Proofs Attachment Parenting is best for babies and children

Most of us beleive babies need to be held close, loved, nutured, breastfed, if possible, sharing with us as parents, and not being ignored, simply because the sun has gone down, or some arbitrary "schedule" of rigidity says it is time to eat or NOT eat or sleep or not.

Here is just a few studies which prove Attachment is the Optimal state parents and children need to grow the best, and perhaps even survive infancy.

PsychEducation.org (home)

The Brain Chemistry of Parental "Attachment"


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This is a brief essay to introduce some new research regarding how the connection between parents, particularly mothers, and their children, is "wired" in the brain.



The conclusion, if you want to just stop here: researchers studying rats have found some particular brain chemicals that seem to be involved in the connection between mothers and their infants.
Obviously a person would have trouble if her mother wasn't providing any soothing in the first place.(snip, too long)

Research in this area goes along very well with the way Dr. Linehan , one of the leading borderline personality disorder researchers (e.g here's a recent review she published in the leading British medical journal), says that condition is sometimes created. Her model says that sometimes a mismatch between the temperament of the child (e.g. one who is wired to need a lot of warmth and affection) and the style of the parent (e.g. one who is not temperamentally inclined to provide much soothing) is sufficient to cause borderline personality disorder even without physical or sexual abuse. In the article below, I highlighted in blue a section which seems to connect the rat studies with Dr. Linehan's model.

The chemical being reported here is the "opiate" family, but which also includes several forms we humans make ourselves in our own brains. The research seems to show that at least some aspects of maternal warmth and affection may act through opiate receptors.

 

Studies confirm attachment parenting as optimal



1. T.R. Insel, "Oxytocin - a neuropeptide for affiliation: evidence from behavioral, receptor autoradiographic, and comparative studies," Psychoneuroendocrinology 17, no. 1 (1992): 3-35.

2. H. Varendi et al., "Soothing effect of amniotic fluid smell in newborn infants," Early Hum Dev (Estonia) 51, no. 1 (Apr 1998): 47-55.


3. R.H. Porter et al., "An assessment of the salient olfactory environment of formula-fed infants," Physiol Behav 50, no. 5 (Nov 1991): 907-11.

4. S.S. Knox and K. Uvnas-Moberg, "Social isolation and cardiovascular disease: an atherosclerotic pathway?" Psychoneuroendocrinology 23, no. 8 (Nov 1998): 877-90.

5. M. Altemus et al., "Suppression of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis responses to stress in lactating women," J Clin Endocrinol Metab 80, no. 10 (Oct 1995): 2965-9

6. R.S. Bridges, "The role of lactogenic hormones in maternal behavior in female rats," Acta Paediatr Suppl 397 (Jun 1994): 33-9.

7. G.L. Kovacs et al., "Oxytocin and addiction: a review," Psychoneuroendocrinology (Hungary) 23, no. 8 (Nov 1998): 945-62.

8. G.W. Kraemer et al., "A longitudinal study of the effect of different social rearing conditions on cerebrospinal fluid norepinephrine and biogenic amine metabolites in rhesus monkeys," Neuropsychopharmacology 2, no. 3 (Sep 1989): 175-89

TWENTY NINE research articles prove letting a baby Cry It Out is damaging

1. M.L. Laudenslager et al., "Total cortisol, free cortisol, and growth hormone associated with brief social separation experiences in young macaques," Dev Psychobiol 28, no. 4 (May 1995): 199–211.​

2. P. Rosenfeld et al., "Maternal regulation of the adrenocortical response in preweanling rats," Physiol Behav 50, no. 4 (Oct 1991): 661–71.

3. H.J. van Oers et al., "Maternal deprivation effect on the infant’s neural stress markers is reversed by tactile stimulation and feeding but not by suppressing corticosterone," J Neurosci 18, no. 23 (Dec 1, 1998): 10171–9.​

4. M.A. Smith of Dupont Merck Research Labs as reported by JohnTravis of Science News 152 (Nov 8, 1997): 298.​

5. E.R. de Kloet et al., "Brain–corticosteroid hormone dialogue: slow and persistent," Cell Mol Neurobiol (Netherlands) 16, no. 3 (Jun 1996): 345–56.​

6. H. Anisman et al., "Do early-life events permanently alter behavioral and hormonal responses to stressors?" Int J Dev Neurosci 16, no. 3–4 (Jun–Jul 1998): 149–64.​

7. M. Nachmias et al., "Behavioral inhibition and stress reactivity: the moderating role of attachment security," Child Dev 67, no. 2 (Apr 1996): 508–22.​

8. M.R. Gunnar et al., "Stress reactivity and attachment security," Dev Psychobiol 29, no. 3 (Apr 1996): 191–204.​

9. G. Spangler and K.E. Grossmann, "Biobehavioral organization in securely and insecurely attached infants," Child Dev 64, no. 5 (Oct 1993): 1439–50.​

10. M.R. Gunnar, "Quality of care and buffering of neuroendocrine stress reactions: potential effects on the developing human brain," Prev Med 27, no. 2 (Mar–Apr 1998): 208–11.​

11. M.S. Oitzl et al., "Continuous blockade of brain glucocorticoid receptors facilitates spatial learning and memory in rats," Eur J Neurosci (Netherlands) 10, no. 12 (Dec 1998): 3759–66.​

12. E.E. Gilles et al., "Abnormal corticosterone regulation in an immature rat model of continuous chronic stress," Pediatr Neurol 15, no. 2 (Sep 1996): 114–9.​

13. D. Liu et al., "Maternal care, hippocampal glucocorticoid receptors, and hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal responses to stress," Science (Canada) 277, no. 5332 (Sep 1997): 1659–62.​

14. K. Lyons-Ruth, "Attachment relationships among children with aggressive behavior problems: the role of disorganized early attachment patterns," J Consult Clin Psychol 64, no. 1 (Feb 1996): 64–73.​

15. L. Hertsgaard et al., "Adrenocortical responses to the strange situation in infants with disorganized/disoriented attachment relationships," Child Dev 66, no. 4 (Aug 1995): 1100–6.​

16. M. Altemus et al., "Suppression of hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis responses to stress in lactating women," J Clin Endocrinol Metab 80, no. 10 (Oct 1995): 2965–9.​

17. C. Caldji et al., "Maternal care during infancy regulates the development of neural systems mediating the expression of fearfulness in the rat," Proc Natl Acad Sci (Canada) 95, no. 9 (Apr 1998): 5335–40.​

18. L.J. Luecken, "Childhood attachment and loss experiences affect adult cardiovascular and cortisol function," Psychosom Med 60, no. 6 (Nov–Dec 1998): 765–72.​

19. D.M. Vazquez et al., "Regulation of glucocorticoid and mineralcorticoid receptor mRNAs in the hippocampus of the maternal deprived infant rat," Brain Res 731, no. 1–2 (Aug 1996): 79–90.​

20. J. Raber, "Detrimental effects of chronic hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis activation. From obesity to memory deficits," Mol Neurobiol 18, no. 1 (Aug 1998): 1–22.​

21. H.J. Krugers et al., "Exposure to chronic psychosocial stress and corticosterone in the rat: effects on spatial discrimination learning and hippocampal protein kinase Cgamma immunoreactivity," Hippocampus (Netherlands) 7, no. 4 (1997): 427–36.​

22. M. Carlson and F. Earls, "Psychological and neuroendocrinological sequelae of early social deprivation in institutionalized children in Romania," Ann N Y Acad Sci 807 (Jan 15, 1997): 419–28.​

23. L.D. Dorn et al., "Biopsychological and cognitive differences in children with premature vs. on-time adrenarche," Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med 153, no. 2 (Feb 1999): 137–46.​

24. E. Redei et al., "Corticotropin release-inhibiting factor is preprothyrotropin-releasing hormone-(178-199)," Endocrinology 136, no. 8 (Aug 1995): 3557–63.​

25. J. Raber, "Detrimental effects of chronic hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis activation. From obesity to memory deficits," Mol Neurobiol 18, no. 1 (Aug 1998): 1–22.​

26. M. Deuschle et al., "Effects of major depression, aging and gender upon calculated diurnal free plasma cortisol concentrations: a reevaluation study," (Germany) Stress 2, no. 4 (Jan 1999): 281–87.​

27. C.L. Coe and C.M. Erickson, "Stress decreases lymphocyte cytolytic activity in the young monkey even after blockade of steroid and opiate hormone receptors," Dev Psychobiol 30, no. 1 (Jan 1997): 1–10.​

28. G.R. Lubach et al., "Effects of early rearing environment on immune responses of infant rhesus monkeys," Brain Behav Immun 9, no. 1 (Mar 1995): 31–46.​

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Cosleeping & SIDS ​

Fact Sheet
for United States

Linda Folden Palmer, DC
Author Baby Matters

UPDATED NOV 2003

The Crib Industry wants you to know that 60 "accidental" infant deaths have occurred per year in adult beds for age birth to 2 years.

Why did they forget to mention that cosleeping actually reduces bed deaths??

The crib industry (JPMA)provided a large forum for the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) to announce this report. Unfortunately, no comparative statistics are provided in their announcements, and even the statistics they report are admittedly anecdotal and irregular. While the report supposedly left out the adult bed deaths that were diagnosed as SIDS (versus accidents), the determination between suffocation and SIDS is often a judgment call. Suffocation in a crib is more often reported as SIDS, while suffocation in an adult bed is reported as "death by adult bed."

The actual SIDS statistics were not measured. Why? Several well-designed research studies demonstrate that SIDS is drastically reduced in babies cosleeping along with an aware, protective (non-smoking, non-drug-impaired) mother. Such an announcement would not sell cribs.

The numbers in the largest study on cosleeping around the world suggest that cosleeping drastically reduces SIDS! See graph at bottom.International Child Care Practices Study

Another large study on SIDS shows 1/5th the risk of death for sleeping infants simply sharing the roomwith non-smoking adults. This includes many sleep variations. The rate for sharing bed was not measured directly. New Zealand Cot Death Study. (Write Dr. Palmer for more article references & abstracts.)

While SIDS can be drastically reduced by breastfeeding, no one ever mentions this.​

The Chicago Infant Mortality Study reveals that Breastfeeding Infants have 1/5th the Rate of SIDS.
They report a nearly doubled SIDS rate for cosleeping, but this study does not remove the powerful effect of smoking parents from their statistic. When other studies remove this behavior, they find the remaining infants enjoy a drastically lower rate of SIDS for cosleeping versus isolated crib sleeping.

 

Number of U.S. births year 2000: 4,058,814



Total infant deathsyear 2000: 28,411

Age birth to 1 year. (6.9 per thousand)



Number SIDS deaths year 2000: 2,523

Mostly in cribs.

Defined as death with unexplained cause, birth to 1 year.



Suffocation deaths year 2000: 1,000

Mostly in cribs. Reported to be 1/3rd of all SIDS deaths -- but when suffocation occurs in an adult bed,it is often reported as due to "sleeping in adult bed" -- not as SIDS.



Number of crib-related "accidents"/yr:50



Number of playpen-related deaths/yr:16



Number deaths/yr attributed to overlying:19Most are only "suspected."



Number of babies (0-2) dying in night fires/yr: 230 Many of which may have been retrievable if next to parent, not in another room of home. This is true for abductions and other night dangers as well.



Number of deaths/yr in adult beds reported as entrapment/suffocationbetween bed and wall, headboard, or other furniture, on waterbed, in headboard railings, or tangled in bedding: 18With side-rail: 1



Number of deaths/yr reported as suffocation of unknown cause in adult bed:13 These would be SIDS if in a crib.



Number of deaths/yr in adult beds from prone sleeping:5 Again, these are considered SIDS in cribs, and they are preventable in adult beds, as in cribs.



4/yr died not from falling out of adult bed, but from suffocating(pile of clothes, plastic bag)or other danger(such as drowning)after falling out.



13% of U.S. infants are routinely cosleeping with nearly50% sharing bed for part of the nights. National Institute of Child Health and Human Development 2000 Survey,



Number of U.S. infant lives that could be saved per year by exclusive/extended breastfeeding:9,000 Exclusive/extended breastfeeding cutsSIDS down to 1/5th the risk, and overall infant death risk in half.



Why does our nation rank only 42nd in infant survival?* in the industrialized world (some non-reporting nations are thought to rank better than us as well)? Our difference from the best-ranking nations is a high predominance of formula feeding, isolated sleep, and medical intervention. The highest cosleeping/ breastfeeding nations rank with little more than half our overall infant death rate (and negligable SIDS rates). Remember we rank #1in medical intervention.



*(The ranking number is lowered by 6 by statisticians to adjust for an assumption that the U.S. has more live premature births, leading to more infant deaths.)



The greatest risk factors for adult bed deaths:

# Smoking parent

# Sleeping without protective parent in room

# Unsafe space between mattress and headboard or wall

#Prone sleeping

#Parent compromised by drugs or alcohol



Clearly cosleeping and adult beds can be made to be safer. This would be a much more appropriate service for the Consumer Product Safety Commission to provide, rather than their thoughtless suggestion against cosleeping. Also, clearly, responsible parents consciously creating a safe cosleeping environment are safely providing the best of all worlds for their baby.



When crib deaths were even higher than they are now, the decision was to make the crib safer, not to throw out the baby. Most of the improvement in the crib death rate occurred from the "Back to Sleep" campaign. Babies can sleep supine in adult beds as well.



Co-sleepers and side-beds that attach firmly to the mattress are good options for preventing falling out, suffocation, and entrapment, whether baby is in the co-sleeper or in the adult bed. Adjustments should be considered for the space between headboard and mattress, especially for "creepers." Some just put mattresses on the floor, eliminating entrapment concerns.



(Reference) International Child Care Practices Study: infant sleeping environment.

Early Hum Dev. 2001 Apr;62(1):43-55.

PMID: 11245994 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

 

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ALL primates Attachment parent. MOST humans Attachment Parent. It is FAR from a new idea, or a fad. It is something that uses instict and learning, to know your child, and tend to that child's needs.

• Parenting is not for wuss's.
• There is nothing convenient about babies and small children.
• Children are humans, with human emotions, who need their mothers and fathers to help them learn how to live on this earth.
• Babies need, optimally, almost constant, physical contact with their mother,
• sleeping with a baby is normal, healthy and not dangerous,
• Children are not robots to "program" and schedule the spontenaity out of.
• Being a parent is a role one takes on in full awareness that the human infant NEEDS a mother to care for him, as he cannot take care of his physical, emotional or psychological needs (including "comforting") on their own, and that the parent's job is to do these things, and that their lives will never be the same.
• There are NO short cuts to successful parenting.

Micheal gave some nice AP sites. (Although the Message Board one is one I am not yet familiar with.)

www.askdrsears.com

and http://www.apparenting.com/

and www.lalecheleague.org

and the books

Attachment Parenting by Katie Allison Granju

The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding by La Leach League Founders

The Attachment Book by Willam and Martha Sears

The Baby Book by William and Martha Sears

When my freinds get pregnant, the first thing I give them is a copy of The Baby Book and The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding.

Attachment Parenting does not mean you lose yourself as a parent, it means you integrate a child, on his terms, into your life. Many AP parents do not neccesarily spend 24 hours a day with their children, but many feel that QUANTITY time is as important as QUALITY time.

 

Our local paper recently had an article pleading with parents NOT to sleep with their babies because too many babies have smothered by their parents.

Now, Virginia has slept with us since she was a newborn-I had a c-section so trying to put her in her crib and get up to get her was not an option. I never even came close to rolling over on her. She usually just slept on my chest. But even now when she crawls into bed with us at 2 am, we are both aware that she is between us, and believe me, she gets her space!! Tim is usually smooshed against the wall, and I am hanging off the end (she likes to spread out!)

 

I mean everybody has instincts, we just have to try to follow them. And they are not gone when we sleep. Why is it, that people don't fall out of beds in a new place? because their mind is in a way awake, and knows when to stop, and you know that your baby is lying there, and you won't roll over it.


you never know what happend to the parents in the few cases that maggie mentioned that babies were squished. Maybe they took sleeping pills. Then you have a very weird, uncouncous sleepform.

 

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Right! Primates and every other mammal sleep with their young since the beginning of time. It facilitates lactation, keeps the infant warm, and helps a great deal with bonding.

When I do parenting classes I always tell the people, "You don't stop being a parent because the sun went down."

And most durinal mammals (those who are awake in the day) have more milk in the night, so nighttime feeding of infants is neccesary.

The number of children who die alone in cribs FAR exceeds the number who were "overlaid." (suffocated.) In fact it is surmised that nearly ALL of the overlying events are due to extreme drug or alcohol intoxication (which, if deep enough can circumvent your instincts to wake up or KNOW that the baby is there) or were actually cases of Infanticide disguised as "accidental suffocation."

Your baby is safe in your bed.

We have a water bed. Have had it for our youngest three children. They all slept in it, ONLY in my arms, or on a firm flat pillow with my arm around them. I never left a baby ALONE in the water bed. If I woke up before the baby, and had to get out of bed, the child was placed in the crib or the portacrib.

My neurologist has told me that womyn who have had children, especially those who breastfed, (but even those who didn't) have different sleep/wake cycles than men or childless womyn. He says they sleep lighter, move less in their sleep (very good thing to do, with a baby in bed with you) and awaken more easily to noise, especially high pitched noise (like, um, an infant crying or squeaking.) He says these changes are often lifelong, he sees them in womyn who are well into their 50s and 60s and beyond, and their children are grown. Evidently, as we know, the brain DOES change with the arrival of a child.

 

Oh, of course it's safe for babies to sleep with you. Going against my mother's wishes, I slept with my god-daughter. She was always sleeping in my bed, and I always made sure that I kept ahold of her, rather it was my palm on her tummy or having her curled in my arms. I kept pillows around the mattress where it met the wall, and my mattress was just on the floor, no box springs or anything.

Maggie, is it possible for even women that DID NOT give birth to children to experience a change in sleeping pattern? I used to sleep like a rock, through anything, until Gracie was born. And then, I started to sleep very lightly and I don't move around near as much as I used to (or so my mom has told me).

 

there is nothing sweeter than carring your sleppy little baby to bed and getting all close and snuggly!
skylie has been sleeping with us since night #1. she has a nursery (argh,family) and loves to play in there, but as for sleeping shes with mommy and daddy~~right were she belongs.
we had a little rough patch, when we thought she might be wanting her own sleep space (crib), but after a short solo snooze, the tears started and we brought her back in with us and never looked back. We thought she wanted out of the bed bc she suddenly was awake alot during the night, and she was very restless. over a week or 2 she settled down and shes enjoyong sweet dreams w/mama again

 

I think we're (mothers) a little psychic, too. When Virginia would sleep in her crib, I would always wake up about a minute or two before she did. I KNEW that she was about to wake up. And sure enough, a few minutes after I wake up, she would start crying.

 

I would think so. You coparented a baby. Perhaps it did change your sleep patterns, I don't think womyn who coparented babies were included in the original study, but I know womyn (myself and one of my dds) who felt like they were lactating from taking care of infants BEFORE we ever got pregnant ourselves. So odder things have happened

How sweet that you have such a beautiful bond with your niece.

 

sugrmag, when my second baby Moon was born, they made he sleep in the Nursery. I hated it, so insisted she be brought to me whenever she woke up or even cried in her sleep. I would wake up at a random time, sit up, prop myself up with pillows and be waiting with my boob out when they brought Moon in (and they never called first they just brought the baby in) The nurses would laugh and say, "You breastfeeding mothers are a trip!"

 

sugrmag, when my second baby Moon was born, they made he sleep in the Nursery. I hated it, so insisted she be brought to me whenever she woke up or even cried in her sleep. I would wake up at a random time, sit up, prop myself up with pillows and be waiting with my boob out when they brought Moon in (and they never called first they just brought the baby in) The nurses would laugh and say, "You breastfeeding mothers are a trip!" Or something like that.

 

my husband says when hes missing us at work, he can smell our baby, skylie.