by BabyCenter Guest Blogger posted in Parenting

By Amy Brown, Swansea University
Too many parents find themselves questioning at 3 a.m. whether their baby is feeding too much, if they should be sleeping through the night by now, and wondering if there is anything else they should be doing differently. Social media posts often boast of sleeping, contented babies while in reality many parents feel unable to put their baby down. Some want a miracle solution -- and quickly.
Ever since the publication of Dr Benjamin Spock?s multi-million selling baby and childcare title, the Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care, countless self-proclaimed experts have bragged about incredible solutions for infant sleep, feeding, and care. Generations of parents have turned to books such as Dr Spock?s for advice over the years, but the thing is -- beyond anecdotal evidence -- we don?t actually know whether these books work. The elephant in the room with many of these books is that actually, despite their popularity, they are not based on evidence. Some of them actually go against what we know about promoting positive, healthy infant attachment, well-being and health. Our recent research has suggested that some books? impact on maternal well-being is not good, and that there is a link between their use and an increased likelihood of symptoms of depression and anxiety.

The problem is, there is a potential mismatch between expectations of what the books offer and the reality of being a pare...