Health Advice

/

Health

Hey, new parents – go ahead and 'spoil' that baby!

Amy Root, Professor of Applied Human Sciences, West Virginia University, The Conversation on

Published in Health & Fitness

For babies, self-soothing likely means sucking on a pacifier or a fist. Later in life, those foundational infant calming skills learned in response to parental care develop into more adultlike habits for regulating distress, like counting to 10 or taking deep breaths.

Parental responsiveness to infant cries also affects the infant-caregiver relationship. Caregivers provide the first information for infants about the predictability of the social world, the trustworthiness of others and about their own self-worth.

This lays the foundation for the quality of the lifelong relationship between a caregiver and child. When infants are soothed in times of distress, they learn that their caregiver is trustworthy and reliable. They also learn that they are worthy of caring, loving relationships, which positively influences their future relationships.

Caregiver responsiveness is also associated with a cascade of well-documented outcomes in infants, children and adolescents, including cognitive functioning, language development, self-esteem and future sensitivity to infant needs.

The absence of caregiver responsiveness, on the other hand, is linked to later behavioral difficulties and developmental challenges. Studies show that neglected children can struggle to bond with their peers and to cope with rejection.

Though one study recently reported that these ill effects might not apply at night – as in, when parents let babies “cry it out” to teach them to sleep – the major consensus in the literature is that before 4 months of age babies should not be left to cry. I recommend no earlier than 6 months because of the formation of the attachment bond, and highly encourage caregivers to consider the individual abilities of their child. Indeed, some children are able to self-regulate better than others. In addition, there are alternative ways to help babies learn to self-soothe at night that include responding to infant distress.

Fortunately, caregivers are biologically primed to care for their infants. Research with animals and humans demonstrates that there are hormones that drive caregiving.

My best advice, based on the scientific literature, is that parents should respond promptly and consistently to infant cries through at least 6 months of age.

 

But take a pragmatic approach.

Caregivers know the idiosyncrasies of their infants: Some may be more placid, while others are more excitable. Likewise, culture drives the goals caregivers set for themselves and their children. So, responsiveness and adaptive caregiver-infant relationships will look different for different families. Parents should act accordingly, fitting their responsiveness to their infant’s needs and their cultural context.

However you look at it, responding to an infant’s every cry is not “spoiling” the baby. Instead, the act of soothing a crying infant provides the baby with the tools they will use to soothe themselves in the future.

This article is republished from The Conversation, an independent nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts. It was written by: Amy Root, West Virginia University. Like this article? subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

Read more:
Should I post photos of my children online? Here’s what new parents need to know about sharenting

Mothers who recognize others’ happiness are more responsive to their infants in first months of life

Amy Root receives funding from National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.


Comments

blog comments powered by Disqus