Academics at the University of Warwick found a baby’s behaviour, development, or attachment at 18 months is not adversely affected by being left to ‘cry it out’ a few times or often in infancy.
In fact, the researchers suggested, letting a baby cry for a while to see whether it can calm itself may help the development of self-regulation and a first sense of self.
The research also found that babies left to cry cried less and for a shorter time at 18 months of age.
Meanwhile. in direct observations of mother-baby interaction, mothers who let babies ‘cry it out’ a few times or often were not found to be any less sensitive in their parenting.
The paper, ‘Parental use of “cry it out” in infants: No adverse effects on attachment and behavioural development at 18 months’ has been published in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry.
Researchers followed 178 infants and their mothers over 18 months and repeatedly assessed whether parents intervened immediately when their baby cried or let the baby ‘cry it out’ a few times or often.
Whether or not parents left their baby to ‘cry it out’ was assessed via maternal report from birth, three, six and 18 months, and cry duration at birth, 3 and 18 months. Duration and frequency of fussing and crying was assessed at the same ages.
The study found that two-thirds of mothers parented intuitively and learned from their infant, meaning they intervened immediately when the child was just born, but as the child got older the mother waited longer to see whether the baby could calm themselves.
This ‘differential responding’ allows a baby to learn to self-regulate over time, according to the researchers.
Professor Dieter Wolke, who led the study, said, ‘We have to give more credit to parents and babies. Most parents intuitively adapt over time and are attuned to their baby’s needs, wait a bit before intervening when crying and allow their babies the opportunity to learn to self-regulate. Most babies develop well despite their parents intervening immediately or not to crying.’
