Watch above: When new parents can’t access advice from friends they often turn to the internet. Aaron Streck speaks to some Saskatoon researchers who say some of the information out there is incorrect and they’re hoping to put some myths to bed.
SASKATOON – It’s pretty much a given, the first line of contact for any parenting advice is your own parents. But there are certain times when Google is the only option.
“The headlines out there are very scary and the information out there is maybe not as accurate as it should be,” said Jen Dupuis, a certified child sleep consultant.
So Dupuis and her associate spent the last year-and-a-half pouring over internet information. They now hope to put to bed some of the myths about crying and sleep in a two-part article.
“We initially did a Google search of children’s sleep and the terms that come up are crying it out will damage your baby and in the long run they’re going to have damage to their brain and their cognitive ability and their relationship with their parents, that’s the information that’s coming up first when parents are searching about children’s sleep,” said Dupuis.
“Sleep is a natural thing, you shouldn’t have to train your child to do anything,” said Amanda Hudye, the founder of SleepWell Baby.
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New parents hope that natural instinct kicks in sooner than later because they too require sleep, seven to nine hours if they can get it.
“One of the challenges that even with healthy babies that are good sleepers go through a period of time when they need to be fed and changed regularly on a much more frequent basis when adults would normally sleep or normally wake up, so it causes a significant disruption to the sleep schedule and usually a fair amount of sleep deprivation,” Dr. John Reid, who is a sleep specialist.
While some of the research debunks certain beliefs, it also serves to bolster at least one truth.
“Getting the sleep that we need for our children and for our families is never going to go out of style,” said Hudye.
For more information on the two-part Truth About Crying and Sleep research can be found at SleepWell Baby.
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