To soothe or not to soothe...Should you let babies cry it out??

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 Letting a baby cry can lead to children that are timid, clingy, neurotic, and withdrawn.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

The Baby Debate: Should You Pick Them up When They Cry? - Family, Health, and Entertainment. (n.d.). Family, Health, and Entertainment. Retrieved June 30, 2010, from http://allnurses-central.com/parenting-family-center/baby-debate-should-399766.html

Breast Feeding vs. Bottle Feeding.....Are Breast Fed Babies Smarter?

A baby's nutrients for the first four to six months of life come from either human milk or a formula alternative. Lately, the consensus has been that breastfeeding is better for infants, and makes them smarter.

Does breastfeeding really make babies smarter?

Studies have shown that exclusive breastfeeding for at least 3 months and prolonged breastfeeding for at least 1 year makes kids smarter. 14,000 groups of mother/children pairs were split into two groups. The first group received routine maternity care and the second group received breastfeeding encouragement and support. The breastfeeding encouraged group, breastfed longer and were less likely to give any formula from a bottle. Children from both groups were followed for the first 6 1/2 years of life. The children from the breastfeeding encouraged group scored approximately 5 percent higher on IQ tests and did better academically.

Is is really the breastfeeding or are the mothers different?

Mothers who breast feed tend to have similar characteristics than mothers that do not. The mothers that breast feed tent to be smarter, be more invested in their babies, tend to interact with them more, tend to read to them more, spend more time with their kids, and play with them more. Women who are least likely to breast feed include mothers who work full-time outside the home, mothers under the age of 25, mothers without a high school education, African American mothers, and mothers in a low-income circumstances.

How breastfeeding makes children more intelligent is unclear. It could be because breast feeding takes longer, which means the more is interacting more with the baby, talking to the baby, and soothing the baby. It could be emotional or physical. It could be a hormone that is absorbed through the breast milk that is not found in formula.

My opinion.....

I do not believe that breastfeeding has any indication on the intelligence of a child. My mom tried to breastfed during the first week of my life, in the end I was fed formula. I have never been IQ tested, nor have I been compared to someone who was breastfed. However, I graduated with a 3.926 and #4 in my class from high school. I graduated Magna Cum Laude from college, and I currently have 4.0 in grad school. I am aware that their are people in the world that are smarter than me, but I think I am pretty intelligent to not have been breastfed.

What do you think?

Sources:
Are Breastfed Babies Smarter? baby gooroo. (n.d.). baby gooroo Breastfeeding Information and Child Nutrition. Retrieved June 29, 2010, from http://www.babygooroo.com/index.php/2008/05/11/are-breastfed-babies-smarter/

Santrock, J. W. (2008). Life-Span Development (12 ed.). Dubuque: Mcgraw-Hill Higher Education -A.

Study shows breast-fed children are smarter « Maternity Cares. (n.d.). Maternity Cares. Retrieved June 29, 2010, from http://pregnancynews.wordpress.com/2008/05/20/study- shows-breast-fed-children-are-smarter/

Introduction

My name is Ashley. I am a graduated in Retail and Consumer Science from the University of Tennessee. I worked in department store management for 18 mos before deciding to go back to school to pursue my Masters. I am currently enrolled in the Masters of Arts in Teaching Program at Carson Newman College. When all is said and done I plan on teaching Family and Consumer Science at the Secondary Level.

I am currently enrolled in a class called Issues of Human Development. For my class project I will be blogging about different issues in human development. Please feel free to check back often for new posts. Also, feel free to comment and discuss your ideas about each issue.

-a