You Are Going Out for the Evening with Your Friends

question 32

Essay

You are going out for the evening with your friends, who are parents of a 10­month­old girl. The babysitter is new, and the baby is asleep when she arrives, so the parents decide not to wake the baby to say goodbye. Lately the baby has been increasingly grumpy about being left at home and, they reason, there's no point in causing a scene unnecessarily. The movie is great, but when you return at 11:00, the sitter tells your friends the baby awoke two hours earlier, screamed hysterically for 45 minutes without letting herself be comforted, finally falling asleep. The sitter is exhausted too. From what you have learned about infants, why do you think the baby was crying, and what can her parents do to prevent such a situation from occurring again?

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Definitions:

Genital Arousal

The physiological response of the genital organs to sexual stimulation, which may include increased blood flow and erection in males and lubrication and swelling in females.

Sleeping Pills

Medications used to aid in falling or staying asleep, typically prescribed for individuals with sleep disorders.

N3 Sleep

The deepest stage of non-REM sleep, characterized by slow brain waves called delta waves, where the body repairs and regrows tissues, builds bone and muscle, and strengthens the immune system.

Alpha Waves

Brainwave patterns associated with a state of wakeful relaxation, typically observed in the brain's electrical activity during calmness.