Not sleeping with parents linked to baby’s stress in bath
28 September 2011
Babies who do not sleep in their parents’ bedroom, experience a higher stress level in the bath than children who do, concludes NWO researcher Carolina de Weerth from Radboud University Nijmegen. She published the results of her research on 30 September 2011 in the journal Psychoneuroendocrinology.
Biologist Carolina de Weerth analysed the data from 163 mothers and their children together with her colleague Marieke Tollenaar. All of the mothers kept a diary for the first 2 months following their child’s birth. Each day they recorded where and for how long the child had slept the night before. About one-quarter of the babies always slept in a room other than that of their parents and about forty percent nearly always slept in the parents' bedroom. The remainder sometimes slept in their own room and sometimes in their parents’ room. De Weerth: ‘We then measured the cortisol level in the saliva of each baby following two different stress moments, including being put in the bath.’ Cortisol is a hormone released during stress. We discovered that babies who slept separately from their parents experienced, on average, a stress level nearly 40% higher when put in the bath than babies who slept in their parents’ room.
Proximity of parents
This is the first study into the correlation between sleeping location and stress level in babies. One possible explanation is that parents function as an external stress regulator for the child. If the child sleeps in the parents’ room they are quickly available at night to relieve the child of restlessness or discomfort. The comfort and attention received reduce the baby’s stress. De Weerth: ‘Subtle signals of disquiet in the baby, like a certain sound, are noticed sooner if the child sleeps in the same room than when it sleeps in a different room. In the latter case the parents might only intervene in the event of ‘major signals’ such as crying because they miss the more subtle signals.’ Babies that sleep in a separate room are therefore less used to their parents being the persons who can moderate stress. According to the researcher this effect might persist during daytime activities such as being put in the bath.
Stress necessary
The researcher emphasises the importance of a baby learning to experience stress. ‘It is quite normal if babies respond to their environment and their cortisol level goes up and down accordingly. It only becomes a problem if babies experience chronic stress and recover from this slowly. That is detrimental to their health and also for the adjustment of their stress system.’ The researchers will now investigate the longer term effect of sleeping separately on the stress system of the older child.
De Weerth carried out her research with a Vidi grant from NWO.
Personally I think babies should sleep with thier mother....
and this study wont be worth much unless they prove that babies need to learn to cope with with this kind of stress when they are so young.
And what is the NWO?
What is the motive to convince mothers that babies should be separated when for literally for thousands of years babies always slept with thier mothers.
Just another move to disentegrate family bonding.
And what about the mother's stress in not being near the child. Increased levels of stress in the mom certainly could not be good either. With the child near her radar can rest.
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About NWO
The Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) is the independent Dutch science funding body and its mission is to facilitate excellent scientific research in the Netherlands by means of national competition. Each year NWO spends more than 500 million euros on grants for top research and top researchers, on innovative instruments and equipment, and on institutes where top research is performed. NWO funds the research of more than 5300 talented researchers at universities and institutes. Independent experts select proposals by means of a peer review system. NWO facilitates the transfer of knowledge to society and industry.
I'd snipped that from the quote as it wasn't particularly relevant to the point of the article.
My pediatrition suggested I have my daughter "Cry it out" which means put her in a room and let her cry herself to sleep. She tells all her patients that. It's disgusting! My sweet baby is sleeping with me and my husband and she if 4. It's awesome and she sleeps all night long, isn't afraid of the dark, doesn't have nightmares and is the best little cuddler.
Parents today are disconnected with their children on so many levels.
Dear Mommysunshine,
I do not know that the pediatrition is correct but certainly after 40 years of marriage, I would not recommend sleeping with a baby or toddler. You may want to put in a small separate bed to help her adjust as she probably now thinks it is normal.
Bonding with a child is absolutely wonderful and I would many times during nap time, lay down and sing songs or read but then would do this in their beds not mine. You may need to do this in order to break this habit gradually and you may find your husband greatful too.
I felt I had a very close bond with both my parents. I was never allowed to sleep in their room with them. I am older, so this was 'back in the day' where kids weren't coddled very much, and from what I can see with kids today, it probably was a good thing. I have great memories of taking naps with my Mother when I was very young, and that was very special. I don't have any children myself, so I'm not an expert, but I don't think that sleeping with babies, especially in the bed of the parents, is healthy for their emotional/mental development. I agree that parents today are disconnected with their children on many levels, but I don't think it involves their sleeping arrangements.
__________________ "We can judge the heart of a man by his treatment of animals." ~Immanual Kant~
Dear Mommysunshine,
I do not know that the pediatrition is correct but certainly after 40 years of marriage, I would not recommend sleeping with a baby or toddler.
I appreciate your comment but I wasn't asking for anyone's recommendation on this matter.
I think such sleeping arrangements should be based on the nature of the child and parent and their relatonship. Each case is individual. The family bed is practiced in many more homes that we are likely aware of. How families inter-relate on such issues I feel should not be tampered with by "experts" who mostly have little understanding of human affairs and have ulterior motives unseen.
after all it was the experts who told us not to breast feed, to feed them wheat and canned foods in the third month, to eat hydrogenated oils, to take drugs to vaccinate, to give our children constant Tv, to eat tons of sugar, to go to day care at an early age, to put mom in the work force, to send kids to after school programs, and on and on ad nausem.
I don't know what these experts are thinking... actually I don't think that they really think.
Baths can be stressful for babies initially. They can be scary. Most often this fear is due to a rapidly changing environment with temperature, light, noise, being separated from the mom, as well being naked and moms stress level as well, Mishandling the baby, moving too fast can create senastions of falling... and many babies present this pattern of behavior of being greatly startled when placed in the tub if not done right.
The first few baths are critical to avoiding bath stress.. lights low, water just the right temp. mom relaxed, baby not hungry at the same time.
The LeBoyer bath is what should be done and shortly after birth if possible and with mom in the tub too if possible. My kids had it and it was great. Such an energetic change of peace and calm it brought to them. My mom gave it to them while i was in recovery room. One of my sons became a real water baby swimming under water at age 3 months in the hot springs in Hawaii.
heres an explaination of the bath... which is done right after birth and the process can be repeated when baths are needed. The Leboyer method is much more than just the bath but the bath is the part that is done the most frequently
Not sleeping with parents linked to baby�s stress in bath
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