New Study: Let Babies Cry Themselves to Sleep
Though you may have to restrain your partner at first
It will be music to the ears of those who lobby their loved-ones in vain to 'just leave the baby'. And it will be a red rag to those who view letting a baby cry itself to sleep as a cruel 1950s throwback.
For academics claim to have shown that letting an infant cry itself to sleep is the best way to ensure a good night's rest for all.
While most babies sleep through five or six night a week by the age of six months, according to the study by American psychologists, a third continue to wake much more frequently until they are toddlers.
They looked at sleep patterns in 1,200 children from birth to three years and found 'wakers' tended to be boys. They also tended to be breast fed.
The research was led Marsha Weinraub, professor of psychology at Temple University in Philadelphia. She concluded that babies should be left to go to sleep on their own—even if that meant they cried for a bit.