Crying babies face risk of brain damage

LONDON According to study held by child experts, long period of crying can damage developing brains, leading to learning difficulties later in life.

“A baby who is left crying for long enough will eventually stop, but not because he has learned to go to sleep happily alone, but because he is exhausted and has despaired of getting help,” dailymail.co.uk quoted an expert as saying.

Leach, author of the 1977 book Your Baby And Child: From Birth To Age Five said, “It is not an opinion but a fact that it’s potentially damaging to leave babies to cry. Now we know that, why risk it?”

”Long periods of crying produced so much cortisol that it could damage a baby’s brain.

”That doesn’t mean that a baby should never cry, or that parents should worry when she does. All babies cry, some more than others. It’s not the crying that is bad for babies - but crying that gets no response.” she added.

Studies have suggested that up to 50 per cent of parents have problems with their child’s sleeping patterns, often leading to marital problems.