(15) Eighty-five percent of the neural pathways relating to how we respond and interpret the world are formed in the earliest years of our development. Sensitive caregiving, particularly in the first three years, correlates with professional and social success/happiness in later life.
(16) Finally, standing in stark contrast to co-sleeping and gentle sleep training advocates, one finds proponents of CIO. Like Keith and Janet in the opening story, parents practicing CIO choose to let their children cry alone into an exhausted sleep, over and over, until the little ones learn that protesting their situation is futile. Advocates of CIO may argue that Keith and Janet’s story is too extreme. “I’d never let my son cry until he vomits,” they may say. Or, they may openly admit that such a sign of distress is par for the course. Consider this recent post on a parenting FB group: