Healthy Living: Local News
Report Says Let Babies Cry
Tools
Story Updated: Sep 12, 2012
(WKBW/ABC News) Almost half of babies over six months of age have sleeping problems, their mothers report.
That also means sleepless nights for mommy and daddy -- as well as raising the risk of depression for mothers.
A study in the journal "Pediatrics" supports the method of letting babies cry themselves to sleep, saying it trains them to soothe themselves.
Parents in the study were trained in different techniques of separating
themselves from crying babies at varying intervals over three weeks.
Both children and mothers had improved sleep -- and mothers had improved mental health.
The authors say no long-term harm is done by these sleep-training methods, and the benefits lasted up until the babies turned two years old.