Baby Crying - Men Vs. Women

In what may be uprising to some the reaction of men is the same as women to baby crying. 

The study follows work last month from researchers in Denmark that challenges the claim that women are hardwired to wake up more easily than men when a baby starts crying. It found that men were as likely as women to be woken by wailing infants, despite mothers being three times more likely to get up and tend to the child.

The reasons for the disparity are up for debate, but Prof Christine Parsons, who led the team, suggested two potential factors. First, mothers often took maternity leave before fathers took paternity leave and learned how to calm their baby earlier. Second, when mothers were breastfeeding, it might be sensible for fathers to sleep through.

“Much of the previous work on adults’ physiological responses to infant crying has looked at heart rate, skin conductance, or even brain responses. So this study is innovating,” Parsons said. “People often assume there will be a clear distinction between men and women in how they respond to crying. The authors set out to test this, and found no evidence for a difference,” she added. “We were also surprised at how little difference there was between men and women.”

From personal experience I was more often the one to get up when my kids cried at night. But then again they were remarkably good sleepers and rarely cried. What I did hear a lot was them calling for me early in the morning. And to be truthful I loved getting them up in the morning. I have find memories of peaking around the corner of their rooms before lifting them out of their cribs.