Scientists suggest babies cry at night to prevent....siblings

Well I thought this was a neat study.
Mods feel free to move this.
(I have been on hiatus for the last two years, due to this very problem. This is my first topic coming back.)
Many of nights over the past two years I have laid awake wondering what my child wanted.
Well scientists studies may have found a answer.

When a baby cries at night, exhausted parents scramble to figure out why. He’s hungry. Wet. Cold. Lonely. But now, a Harvard scientist offers more sinister explanation: The baby who demands to be breastfed in the middle of the night is preventing his mom from getting pregnant again.

So does this mean as humans we are, born selfish seeking attention and not wanting to share?
Well it seems so.

Another baby means having to share mom and dad, so babies are programmed to do all they can to thwart the meeting of sperm and egg, the theory goes.

This is a great read for any new parents or if you are planning to be parents.
Remember it is up to you to teach your child, acceptance and selflesness as these are not traits that we as humans are born with.

www.sciencenews.org...

a reply to: JValhalla

Yep, sounds right, and I've never thought of it before. Makes perfect sense in a survival way. At least in human babies, I don't think other primates cry as much when they are young, do they?

Welcome back!

And this is a hilarious theory. Not really sure i I believe it entirely, or that such deviousness is preprogrammed, but in a weird way it does make sense.

originally posted by: Aleister
a reply to: JValhalla

Yep, sounds right, and I've never thought of it before. Makes perfect sense in a survival way. At least in human babies, I don't think other primates cry as much when they are young, do they?

Attesting to primate studies I will admit, I am not a scholar. I know primates form bonds such as us, but they mature at a quicker rate?

a reply to: ~Lucidity

Thanks,
well the study may be flawed, I can surely attest that at 2 am while the new baby is crying the last thing on me and my wifes mind is another

Are you saying that from now on, when ever my oldest complains about siblings I can tell him that he should have actually cried as a baby then.

He NEVER cried! He was the happiest easiest baby who slept through the night at 3 weeks. The one time he really did cry I freaked out and was told by the nurse "what are you talking about? He is barely whimpering." He was so easy that it wasn't long before it was decided he should have a little brother or sister. His little brother didn't stop screaming at the top of his lungs until he was 10 months old.

I think it's more likely that they either just want a nipple to suckle or the security of being held. Hell, I'm a grown man and I get grouchy when those are missing.

a reply to: JValhalla

Or maybe they can't make as much noise because of predators (leopards, salesmen). I wonder how the babies of the human race evolved to cry like they do without being killed off, it doesn't seem a trait that bodes well for large groups of apes living together (cries of "Shut up" would be heard up and down the ape habitat).

Bookmarked for later

originally posted by: Aleister
a reply to: JValhalla

Or maybe they can't make as much noise because of predators (leopards, salesmen). I wonder how the babies of the human race evolved to cry like they do without being killed off, it doesn't seem a trait that bodes well for large groups of apes living together (cries of "Shut up" would be heard up and down the ape habitat).

Well now you have me thinking....
I wonder if our distant ancestors children cried, or if this was just a evolutionary trait of becoming the apex dwellers on the planet for the time being. It would make sense when humans hunkered down and stop becoming pray our evolution allowed us to be lowder.

I'll have to say - it's real effective. They also will try to get between you in the bed.

Not only that - why is it "Ew!" when your parents are getting amorous? Bingo. You don't want competition.

a reply to: JValhalla

In the past the baby would certainly have to be kept with the parents and not in a separate area all alone. No wonder they would cry, just to get near someone again, because alone they'd be predator bait (if they cried or didn't). So maybe the instinct not to be left alone is one reason for the crying as well - a leopards mouth watering delight all set for the plucking.

Preemptive sibling rivalry!

a reply to: Phage

Lol exactly.
I still remember when my mom told me she was going to have my brother. I was playing outside, mom came up and said I have a suprise for you...I said we are going to get a basketball hoop? She goes no your going to have a brother..man I was pissed. We still joke about it to this day.

originally posted by: JValhalla
u...I said we are going to get a basketball hoop? She goes no your going to have a brother..man I was pissed. We still joke about it to this day.

My next older brother went after my next younger brother with a shoe when he came home "We don't need any more brothers!" LOL Luckily he didn't reach his goal...

Wow Harvard just lost some major brain cells on this one. Babies can be conceived in the daytime too. Someone ,who ever it was who gave these infants their sex education, needs to realize that. Mostly it's very young babies who cry at night and its almost always because they can only hold a few ounces in their tiny stomachs and they use a lot of calories growing as rapidly as they do. Harvard? And that supposed to be the school for the really smart ones right? Boy do I feel like a genius today.

originally posted by: AutumnWitch657
Wow Harvard just lost some major brain cells on this one.

I dunno - ours had this uncanny ability to sense when you were on the run-up and start squalling. Or one of my family would call. You can shut the phone off. Kids are a bit harder to ignore. Although there were times that giving them a bottle o' Nyquil was almost appealing as a reality instead of a joke.

originally posted by: JValhalla

So does this mean as humans we are, born selfish seeking attention and not wanting to share?
Well it seems so.

Another baby means having to share mom and dad, so babies are programmed to do all they can to thwart the meeting of sperm and egg, the theory goes.

This is a great read for any new parents or if you are planning to be parents.
Remember it is up to you to teach your child, acceptance and selflesness as these are not traits that we as humans are born with.

I agree human born selfish seeking attention and not wanting to share,but this suggestion can't apply in most of babies ,because the number of babies don't cry at night are far more than babies cry at night.
I think the reason of babies cry at night is lack of care.It doesn't mean I want to say the suggestion is wrong ,in those lack of care case,the program won't want a sibling.

REALLY HATE crying babies and attention whores,I have no duty to take care them ,they bother me,proof they never care my feelings.

a reply to: AutumnWitch657

No way I am saying this study is correct. Give me vast resources and millions of dollars. I can come up with a study that says anything is correct. While I can see where they are trying to take this study babies do need to eat every 4-6 hours. So I also see uour point ecactly.

It's funny, Dylan Moran has been saying this as a joke in his act for years!