Premium
Do infants of depressed mothers cry more than other infants?
Author(s) -
MILGROM J.,
WESTLEY D. T.,
McCLOUD P. I.
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
journal of paediatrics and child health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.631
H-Index - 76
eISSN - 1440-1754
pISSN - 1034-4810
DOI - 10.1111/j.1440-1754.1995.tb00789.x
Subject(s) - medicine , pediatrics
Objectives: This study compared the crying behaviour of infants of depressed and non‐depressed mothers at 3 and 6 months of age. Methodology Twenty‐nine depressed and 44 non‐depressed mothers, their infants and partners participated in this study. Mothers were asked to complete 24‐hour diaries of the amount their infants cried for 1 week. Results The diurnal variations in crying patterns of infants of depressed and non‐depressed mothers were not significantly different. However, infants of depressed mothers were found to cry significantly more in total per day than infants of non‐depressed mothers at 3 months of age, but not at 6 months. The results could not be explained by differences in infant temperament. Conclusion Maternal depression may be a contributory factor to infant crying at 3 months of age.