Our culture regards newborn crying as a healthy sign. Babies that cry “fill their lungs with air”, and this is good for them.

Once they get bigger, our culture sees crying as a bad behaviour in the infant, which it must learn to control. If parents respond to babies that are crying they “spoil their babies”.

WHAT EVIDENCE IS THERE?

Actually none.

Crying babies have been studied, but never compared to babies that do not cry.

And so I am conducting studies here in Cape Town on parenting techniques involving any form of “controlled crying”. Using the simple and non-invasive ECG technique described in “Should Neonates Sleep Alone?“, I invite parents to join in this research, and research what REALLY is best for their child. (Research has University of Cape Town Human Research Ethics Committee approval)  Contact me! 

I am equally happy to join collaborations anywhere in the world that would like to research the underlying science and neuroendocrine mechanisms involved in this common behaviour.