Anyone have an annoying mother-in-law/husband/girlfriend who berates them for “spoiling” their baby by picking them up every time they cry?
Well, now you can tell them your instincts were right all along.
New research has found that cuddled children grow up to be healthier, less depressed, kinder, more empathetic, and more productive adults.
Professor Darcia Narvaez of the University of Notre Dame’s Department of Psychology said the research showed it was “impossible” to “spoil” infants with cuddles and that letting them cry can “ruin” their development.
And the younger they receive it, the better, according to Narvaez.
“What parents do in those early months and years are really affecting the way the brain is going to grow the rest of their lives, so lots of holding, touching and rocking, that is what babies expect,” Narvaez told Tribune Media.
“They grow better that way. And keep them calm, because all sorts of systems are establishing the way they are going to work. If you let them cry a lot, those systems are going to be easily triggered into stress.
“We can see that in adulthood, that people that are not cared for well, tend to be more stress reactive and they have a hard time self-calming.”
The new research, which is about to be added to the prestigious journal Applied Developmental Science, studied more than 600 adults. It found that those who were cuddled as children grew into more well-adjusted adults with less anxiety and better mental health.
The study found that, along with cuddling, a positive childhood with lots of affection and quality time also led to healthier adults with better coping skills.
Narvaez’s findings are backed up by research from world-renowned pediatrician Dr. Armeet Singh, Unitypoint Clinic in Bettendorf, Iowa, which suggests that showing love and affection to a distressed, crying baby is developmentally critical, because it lays the foundation to a strong relationship.
“The first four to six months of life for babies, that is one of the most important times for babies to develop that special bonding with their parents and their primary caregivers,” Singh told Tribune Media.
“Now those are the times where definitely we encourage families that at any point of time they are crying, they are looking for somebody to help them out we need to respond to that.”
This article originally appeared on News.com.au.
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