Society has taught us that picking up a crying baby would create bad habits and in turn spoil the child. In a lot of cases people believe that the child will eventually stop crying and put themselves to sleep. Some parent's feel torn between letting their child cry or picking their child up. A study shows that 20% of first time parents and 30% of experienced parents admit to being uncertain about picking up their crying baby.
Babies need highly responsive parents, and having responsive parents is very important to their emotional and neurological development. Letting babies cry for long periods of time put stress on the baby that can effect the formation of a healthy brain. Picking a crying baby up will teacher the baby trust, which is an first important development feature according to Erikson's Theory of Development. If a baby is not pickup the emotions become unstable and lead to a sense of mistrust. Letting a baby cry can lead to children that are timid, clingy, neurotic, and withdrawn.
Not only does allowing a baby to cry put stress on the baby, but it puts stress on the parents and other caregivers. Parents get mixed messages about how to cope with a crying baby. It is important that doctors, nurses, and educators all send the same messages about picking up crying babies. Also, parents should have confidence and trust their instincts when it comes to settling a crying baby. The best parents are the ones that use their senses to determine what the baby wants.
My opinion:
For the most part I believe that parents should pick a baby up when it is crying. There is usually a reason for why a baby is crying, and the parents are never going to know if they do not pick the baby up. However, if for some reason you have tried everything possible, nothing will stop the baby from crying, and you know that nothing is seriously wrong then I think it is okay to let a baby cry it out. For example, one time I was babysitting overnight for four little girls. At the time the youngest was approximately 18 mos. old. When it was time to go to bed that night she started crying. I tried feeding her. I tried changing her. I tried rocking her. I tried giving her a bath, I made sure she didn't have a fever. I tired it all. I knew deep down that the reason she was upset was because she was not use to someone besides her parents putting her to bed, and she was probably fearful that she could not trust me to be there when she woke up. So finally at 2 a.m. I just decided that she was going to have to cry it out, because there as nothing I could do to make her happy. She eventually fell asleep. When she woke up the next morning, I was there to get her out of her crib, and everything was just fine.
So what do you think? Should parents let their babies cry? Or should the pick them up and soothe them?
Sources:
For Crying Out Loud -- Pick Up Your Baby. (n.d.). Science Daily: News & Articles in Science, Health, Environment & Technology. Retrieved June 30, 2010, from http://www.sciencedaily.com/re
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