The Ferber Method For Babies: Should Parents Allow Babies To Cry Themselves To Sleep?

Research shows the wisdom of picking up babies every time they cry. Contrary to popular belief that this could lead to spoiled children, cuddling kids when they cry will help them become more productive, healthier and kinder when they grow up to adulthood.

Professor Darcia Narvaez of the Psychology Department of the University of Notre Dame said they found out that allowing infants to cry for a long time, which has been attributed to the Ferber Method, will hinder their development. Research shows that younger kids who get picked up when crying get the most benefit out of cuddling.

The way parents treat their babies when crying will affect their brain growth, according to News Corp Australia. Parents should touch and hold their children all the time for maximum brain development. Kids who are left alone to cry for a long time grow up as stressed adults.

"They grow better that way. And keep them calm, because all sorts of systems are establishing the way they are going to work," Narvaez said. "If you let them cry a lot, those systems are going to be easily triggered into stress," she added.

Mothers have different ideas when it comes to letting their kids cry themselves to sleep, as per CNN. The highly-debatable method of allowing babies to cry until they fall asleep is referred to as self-soothe. One can imagine the stress brought about by a baby crying at the top of the lungs, both to the baby and the mother.

The Ferber method, also known as Ferbering or Ferberizing, is often used by parents to put their babies to sleep, according to AHA! Parenting. Its proponent Richard Ferber, however, regrets that some parents followed his advice of leaving their babies to cry themselves to sleep. Studies show that when babies cry for a long time, they tend to develop permanent damage in the brain. Leaving babies to cry on their own will make them think that they have been abandoned by their parents just when they need them most.