Health care professionals, we call on you to act in a human and baby-friendly capacity when interpreting your professional guidelines.

Please think twice before recommending extinction or partial extinction methods of sleep training (cry it out, controlled crying, or similar) to the families you work with.  Instead, we request that you help parents to find alternative ways to cope with lack of sleep, including gentle methods of sleep management.

We ask you to keep in mind the oath to "Do no harm". You may feel that extinction methods have not conclusively been shown to cause long term emotional or neurological damage. You may also feel that infants are able to 'self soothe' from a young age.  We understand that your practice needs to be evidence based.  However, the studies attempting to claim that extinction methods may not cause harm are incomplete and inconclusive at best.  Equally, claims that infants can 'self soothe' have been strongly contested.  If you feel any uncertainty over this, we urge you to avoid suggesting these methods.

For resources on coping with sleep deprivation, or to find out about gentle methods of sleep management, this website may provide a useful starting point: http://betterrestmethod.org/

Join us to support the view that infant sleep does not need to be seen as a 'problem' to be 'solved'. 

Thank you.


Note to supporters: Help us make sure this petition is delivered to as many people as possible, and make more of a difference. Please let us know of any health care professionals you know to be recommending leaving babies to cry. We can then update the recipient list with their email address, or the email address of their office/surgery/organisation or trust. You can contact us at https://www.facebook.com/hushabylaw, or add the names, addresses and emails as a comment directly onto this petition.

We will not disclose the names or any identifying details of our supporters.

This is an international appeal and is not limited to health care professionals in any particular region. We have been informed of more than 150 practitioners or organisations who are recommending variations of this practice, and we are in the process of adding to the recipient list.  Change.org only allows 40 addresses to be listed, so we are listing the others below.  The recipient list can be as long as it needs to be. 

_______
Extended Recipient List:

Health Visitors
Axbridge Surgery
Houlgate Way,
Axbridge BS26 2BJ
UK
england.contactus@nhs.net  

Health Visitors
Wed­more Surgery
St. Medard Road
Wed­more
BS28 4AN
UK
england.contactus@nhs.net

Health Visiting Service
Skidmore Way Clinic,
Skidmore Way,
Rickmansworth WD3 1SZ
UK
manager.rickmansworth@hertschildrenscentres.org.uk

Health Visitors (more than one report)
Tavistock Area Children's Centre
Abbey Rise
Tavistock
PL19 9FD
tavistockchildrenscentre@barnardos.org.uk

Bramley Clinic
255 Upper Town Street,
Leeds, West Yorkshire LS13 3EJ
UK
lch.pals@nhs.net


Tribeca Pediatrics Fort Greene
771 Fulton St Brooklyn, NY 11217
fortgreene@tribecapediatrics.com

Tribeca Pediatrics Boerum Hill,
250 Dean St Brooklyn, NY 11217
boerumhill@tribecapediatrics.com

Tribeca Pediatrics Bay Ridge
6927 3rd Avenue Brooklyn, NY 11209
bayridge@tribecapediatrics.com


Tribeca Pediatrics Williamsburg,
212 Berry St Brooklyn, NY 11249
williamsburg@tribecapediatrics.com

Tribeca Pediatrics Silver Lake,
920 Sunset Boulevard Los Angeles,
CA 90026, USA.
silverlake@tribecapediatrics.com

Sarah
Gentle Sleep Solutions (Not so gentle, as she recommended controlled crying)
http://www.gentlesleepsolutions.co.uk/
info@gentlesleepsolutions.co.uk

Health Visiting Office
Winslow Health Centre,
Avenue Road,
Winslow,
Buckinghamshire
MK18 3DP
buc-tr.bucscphn@nhs.net