Comforting Children in the Night
Nighttime parenting is very challenging. We have a very physical need for sleep. It is important to remember that our children have a very real need for comfort and that parenting is a 24 hour a day job. Denying children Comfort in the night can have lasting repercussions as these memories from Discipleship Mothering demonstrate.
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Research from attachment figures such as Mary Ainsworth, Harry Harlow, John Bowlby, Dr. Emmi Pikler, Magda Gerber, T. Berry Brazelton, and Dr. William Sears show the devastating effects of letting infants cry it out. Infants are in Erik Erikson’s first stage of Psychosocial Development which is Trust vs. Mistrust. They are either learning to trust the people around them and themselves, or to mistrust. Failure to Thrive is a very real and dangerous condition in infants. You don’t have to pick up infants everytime they cry. But you do need to go them and offer some kind of comfort every single time they cry! You need to figure out what they need when they cry! They’re not crying to manipulate. Infants are humans with real EMOTIONS & NEEDS!!!