Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: One of the biggest challenges many new parents face is lack of sleep. But getting up on numerous occasions throughout the night to calm a crying infant is part of the job, right? According to a new study, it doesn’t have to be; letting a baby cry themselves to sleep may lead to a better night’s rest for all parties.

Ignoring a child’s cries may result in better sleep for infants and parents, say researchers. The study suggests a behavioral technique known as “graduated extinction” – which involves letting a baby cry until they fall asleep – can lead to longer sleep duration for the child and their parents.

Study co-author Michael Gradisar, PhD, associate professor in the School of Psychology at Flinders University, Australia, and colleagues recently published their findings in the journal Pediatrics. The study results may come as a surprise to parents, who are likely to have become accustomed to waking from slumber in response to their infant’s persistent cries.

“It’s natural for parents to worry about having their babies cry at bedtime,” says Gradisar. “While it’s well documented that sleep deprivation can cause family distress, including maternal depression, we’re hoping these results will add another element to how parents view their responses and how they manage their own and their babies’ sleep behavior.”

The researchers conducted a randomized, controlled trial, which involved 43 infants aged 6-16 months and their parents. All infants had been experiencing nighttime sleep problems from around the age of 6 months. The parents of 14 of the infants were required to use the graduated extinction method for 12 months.

Also known as the “Ferber method”, this technique involves ignoring a child’s cries, checking on them only at specific times with increasing intervals. The idea is to teach the child to accept that nobody will come to their aid when they cry, which will reduce their crying and improve their sleep.

The parents of 14 of the infants used a “gentler” technique called “bedtime fading” for 12 months. This involves gradually delaying a child’s bedtime each night. The idea is that this will make a child drowsier and more likely to fall asleep. The parents of the remaining 14 infants acted as controls and did not use any of the sleep behavior interventions.