4. Prolonged crying may not be biobehaviorally benign
5. Infant mental health perspectives are needed.

Perhaps the most important finding that parents and professionals need to consider before implementing or recommending CIO is that “In the absence of adequate data on the effects of prolonged crying and extinction on infants, the safety of CIO in the first year cannot be supported.”

While CIO may be a sleep method that appears to work on the surface, “there is very little research to support its use and science does not yet know how safe this method is or what its long term effects are. Science does tell us, though, about the importance of being responsive to a crying infant. Parents have a natural inner drive to respond to a crying infant. Follow what is in your heart and what you feel is right for you and your baby.”

http://www.talaris.org/research_july2007.htm
http://www.talaris.org/pdf/research/CIOPoster.pdf

Dr. Mike and others encourage the use of CIO as an antidote to the fear of spoiling the child. However the belief that you can spoil a baby is a myth. “The spoiling myth seems to have begun in the 1920’s, when experts began telling parents that they should refrain from picking up their babies every time they cried. These experts believed that if parents were “too responsive” to infant crying, the child would become clingy and dependent. But there was no scientific evidence for this theory. It was based on opinion, not fact, and subsequent research has proved the myth wrong. However, despite new information, it seems that the spoiling myth has been handed down from generation to generation and still influences many parents today.” http://www.talaris.org/research_aug2006.htm

Sadly, Dr. Mike and others perpetuate the myth despite evidence to the contrary.

Regarding the “cry it out” (CIO) method of getting a child to sleep, please consider the following before implementing.

CIO teaches parents to respond less or stop responding all together to a waking, crying baby at night thereby, teaching the baby to stay asleep. And although, as Dr. Mike indicates, it works, is it safe? Shouldn’t the goal of health care advice be first, do no harm?

At the March 2007 Biennial Conference of the Society for Research and Child Development, Macall Gordon presented a poster session outlining a review of the research literature found on the use of extinction (CIO) in the first year.

Here are the main points found from this literature review, (a link to a pdf of the session is at the end of this post):
1. Crying it out is the most studied intervention for infant sleep problems.
2. CIO is increasingly endorsed by popular parenting books and magazines for infants 3-6 months of age
3. Research on CIO with infants