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A child expert claimed that babies who are left to cry are at greater risk of developing problems later in life.



Dr. Penelope Leach insisted that fresh research proves that long periods of crying can damage developing brains, leading to learning difficulties. She said:


“It is not an opinion but a fact that it’s potentially damaging to leave babies to cry. Now we know that, why risk it?”


Dr. Leach’s theory is in contradiction to popular beliefs that a baby should be allowed to cry up to 20 minutes. It is a regimen being encouraged by child experts to parents until their newborn baby developed a regular sleeping pattern.


But Dr. Leach opposed the belief saying: “A baby who is left crying for long enough will eventually stop, but not because he has learned to go to sleep happily alone, but because he is exhausted and has despaired of getting help”.


She added that continued crying led to the increased production of the stress hormone cortisol that could damage a baby’s brain.


However, a separate study conducted to 225 six-year-old children who had received behavioural sleep intervention as babies shows that allowing babies to cry for extended periods had no adverse effect on the emotional or behavioral development of children.