Just learned of this study yesterday. So interesting. We already know that babies left to cry develop high cortisol levels, and when this peaks they go very still and quiet (in a cortisol haze). But whats interesting about this is that when babies cry, usually it spikes mothers cortisol levels too. However, when babies learn through sleep training that theres no point crying, they stop communicating the distress signal. The mother does not have a stress response when the crying behaviour stops, but the baby continues to have high levels of stress, just very quietly. Therefore a baby may be waking in the night and lying there quietly distressed. In this way mothers and babies become out of sync. It is essential for mothers to feel their babies distress - that is how we know to respond to their needs! I also LOVE Jo Webbs image of baby neuroscience... oxytocin being the watering can for the baby brain and cortisol being the shears. Very powerful.
Posted on: Fri, 21 Mar 2014 20:22:46 +0000
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