Nursery World - Study: Controlled baby crying sleep method is 'no stress'

Researchers are hoping they have put anxieties over baby sleep training to bed for good – after a study found the controversial method has no impact on stress hormones or bonding.

The project worked with 43 families and found that leaving infants to cry at bedtime, using a timed technique, improved sleep patterns and had no apparent downside.

The psychologists at Flinders University in South Australia, observed that following training the babies took less time to fall asleep and were less likely to wake in the night.

Lead researcher Michael Gradisar, said it was natural for parents to worry and to want to comfort their crying babies at bedtime, but added that the results showed it could be better to resist.

‘We ran the numbers and found that those children who experienced delayed sleep or were allowed to cry longer ended up falling asleep faster,’ said Associate Professor Gradisar.

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