Conversation

parents online are obsessed with infant sleep and 2 theories make sense from the armchair but I don't know what contact each makes with reality. baseline scenario: newborn cries at night, you assume it's hungry and feed it.
1
over time, sometimes it seems a separation occurs between true physiological hunger and the habit, food/being held is highly rewarding for baby.
1
1
(assuming baby has capacity to self-soothe, eats enough during day, etc. extinguishing "true" hunger may not be possible, except for learned helplessness like Romanian orphans etc)
1
hypothesis 2: by waiting to feed the baby, you simply "teach" it to become MORE persistent in crying i.e. the opposite of what you want in the middle of the night.
2
1
I hate feeling like I only know enough psychology to be dangerous. on the other hand, post replication crisis, it's hard to know even where to turn to learn anything reliable about psychology.
3
4