comes in tandem with another major change, like starting daycare or weaning, the effects might add up to a tipping point and direct a child's brain development in some way. But is there evidence of this? Not yet. It's worth noting that if it's crying we're worried about, the overall amount of crying involved in a well thought-out sleep-training program can be less than the sobs that many parents have reported when they go with a "no-cry" solution.
So the bottom line? Soothe your baby and respond to her all the time, especially in the early months. Carry her, snuggle her, feed her on demand. Being responsive and loving is a parent's most important job. In fact, it's probably the case that co-sleeping is the most natural and adaptive family arrangement — we've done it for thousands of years and, somewhere deep in their brains, our babies are probably programmed to thrive best this way. But most parents want independent sleepers and a bedtime routine that doesn't end up as a mini-trauma every night. If you decide you can't possibly bounce for another forty-five minutes on the yoga ball to get your baby to sleep, will the times that you let her cry — provided she is fed, healthy, and comfortable and you check on her — alter her brain development? There is no evidence of this so far, so you're free to make that very personal parenting choice for yourself.
©2009 Heather Turgeon and Babble Media
About the Author
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Heather Turgeon is a psychotherapist who works with individuals and couples and runs Mommy and Me classes at the Pump Station in Los Angeles. She lives in Santa Monica with her husband and toddler. |
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