This type of stress is a normal and necessary part of healthy growth and development. Positive Stress: Characterized by brief increases in heart rate and mild elevations in stress hormone levels.Įxamples: starting daycare, getting a shot, swim lessons etc. Researchers have categorized stress responses into three categories (cortisol is released during all three stress responses): It’s a very important and necessary part of how the human body works and regulates itself. This is often referred to as “the stress hormone.” Cortisol is a very important hormone in the human body that helps regulate our body’s stress response and can affect almost every single organ.Ĭortisol isn’t bad. The first thing we need to talk about is the hormone Cortisol. There has been extensive research done on stress and childhood development and outcomes. Will the stress or rise in cortisol caused by sleep training harm my child’s development or their emotional or physical wellbeing?Īnother question that comes up in regard to sleep training is whether or not the stress (or more specifically, the rise in cortisol) caused from crying during sleep training is enough to cause damage to a child’s development, their emotional wellbeing, or their physical well being (i.e. Keep reading for the research and explanations that support this. Children in loving, responsive, nurturing homes whose parents make an intentional decision to allow their children the space to learn healthy sleep habits is nothing like being left alone in a crib and neglected and abused for years. Obviously this is an unfair and inaccurate comparison. Many people have made a comparison between leaving a baby to cry during the sleep training process to what these poor orphans went through during their time in the Romanian orphanages. When the Romanian orphanages came to light, it reinforced how important meeting not only a child’s physical needs are, but how important loving, nurturing, responsive caregivers are for a child’s growth, development, and overall mental and emotional well being. What does this have to do with sleep training? Read some of the relevant evidence based research here, here, here, and here. The children who spent their early years at the orphanages entered into adulthood with serious mental and emotional challenges. There have been many studies done on the effects these orphanages (and others like them) have had on children in their adult years. They were basically left completely to themselves, confined to cribs for years, and never had meaningful interactions with any caregivers. These Romanian orphanages have actually been called “Child Gulags” and “The Slaughterhouse of Souls” because of how neglected and abused the children were. This resulted in many children being sent to orphanages due to the inability of their families to care for and financially support them. They outlawed contraception and penalized families with few or no children. In the 1980’s, Romania began to incentivize its citizens to have as many children as possible. If you have any questions or comments about this episode, or the podcast in general, email us at We love hearing from you! You can also find us over on Instagram!Ī good place to start when it comes to sleep training and whether or not it is harmful is to go back to where some of the anti-sleep training movement came from: Romanian Orphanages. Love the podcast? Leaving a rating and review allows other parents to find the podcast, and it’s the number one way you can support The Goodnight House Sleep Podcast! Would you be willing to take a minute and leave a review on iTunes? If you don’t know how, here are step by step instructions! The Newborn Sleep Course + Support Options The numerous high quality studies that show the benefits and effectiveness of sleep training for both children and parental well being.įree Newborn Guide: Getting Started with Newborn Sleepġ:1 Personalized Sleep Packages for babies and children over 4 months old Will sleep training damage my child’s bond with me or their attachment? What about the well known Middlemiss study that proves sleep training is dangerous? Will the stress or rise in cortisol caused by sleep training harm my child’s development or their emotional or physical wellbeing? Where did the Anti-Sleep Training movement come from?
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