Article in Psychology Today About CIO

How exactly does crying change the genetic make up of a child giving them ADD? It is genetic not environmental.

ADHD is not an illness it is a disorder, you are born with it. Whether or not crying can make it worse I don't know. There are a lot of environmental factors that can make it worse. You still have to be born with it.

If you can't tell I think the article is a bunch of hooey. I have never heard of anyone saying let them cry it out to a newborn when clearly they cry for what they need. It isn't until they reach an age of being aware of things they want that most say cry it out. You wouldn't say to a parent of a toddler having a temper tantrum over wanting a toy at the store you are depriving them of their needs because they are crying so give them the toy. Why if the tears come at night do some automatically say they need you give them what they want.

My children need discipline day and night for them to learn.

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/moral-landscapes/2011...

I am a doctoral student in Psychology. I completely agree both from my studies, and mostly from my experience raising my daughter.

Here's my response to an earlier post on this topic:

I thought it was a joke when I first read the article. Seriously, the two nights it took my kids to fall asleep on their own scarred them for life? CIO was the best thing we did for them. Even the pediatrician recommended it.

Just another guilt trip they're trying to lay on already stressed out parents today. Goodness, our parents' generation had to deal with none of this guilt being thrown at our generation. Every single thing we do is second guessed.

ETA: ADHD is a genetic brain disorder and not something you "catch" from a parenting strategy. Who were these researchers? Clearly uninformed on the most basic medical knowledge of ADHD. Not one iota of medical evidence you can "turn off" this gene. Total garbage.

If it was true that crying/stress leads to ADHD, wouldn't all babies grow up to have it? After all, they cry when their diapers need to be changed, cry when they're hungry, etc. You'd have to be Superparent to ensure your child never had a moment of crying or stress.

ADHD-like symptoms can be caused by sleep deprivation, but it's not ADHD.

To be clear, the article says nothing about attachment parenting being the "healthiest method." Now, I don't agree with CIO. I also don't agree with you, that attachment parenting is the healthiest. I think it's important not to insert your own opinions and suggest the research led to the belief attachment parenting is best. It simply does not. If you feel that way, that's just fine. However, the article stated nothing of the sort.

I also responded to the earlier question:

Saw this last night and knew it would appear on here in some shape or form!

Never in a million years would I personally use the CIO method. Pre-child I vowed that any children that I would have would meld into MY life and that would be that. Case closed. Hahaha, right?

While pregnant, a friend gave me the Dr. Sears Baby Book and everything he wrote made sense to me. That's when I knew that attachment parenting would be my guide. Baby arrived and was in a bassinet in our room the first 6 months, then transitioned into our bed afterward where she remained until 2.5 years old. She moved out of our bed on her own accord and has been an utterly fantastic sleeper the entire time. She's now 6.
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Added: Jo, from the article: "These researchers say that there are hundreds of genes affected by nurturance. Similar mechanisms are found in human brains--caregiver behavior matters for turning genes on and off. (Work of Michael Meaney and colleagues; e. g., Meaney, 2001)."

And: "When babies are stressed, their bodies release the hormone cortisol, which can damage or even destroy neurons in their still-developing brains, researchers at Yale University and Harvard Medical School have found. That can lead to a higher incidence of ADHD, poor academic performance, and anti-social tendencies. "
http://shine.yahoo.com/parenting/crying-dangerous-kids-on...

I don't know, I have three grown children who are perfectly normal functioning adults and they certainly cried it out when they were babies. I guess it depends on your lifestyle: if you can be up with babies all night or if you have to go to work in the morning. If you can't function from lack of sleep there is probably some disadvantage to your baby also. My children cried for possibly five minutes and then went soundly to sleep. It didn't seem to affect any of them negatively.

First of all this article is about CIO not about indorsing Attachment Parenting. I try not to judge anyone's parenting style. I had one daughter who was always happy and the other daughter that would start crying everyday at 4:30 and not stop until 7:30 every night. Somedays were longer and she would start at 10:00 in the morning. Nothing I did would console her. So yes there were times she was laid in her bed to cry it out.. I would go in her room every 10-15 minutes and rub her back. Do I feel I was wrong? No way. I am only human and you try holding a crying baby all day. That being said part of this study is based on test done on rats. We are similar to rats but not 100 percent the same. From what I read we need to do further studies and also there was no mention that I saw of how long they are talking about a baby crying. What if you do go in every 10-15 minutes and rub the baby's back? Every child is different and I do believe you need to do what works best for you and your child. I am not talking about letting your baby cry all day but I am not sure CIO if done moderately is always bad and this article still did not convince me.

My son had severe colic and cried 8 hours a day whether he was held or not. His needs were met, he thrived, and was cared for. He just cried all the time. He is now a bright, independent, very social 5 yo old.. If crying damages or inhibits their brains, then I guess the colicky ones are screwed from the get go! This author makes a lot of assumption about crying babies. Some of us have no choice but to let them cry, esp with the colicky ones.
I have researched colic a lot, and studies show that colicky babies exhibit all the same traits as the babies who were "not left to cry"- independent, high intelligence, very social etc. So potato- pot-ah-to.
This is blog anyway and not a scholarly article in a peer reviewed journal. Therefore, it should be regarded as the author's opinion, not fact.

Well actually, ADD can also be caused by sleep deprivation. That's how I found out that my daughter had enlarged tonsils. We all knew she snored. Them my mother brought me an article about ADD developing with sleep deprivation and enlarged tonsils causing snoring. I shined a light down her throat then and there and was very alarmed that almost no air could pass through. The article said that the surgery needed to be done before 4 years of age. She was 4 and my daughter had ADHD big time. But she's a very normal adult in every single way.

I guess my point is, it's not just genetic. I can see how excessive crying could mess with the brain. After all, it's the brain that controls most chemicals and a chemical inbalance that causes most of these types of disorders.

Psychology Today is a popular magazine, not a scholarly journal that psychology students can use in their research. If you read it - It it grouping CIO with parents not feeding hungry infants and with babies who suffer from Failure to Thrive. I think most of us who are 40 and up had to CIO and VERY few of us have ADD. What is the research to explain this? I have three kids. The one who had to CIO is the most focused, and the best student. I know my sister had to CIO, she cried a lot. She was always an excellent student and now she has her own computer business. Please dont take this study to heart if you have tried to teach your child to soothe themselves and learn to go to sleep alone.

That's interesting because all of the friends and family that I know with a child who has ADHD co-slept and was rather indulgent with no boundaries. I'm a little in between in my parenting method. I used some of the Ferber method with my second son when he was old enough. I always went in to assure him that I was not far, and crying never went too long (as I couldn't take it either). We started with about 3 minutes or so at a time. As someone who breastfed, I find it pretty impossible to do much sleep training as they need to eat more frequently. If my baby woke up after a half hour of sleeping, I checked diaper, fed, repeated. People like to judge parents who CIO, but there is no support for them if they need a break, unless you have the money to pay someone or are fortunate enough to have family helping you out. Furthermore, some babies are just collicky, have GERD, or are difficult to figure out.

I co-slept with my son, took him everywhere with me and he hardley ever cried. However he's bipolar/ADHD. So yea unfortunatly can't blame the CIO.

I read that last night online, via Yahoo. What I read (and knew would be glossed over) is that there is a "window of time" that it is crucial that you not let them cry it out. The experiment they used to determine that involved rats, and that time frame ran until the human equivalent of 6 months old.
Who lets their babies CIO at less than 6 months old? No one should. But that doesn't mean that CIO (done properly, which does NOT mean simply ignoring your child until they give up) is bad when done AFTER that window closes.
Not re-evaluating a thing here. My 10 yr old baby only had to "CIO" for 3 nights at 6 months old when she was put to bed--not even during the night--as she was already sleeping all night long by then. She is FAR from ADD and one of the most well-adjusted kids I know. No more babies on the horizon for us either. I did NOT do "CIO" with our firstborn. (Wish I knew about it so I COULD have, though). If anyone in our family has ADD tendencies it is him. Maybe if he didn't pick up on all MY stress b/c he wouldn't go to sleep the first year of his life, he would have been spared some of that cortisol being released in his brain. :(

Not to bash anybody here--and I haven't even read all the responses--but my decision to parent this way stems from being a CIO baby. I actually recall crying for a long time for my mother to come to me. My parents' bedroom was just a few yards away from mine in a tiny house, and both doors were open. I remember that when I stopped crying my little mind decided then and there that I would become emotionally independent. I'm sure that I didn't articulate it quite like that, even to myself, but I certainly meant it. Today, I have a good enough relationship with my mother. We're actually pretty close, but I keep her and others out of my innermost places. I don't say "I love you". I very rarely allow myself to be vulnerable with others. I have always attributed this to my mother not comign to me when I cried my heart out for her. Today, I let my baby cry a bit (sometimes talking to him to help him be calm), but when he gets into that deep, heartfelt cry, I get him and hug him up and let him know that he can always trust me to be there.

I don't say this to dishonor my mother or her parenting decisions in any way. She did what she knew to do. I think that you just have to know your baby. I pray that I am attuned to my baby enough to know when to do what. From the start I said that my child would walk away from me, not the other way around. I didn't want him to become independent because it was forced onto him; I wanted him to become independent because he confident and secure enough to venture out on his own. I felt validated in that the first time he indicated that he wanted down off my lap and onto the floor to play.

Also, I have always believed that ADD/ADHD is more environmental than genetic. I believe that in cases where it appears to be genetic, the child is simply responding to living in an environment created by someone else who would be considered ADD/ADHD. (My SS's mother has been trying for years to have SS diagnosed with it because of certain behaviors and because she was diagnosed with it. The doctors always said that he does not have it. He has those behaviors with her. He does not have those behaviors with us.)

I personally think making a baby lay in bed and cry and cry and cry until the puke from sucking down snot and tears or fall asleep from exhaustion is cruel and not normal behavior for a loving parent to do. However I do realize that parents have a right to parent their own way.

Infants learn to either trust their caregiver or they don't. If they cry and no one comes they learn to not trust that person. That does not mean they don't love them, they just deep down learn to not trust them. Each and every stage they go through after this first one is based on how the ones before were resolved.

So if they don't trust their parent to care about them they don't do well in the following stages.

CIO also greatly depends on the age of the child, and the duration of crying... many people are doing it younger and younger, even to new infants, and for extended periods of time.

My friends were CIO parents. Their baby screamed for almost 2 hours. When mom finally came in to check on the baby, it was covered in fire ants. The baby was brain dead b/c the ants went up her nose and chewed in her head, so now they are parents of a brain dead, quadriplegic child. You have to use common sense here.

That was the worst "science" I've ever read. When it linked me to articles on babycenter.com, that was the straw that broke the camel's back.

If you are going to "CIO" then take the time to read Dr. Ferber's book. If you have not read his book then you are just guessing at what true scientific sleep studies done over years and years say about crying and sleeping.

I have read the book and most people make assumptions about CIO that are not at all endorsed or suggested by Dr. Ferber. If you are going to do it do it right!!!

I have always felt that the more love a baby feels toward caregivers helps them gain much needed self-esteem and actually helps them venture out on their own. There is a common misconception that a baby becomes spoiled when they are held and loved lots but I feel that it is really the opposite. People used to tell me that I was spoiling my babies too much by holding them and giving them lots of attention. My kids are go-getters and are well adjusted.