#110 - Attachment and Baby Sleep
It’s February - so pinch and a punch for the 1st day of the month!
Actually, we missed the 1st day of this month …
But we want to alert you to March 1st - which is Baby Sleep Day.
So for the month of February, WINK Sleep’s blogs are gonna focus on the littlest of human beings.
After all - babies can be synonymous with sleep - ie, sleeping like a baby - which might mean ….
Today we’re going to focus on a topic that has divided people - and it can be summed up in a single word.
Attachment
Concerns have been raised about potential harm to the child’s attachment to their parent - if - the parent undertakes sleep training.
So imagine this for a moment …
Some people reading this blog have already said to themselves “Of course sleep training is harmful. Leaving the child alone to cry by themselves in the dark. How could it not be terrifying for the helpless little infant”.
Whilst other people are thinking “My parents sleep trained me. And their parents sleep trained them. We all turned out fine!”
These are the two ends of the spectrum in our society.
And no matter what anyone says - no matter what else is written in this blog - they are cemented in their beliefs.
So for everyone else in the middle - who may still be open to learning new information - we still need to answer the question:
Does sleep training harm children’s attachment?
If you’re a frequent reader of WINK blogs, you understand that we’re passionate about using scientific principles to get closer to the truth.
And there’s two ways to look at this question.
First, can a baby’s attachment be harmed because their parent abandoned them?
There is actually some evidence to confirm this is true.
For instance, children in orphanages are less likely to demonstrate secure attachments with parent-figures, and this effect is heightened if the institution is in Eastern Europe, as well as the baby’s age when they entered the orphanage (Lionetti et al. 2015).
But you don’t need a baby exposed to such an extreme situation.
For example, a study that followed children across the first year of life found that children who were in care >20 hrs per week were more likely to show insecure attachment (Belsky and Rovine, 1988).
So far, the scientific evidence above is not a direct test - meaning -
Has anybody actually seen whether sleep training leads to poor attachment?
Funny you should ask …
A 2016 study followed families who had either undertaken sleep training - or not - for their babies aged 6-16 months. 12 months after sleep training, the researchers found no differences in the rates of secure or insecure attachment (Gradisar et al., 2016).
Whilst the Gradisar et al. (2016) study found no differences, attachment was only measured at one timepoint - meaning, we don’t know if those who began sleep training were more likely to have secure attachment at the beginning, and then got worse after sleep training.
So, has anybody actually seen whether attachment changes because babies underwent sleep training?
Funny you should ask …
As part of her PhD, Dr Gökçe Akdogan evaluated child-parent attachment before and after families received sleep training as a part of a behavioural sleep treatment. These ‘intervention’ families were compared to families who chose not to receive behavioural sleep treatment. All infants were old enough to have their attachment measured before and after sleep training.
I must say that when I heard about this study, I was really pleased that someone (else) did it. Not only do I believe that claims need to be supported by data, but I can’t be the only one receiving threats from non-sciency-people for doing baby sleep research.
Anyways, Dr Akdogan found that the majority of families - in both groups - could be categorised as having secure child-parent attachment before undertaking sleep training - or not.
For those families who did sleep training, the obvious happened. The babies’ sleep got better. Importantly, their attachment became no less secure. In fact, the secure attachment scores were better.
In comparison, the families who did not seek intervention did not change that much in their attachment. But if they did change, it was the majority who moved towards the insecure end of child-parent attachment spectrum.
Can sleep training improve child-parent attachment?
As seen from Dr Akdogan’s data, parents’ attachment to their infants moved in a positive direction - completely in the opposite direction to what so many people shout from the rooftops.
How can this be?
Well, believe it or not, attachment theory can help to explain this. But first, you need to understand that when we speak of sleep training, we’re using a colloquial term so more people might understand it.
At present, the scientific term for the colloquial term ‘Cry-It-Out’ is Extinction. Extinction is a broad behavioural term used to describe the extinction of an undesirable behaviour (eg, running away in fear from a small spider; an infant crying out during the night when there is no medical cause). The road to extinction happens when there is no response (eg, the person stands still in the presence of the small spider; a parent does not respond to an infant’s cry overnight).
But there is also a scientific term called Graduated Extinction - which doesn’t really have a colloquial equivalent. Graduated Extinction means that the parent still responds to the child each time they cry out during the night - they just take longer each time to respond.
So right now we’re saying Sleep Training is the colloquial equivalent to Graduated Extinction.
And it was Dr Jeffrey Yang from California who explained so eloquently how Sleep Training could help foster secure infant-child attachment.
Part of attachment theory describes how the developing human will gradually venture further and further away from their parents, but always check back with them.
Sleep training can be viewed as using the same principles, but in reverse.
Instead of the parents staying put and the child gradually venturing out and checking back in - sleep training sees the child staying put, and the parents gradually venturing away, but checking back in.
Conclusions?
What people often forget is that many parents are responsive to their baby for the majority of the 24-hr day … emphasis on ‘day’.
You don’t have to go far to hear or read someone tell adults about the importance of sleep - and all the bad things that can happen if you don’t get healthy sleep.
So why is this advice only allowed for parents without babies?
The truth is - it is not.
Parents can choose sleep training. It is but one of many options to choose from. And the scientific evidence shows that sleep training can result in many of those positive benefits that occur for adults who get good sleep. This includes being a healthy, happy and responsive parent.
In contrast, the risk to always responding to a baby during the night - especially if responding quickly - is that the baby can wake more frequently during the night (we’ll address this topic this month too).
A baby’s persistent sleep problem increases the risk of maternal depression. Possibly worse still - it increases the odds of parents co-sleeping in bed with their infant - which is the most dangerous method for parents trying to get some solid sleep.
So let me conclude this blog by stating two facts:
There is no reliable scientific evidence that sleep training causes poor child-parent attachment, and
Those who propose that sleep training leads to insecure child-parent attachment will never prove it by doing a scientific study themselves (note: if you lie in this camp and shout this stuff from the rooftops, practice what you preach … do the friggin study already …)
After all - it’s easier to criticise than create.
Prof MG
p.s. this first baby sleep gives you the whole 100% info on this topic - but in coming weeks, we’re gonna gradually withdraw the amount available freely on our website (eg, 75% content next week, 50% the following week, etc.). You can freely get 100% of the content this month by freely subscribing to our weekly newsletter - and then you can feel freely good …