A Baby’s Urge to Be Heard | Psychology Today.
I came across this article today thanks to Janet Lansbury and her wonderful blog. I felt it was worth sharing.
1-This is Psycology today. Meaning unbiased truth about how our brains develop from birth.
2-There is a long standing debate in the world of ‘parenting education’ regarding ‘Cry-it-out’ that, in my humble opinion, deserves more than just a passing mention.
Now, a little editorializing…
Decade after decade there have been new and ‘proper’ ways to raise your chlid. There will always be well meaning friends, relatives or strangers who deeply believe that what they tell you about child rearing is the best. This is most likely because it is how they were raised or how they raised their children. I understand these paradigms are hard to escape.
However, there is a reality to how our brains develop. The more we learn about how to build cars, the better the cars are. As time goes on we have gone from room sized computers to idevices in every pocket. Why then wouldn’t we use that same growing wealth of knowledge to help guide our precious little humans into the most secure, healthy and loved people they can be?
As the article states crying isn’t brought on by cognitively based manipulative thoughts. To the contrary hormones within your baby’s brain cause them to cry out of a need for YOU. For your comfort, your food, your touch and the reassurance that they are not being left, quite literally, for the wolves. Being left in a dark room crying doesn’t teach a baby anything except to give up on you.
This article is not meant to anger anyone. Though I am sure it will. I understand deeply how confusing and painful it can be to try to do the right thing for your family and child when your little baby just will not sleep. I offer no judgement. I also do not propose a completly cry-less life for your child. To the contrary I believe that emotional expression should be allowed to develop fully along the broad spectrum of human feeling.
What I hope for is a broader debate. Freedom from guilt ridden ‘sleep training’. What if as parents we grew to understand more developmentally appropriate sleep patterens? What if we talked more openly about how hard it can be to stay calm, gentle and helpful to our darling babes at 3am?
What do you think? This article serves as just a beginning to what I hope will be an ongoing dialogue.
The Emerging Mamma 