Warning on crying babies

Press, 29 August 1986, Page 7

Warning on crying babies

PA Dunedin Parents of infants with badly disturbed sleep should not try to tackle the problem alone, said a speaker at the New Zealand Psychological Society conference in Dunedin. Mr K. W. Moesbegen said many parents left 'their children to cry. What often happened was that the problem was made worse and the child was taught to cry for longer. . - Through a sleep disturbance study at the University of Canterbury, a comprehensive sleep package had been developed. Mr Moesbegen, who is completing a master’s thesis at Canterbury, said his results showed the treatment worked. It involved leaving the child to cry, but under “controlled, supportive conditions.” Mr Moesbegen said sleep disturbances were experienced by one third of children aged six to 24 months. Ten per cent would develop chronic

sleep disturbance which persisted for years. Help should be sought when the problem caused marital disagreements, other benaviour problems, significant parental fatigue, or a large number of wakings. He noted there were outpatient facilities for parents in several New Zealand centres where the comprehensive sleep package was available. Details of the package were not given to the general public because of the danger of its being applied incorrectly and in a damaging way. Children younger than six months were not dealt with because the package was not sophisticated enough. It took some months for sleep patterns to emerge and colic problems added to complications. In Mr Moesbegen’s study 13 infants were treated using the procedure. “Results showed treatment to be effective for all children," said Mr Moesbegen.