Commentary: Response to commentary by Davis and Kramer (2021)
Open Access
- 11 May 2021
- journal article
- editorial
- Published by Wiley in Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry
- Vol. 62 (12), 1491-1493
- https://doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.13439
Abstract
Davis and Kramer (2021) in their commentary on our study (Bilgin & Wolke, 2020) state that we ‘argue that leaving an infant to “cry it out”, rather than responding to the child’s cries, had no adverse effects on mother‐infant attachment at 18 months’ (Davis & Kramer, 2021, p. 1). Instead, we wrote that ‘contemporary practice by some parents to occasionally or often “leaving infant to cry it out” during the first 6 months was not associated with adverse behavioural development and attachment at 18 months’ (p. 8). Based on the empirical findings of our observation study, we suggested that ‘increased use of “leaving to cry it out” with age may indicate differential responding by mothers to aid the development of infant self‐regulation’ (p. 8). Indeed, in an editorial of our study, the joint editor of this journal concluded that ‘Bilgin and Wolke responsibly conclude that there is little reason to make definitive pronouncements to parents of young infants about how much to let them cry it out, given that both the attachment theory (responding promptly early promotes security) and learning theory (ignoring crying prevents dependency) formulations were unsupported by their findings’ (Zeanah, 2020, p. 1172).This publication has 11 references indexed in Scilit:
- Editorial: For crying out loud: Infant signaling and parental responsivenessJournal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 2020
- Early childhood attachment stability and change: a meta-analysisAttachment & Human Development, 2020
- Parental use of ‘cry it out’ in infants: no adverse effects on attachment and behavioural development at 18 monthsJournal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 2020
- Parental Use of “Cry Out” in a Community Sample During the First Year of Infant LifeJournal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics, 2020
- Video Evidence That London Infants Can Resettle Themselves Back to Sleep After Waking in the Night, as well as Sleep for Long Periods, by 3 Months of AgeJournal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics, 2015
- Asynchrony of mother–infant hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis activity following extinction of infant crying responses induced during the transition to sleepEarly Human Development, 2012
- Practitioner Review: Clinical applications of attachment theory and research for infants and young childrenJournal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 2011
- Are infant crying and maternal responsiveness during the first year related to infant-mother attachment at 15 months?Attachment & Human Development, 2000
- Sensitivity and Attachment: A Meta‐Analysis on Parental Antecedents of Infant AttachmentChild Development, 1997
- Infant Crying and Maternal ResponsivenessChild Development, 1972