Excessive crying can harm your babies health. Check out the article we found over at Ask Dr. Sears.
Science tells us that when babies cry alone and unattended, they experience panic and anxiety. When trying to understand if excessive crying is harmful for babies, think about the fact that their bodies and brains are flooded with adrenaline and cortisol stress hormones and when developing brain tissue is exposed to these hormones for prolonged periods, these nerves won’t form connections to other nerves and will degenerate.
Is it therefore possible that infants who endure many nights or weeks of crying-it-out alone are actually suffering harmful neurological effects that may have permanent implications on the development of sections of their brain?
Here is how science answers the question of whether excessive crying is harmful:
Chemical and Hormonal Imbalances in the Brain
- Research has shown that infants who are routinely separated from parents in a stressful way have abnormally high levels of the stress hormone cortisol, as well as lower growth hormone levels. These imbalances inhibit the development of nerve tissue in the brain, suppress growth, and depress the immune system.
- Researchers at Yale University and Harvard Medical School found that intense stress early in life can alter the brain’s neurotransmitter systems and cause structural and functional changes in regions of the brain similar to those seen in adults with depression.
- One study showed infants who experienced persistent crying episodes were 10 times more likely to have ADHD as a child, along with poor school performance and antisocial behavior. The researchers concluded these findings may be due to the lack of responsive attitude of the parents toward their babies.
Harmful Physiologic Changes
- Animal and human research has shown when separated from parents, infants and children show unstable temperatures, heart arrhythmias, and decreased REM sleep (the stage of sleep that promotes brain development).
- Dr. Brazy at Duke University and Ludington-Hoe and colleagues at Case Western University showed in 2 separate studies how prolonged crying in infants causes increased blood pressure in the brain, elevates stress hormones, obstructs blood from draining out of the brain, and decreases oxygenation to the brain. They concluded that caregivers should answer cries swiftly, consistently, and comprehensively.
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Read full article: Excessive Crying
Angela Efird
Apr 06. 2016
Some just cry no matter what you do.
Bianca Ahmad
Apr 06. 2016
Yes because Facebook says so
Bianca Ahmad
Apr 06. 2016
Yes because Facebook says so.
Stephanie Zack
Apr 06. 2016
Now you are just being irresponsible and a fear monger !
Anonymous
Apr 06. 2016
I let a baby cry for an hour because they are good manipulators, they know that if you cry you will pick them up and hold them when is past their bed time.
You can’t allow a baby to run your life when it cries. Some cry because they just want to be held 24/7 and that’s impossible when you have to be a mom and a wife, make food, shower, use bathroom etc. so let it cry it is.
Judy Marg
Apr 06. 2016
I fail to understand how communicating scientific knowledge and research findings concerning something is irresponsible fear mongering!
Judy Marg
Apr 06. 2016
Yes, sadly we can’t always figure it all out, but we need to keep trying and comforting. The point of this info is if they are left alone, it has very negative effects.
Judy Marg
Apr 06. 2016
Hannah, have you seen this one?
Hannah Marg Delaney
Apr 06. 2016
Not exactly but I know it’s a horrible idea from a developmental standpoint.
Stephanie Zack
Apr 06. 2016
There is research on everything proving whatever you wish. A baby should cry and won’t have brain damage. How stupid are people ?
Hannah Marg Delaney
Apr 06. 2016
Actually in this case because research and science say so. Facebook just happens to contain them.
Sherry Glass
Apr 06. 2016
Tammy Lyn Glass, while I didn’t know any of this, I couldn’t let you cry. That means the first year I basically held you the entire time.
Carolyn Foster
Apr 06. 2016
Sounds like Brady, he cried the first 2 years of his life.
Judy Marg
Apr 07. 2016
Right. Nice to see verification of what we know in our ‘guts’
Gabriela Dimarco
Apr 07. 2016
BS
Patricia Fleming
Apr 07. 2016
My babies didn’t cry like that thankfully, but I surely wouldn’t let them just seemingly suffer without some love and compassion when they have no other way to reach out! It has to cause some sort of deep seated issues, would it not?
Janice Scheffer
Apr 07. 2016
really why would i leave my baby crying…i am the mommy…I would not ever leave my baby to cry for an hour…should not be a mommy if u are not going to tend to ur baby’s needs
Anonymous
Apr 07. 2016
Janice Scheffer I’m not a mommy. I don’t have kids but I’ve let my siblings as babies cry. If it’s past their bed time or you need to poop are you going to take the baby in to the bathroom with you so they can breath your$#%&!@*stench? I don’t think so, nothing happened to this baby, this baby is grown and doing very well for themselves today.
You have to stop being so dramatic. Don’t you know babies and kids want what they want and they cry when they don’t get it, well if it’s past their bed time and nothing is wrong with them because obviously we check first, you have to let them be and then they fall asleep and they are fine.
Machelle Chapman Stotts
Apr 07. 2016
Babies are good manipulators! The trick is to learn when to tend to their needs and when to just let them cry it out.
Anonymous
Apr 07. 2016
Exactly.
Joanne Ringwal
Apr 07. 2016
An hour is too long. Experts on timeouts say one minute for every year the child is old because time to them is not the same as adults.
Joanne Ringwal
Apr 07. 2016
I have always believed this and it kills me when a parent doesn’t even try tp on console their child.