Topic > The Suitability of the “Cry It Out” Sleep Method

Parents are willing to try anything when it comes to getting their baby to sleep, and the “cry it out” technique, also known as CIO, is a great way to add some much-needed time to their baby's sleep. However, in the parenting community, sleep training can be quite stressful for them, especially when parents have to resist the urge to comfort their baby every time he cries (Greggel, 2016). But for some reason “crying” is something many parents resort to often, so why? Many parents, especially first-time parents, are sleep deprived, stressed, and wish they had more time (Kehoe, 2016). Discuss whether the CIO method is best for your child. However you end up letting them cry for a while. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay After a while you worry that it will damage the bond between you and your baby, then you think it's too stressful and you give up (Cruz, 2018). But what if I told you that a recent Australian study from Flinders University showed that it doesn't actually cause stress or damage to long-term bonds, in fact, it's the opposite (Laleche, 2016). In an Australian study from Flinders University, 43 groups of parents with babies aged between 6 and 16 months were found to have trouble sleeping. These parents and children were then placed into three different groups (Laleche, 2016). One of the groups was taught “gradual extinction” in which parents gradually extend the time they see the child before calming the child (Brusie, 2018). they taught “Bedtime Fading” where their children were put to bed at the time they usually go to sleep while parents were still in the room (Cruz, 2018) and the last group received information on sleep training but no specific instructions. In order to measure the babies' and mothers' stress level, also known as cortisol, the researchers would collect their saliva in the morning and afternoon. After three months the results showed that there were no major differences in stress levels between the three groups. The researchers also found that children in the “Graduate Extinction” group fell asleep 15 minutes faster than children in the “Control Group” and several minutes faster than the “Bedtime Fading” group. The researchers also found that children in the "Bedtime Fading" group slept better than children in the "Graduate Extinction" and "Control Group." Please note: this is just an example. Get a custom paper from our expert writers now. Get a custom essayThe study also found that mothers' mood improved over time in all three groups, but that this improvement was particularly strong for those in the bedtime fading group. Soon after the baby's sleep improved, the parents' sleep followed, allowing for a much happier home. Therefore, while the “cry it out loud” method may not be suitable for all parents, a large number of families would benefit from less than a month of sleep training with minimal effort. With so many families benefiting from sleep training, it's no wonder why it's gaining popularity among young mothers.