It will be music to the ears of those who lobby their loved-ones
in vain to ‘just leave the baby’. And it will be a red rag to those
who view letting a baby cry itself to sleep as a cruel 1950s
throwback.

 For academics claim to have shown that letting an infant
cry itself to sleep is the best way to ensure a good night’s rest
for all.

While most babies sleep through five or six night a week by the
age of six months, according to the study by American
psychologists, a third continue to wake much more frequently until
they are toddlers.

They looked at sleep patterns in 1,200 children from birth to
three years and found 'wakers' tended to be boys. They also tended
to be breast fed.

The research was led Marsha Weinraub, professor of psychology at
Temple University in Philadelphia. She concluded that babies should
be left to go to sleep on their own - even if that meant they cried
for a bit.