Others may take some comfort by soothing their infants when they are distressed or in pain, but this behaviour doesn't seem to do much for their babies, according to research by the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in the US, which publishes its results in the journal, Child Development.
The study measured how mothers' soothing affected their two-to six-month-old infants' behavioural responses and their levels of cortisol, a stress hormone. Maternal soothing was not effective in reducing either cortisol response or their behavioural reaction to stress.
They even found that more maternal soothing was linked to more infant disquiet, but said that maternal soothing behaviour may help to prevent stress occurring in the first place, so soothing still helps the infant.