Can Baby Cry it Out?

While some see this as neglect, research says it's okay to let baby cry at night.

By Leah Rocketto for TheBump.com

Thinkstock / The Bump











Baby's been up two times already tonight, and there she goes again. You consider letting her cry it out, but then you wonder, Will she be scarred forever? A new study from the American Academy of Pediatrics says no -- that letting baby cry every now and then won't hurt her emotionally or ruin your relationship with her.

When is crying it out okay?

After a 2005 Infant Sleep Study suggested that the cry-it-out method wouldn't benefit children, a second study was conducted to see how sleep interventions -- or lack thereof -- affect children's emotions and behaviors in the long run. During the five-year follow-up, known as the Kid Sleep Study, researchers evaluated the emotional health of 255 children from the original study.

When the children turned six, researchers conducted a 60-minute home-based observation of each child's lifestyle. Afterward, they distributed the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory and took post-sleep samples of cortisol (a hormone released as a response to stress) for further evaluation. All of these assessments were used to determine each child's emotional state and the quality of their child-parent relationships.

Help baby sleep better

In the end, researchers found no difference in emotional health or in parental relationships between children who received sleep intervention and those who were left to cry.

So should you do the cry-it-out technique or not? Unfortunately, there's no right answer that works for every parent. As with most parenting styles, you have to go with what feels right to you.

Have you ever let your baby cry it out? Why or why not?

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