Crying babies may suffer brain damage
Filed under: Baby health — Alan @ 7:04 pm
Parenting expert Dr. Penelope Leach claims that parents that allow their young babies to cry themselves to sleep may be harming their brain development.
Leach stated that new scientific tests show that when a parent ignores their cries, high levels of cortisol, the stress hormone, begin to build up. According to Leach, if this happens for significant periods of time it is ‘toxic’ to the baby’s brains.
Her suggestion is that any crying period bout that lasts over 30 minutes should be avoided because it will be damaging to their development.
Leach continued to say that she is not referring to a child that is awake and simply gurgling, but a child that is screaming loud and in agony and no one is taking the time to respond to. When this happens, the stress hormone is continuously released, which is harmful to young children.
Her findings are all compiled and published in her newest book entitled The Essential First Year- What Babies Need Parents to Know.
Leach is known as a parenting expert and psychologist who rose to fame in the 1970’s when she wrote the book Your Baby and Child.
She said that it does not matter if a parent is able to figure out what has caused the baby to start crying, but just that they respond before a child’s expectations have been altered.
She added that there is no evidence that actually allowing a child to cry themselves to sleep will help them learn to sleep on their own through the night.
No related posts.
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.