More cuddles mean fewer tears for babies

28 Aug 2007

Cuddling your baby more often can reduce the amount of tears and tantrums in your child by up to 50%, according to new research.

A month-long study of more than 100 parents in the UK has found that there is a clear relationship between the amount of time a parent spends holding their baby and the amount time the child spends crying each day.

The average length of time parents spend in hugs and cuddles with their children is currently around two and a half hours each day, Wikinet found.

But when babies where cradled for five hours a day - twice the average amount of cuddles - crying was cut by up to a half, according to the survey.

Previous studies have shown that cuddling your baby can also release the hormone oxytocin, which produces good feelings and can reduce stress in harassed mothers, according to the Sun.

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