I read the report "Infant Crying and sleeping in London, Copenhagen
and When Parents Adopt a 'Proximal' Form of Care" with great interest.
However, I was dismayed to see that the data is presented in a misleading
fashion and may lead to advocating parenting practices that are not in the
best interest of children.
The author states "As used by proximal care and Copenhagen parents,
infant demand parenting is associated with less overall crying per 24
hours. However, the proximal form of infant-demand parenting is associated
with more frequent night waking and crying at 12 weeks of age. Copenhagen
infants cry as little per 24 hours as proximal care infants but are
settled at night like London infants at 12 weeks of age."
Dr. St.James-Robert's implies that the Copenhagen group's approach
achieves the best of both worlds: less crying, and better nighttime
sleeping. And, in an interview reported on NPR
(<http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5452458>,
Dr. St.James-Roberts advocates taking the Copenhagen approach, advising
that at six weeks, parents should "Move over to something that is setting
more limits and introducing more routines and that will then help babies
learn to sleep through the night from about 12 weeks onward."
But if "Copenhagen infants cry as little per 24 hours as proximal
care infants but are settled at night like London infants at 12 weeks of
age", then they must be crying more during the day.
Dr. St.James-Roberts's results are not surprising, though his
conclusions are. Infants whose parents are unresponsive at night will
indeed adapt: by giving up on the environment that disappoints and
retreating into sleep. However, neuroscientists know that the increased
stress hormones generated during this experience of abandonment have a
negative effect on the growing brain, with long-term costs in terms of
both physical and mental health. In fact, parenting infants with the goal
that they -- quote -- "sleep through the night" is contrary to the goal of
raising children who are physically and emotionally healthy, and can reach
their maximum potential for a fulfilling life. It is unfortunate that
research continues on how to get infants to "sleep through the night"
without consideration of damage that might be caused depending on the
method employed.
It is unfortunate that in testing his hypothesis that "infants who
received proximal care would be more likely to wake and cry at night at 12
weeks", Dr. St.James-Roberts's ignored neuroscientific discoveries about
how a young child's brain develops in correlation to parental
responsiveness.
Nina Lauderdale
Mother to a 2 year-old daughter
Conflict of Interest:
None declared
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