Crying in the first 12 months of life: A systematic review and meta‐analysis of cross‐country parent‐reported data and modeling of the “cry curve”

Vermillet, Arnault-Quentin; Tølbøll, Katrine Bønneland; Mizan, Samouil Litsis; Skewes, Joshua; Parsons, Christine E.

doi:10.1111/cdev.13760

Cited by 18 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 140 publications

(149 reference statements)

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“…Infant age (in weeks), first-time mothers (1 = yes ; 0 = no ), and maternal education (high school or less, some college or trade school, college, graduate school) were selected a priori to be included as covariates in all models. We included infant age because crying in a younger versus older infant could have different effects on maternal mood and mental health, for example, as older infants spend less time crying per day (Vermillet et al, 2022; Wolke et al, 2017), crying more than usual for an older infant may be more unexpected and thus more distressing. We also controlled for first-time mothers, considering that first-time mothers may have less caregiving experience and may be more affected by their infant's crying.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Infant crying is a salient feature of a mother's postpartum environment and has well-established associations with maternal mental health (Young et al, 2012). Crying duration peaks with nearly 3 hr of crying per day when infants are four to six weeks of age and stabilizes to approximately 1 hr per day by three months (Vermillet et al, 2022; Wolke et al, 2017). However, there are large individual differences in daily crying duration (Kurth et al, 2011; St James-Roberts & Plewis, 1996) and 5%–25% of infants are identified with colic, or excessive crying (Lucassen et al, 2001; Wolke et al, 2017).…”

Section: The Current Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Infant crying predicts real-time fluctuations in maternal mental health in ecologically valid home settings.

Barbaro¹,

Micheletti²,

Yao³

et al. 2023

Developmental Psychology

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Exposure to infant crying is a well-established predictor of mothers' mental health. However, this association may reflect many potential mechanisms. Capturing dynamic fluctuations in mothers’ states simultaneously with caregiving experiences is necessary to identify the real-time processes influencing mental health. In this study, we leveraged ecological momentary assessments (EMAs) and infant-worn audio recorders to capture variability in mothers’ mental health symptoms and their exposure to infant crying over one week in a racially and socio-economically diverse urban North-American sample (N = 53). We use multilevel modeling to characterize within- and between-person effects of crying on maternal negative affect and symptoms of depression and anxiety. Within participants, when infants cried more than average in the 10 min, 1 hr, and 8 hr prior to an EMA report, mothers’ negative affect subsequently increased, controlling for mean levels of infant crying. In contrast to findings from laboratory studies, in everyday settings crying exposure did not immediately increase feelings of depression. Only when crying was above average for 8 hr prior to EMA did mothers report increases in subsequent depression symptoms, suggesting that the effects of crying on maternal mental health take hours to unfold in ecologically valid home settings. Between participants, mothers of infants who cried more on average did not report higher negative affect or symptoms of depression or anxiety. Overall, our findings reveal that crying exposure dynamically influences maternal negative affect and depression but not anxiety in ecologically valid real-world settings.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Current Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

Infant crying predicts real-time fluctuations in maternal mental health in ecologically valid home settings.

Barbaro¹,

Micheletti²,

Yao³

et al. 2023

Developmental Psychology

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“…Meta-analytic evidence from parent reports of crying across countries shows that parents deal with substantial durations of crying over the first 12 months post-birth. Cry duration does not drop off as markedly from its initial peak at 6-8 weeks as earlier described in the classic "cry curve," whereby crying duration shows a clear and steady decline (Vermillet, Tølbøll, Litsis Mizan, Skewes, & Parsons, 2022). Although data on what constitutes typical or normal cry behaviour is still sparse, crying for long periods beyond 6 months of age has been shown to predict later childhood regulatory difficulties (von Kries, Kalies, & Papoušek, 2006).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 75%

The human fear paradox: Affective origins of cooperative care

Großmann

2022

Behav Brain Sci

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Already as infants humans are more fearful than our closest living primate relatives, the chimpanzees. Yet heightened fearfulness is mostly considered maladaptive, as it is thought to increase the risk of developing anxiety and depression. How can this human fear paradox be explained? The fearful ape hypothesis presented herein stipulates that, in the context of cooperative caregiving and provisioning unique to human great ape group life, heightened fearfulness was adaptive. This is because from early in ontogeny fearfulness expressed and perceived enhanced care-based responding and provisioning from, while concurrently increasing cooperation with, mothers and others. This explanation is based on a synthesis of existing research with human infants and children, demonstrating a link between fearfulness, greater sensitivity to and accuracy in detecting fear in others, and enhanced levels of cooperative behaviors. These insights critically advance current evolutionary theories of human cooperation by adding an early-developing affective component to the human cooperative makeup. Moreover, the current proposal has important cultural, societal and health implications, as it challenges the predominant view in WEIRD societies that commonly construe fearfulness as a maladaptive trait, potentially ignoring its evolutionary adaptive functions.

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“…Time 1 was an average of 75.24 days ( SD = 12.85) postpartum, while Time 2 was an average of 274.33 days ( SD = 15.23). An infant’s crying time and frequency peak approximately 1 month after birth and gradually decline thereafter ( Barr, 1990 ; Vermillet et al, 2022 ). A longer crying duration and increased frequency could lead to heightened parenting stress and an increased risk of abuse ( Lee et al, 2007 ; Fujiwara et al, 2011 ).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Longitudinal changes in attention bias to infant crying in primiparous mothers

Hiraoka,

Makita,

Sakakibara

et al. 2023

Front. Behav. Neurosci.

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IntroductionInfant stimuli attract caregiver attention and motivate parenting behavior. Studies have confirmed the existence of attentional bias toward infant face stimuli; however, relatively little is known about whether attentional bias exists for infant cry stimuli, which are as important as faces in child-rearing situations. Furthermore, scarce longitudinal evidence exists on how attentional bias toward infant crying changes through the postpartum period.MethodsIn the present study, we conducted an experiment to assess bias toward infant crying at two postpartum time points: at Time 1 (Mean = 75.24 days), 45 first-time mothers participated and at Time 2 (Mean = 274.33 days), 30 mothers participated. At both time points, the mothers participated in a Stroop task with infant crying and white noise as the stimuli. They were instructed to answer the color out loud as quickly and accurately as possible, while ignoring the sound. Four types of audio stimuli were used in this task (the cry of the mother’s own infant, the cry of an unfamiliar infant, white noise matched to the cry of the mother’s own infant, and white noise matched to the cry of an unfamiliar infant), one of which was presented randomly before each trial. Response time and the correct response rate for each condition were the dependent variables.ResultsFor response time, the main effect of familiarity was significant, with longer response times when the participant’s infant’s cry was presented. In addition, response times were lower at Time 2 than at Time 1 in some conditions in which crying was presented.DiscussionThe results suggest that mothers may be less disturbed by infant crying as they gain more experience. Elucidating the characteristics of postpartum mothers’ changes in cognitive performance related to infants’ cries would be useful in fundamental and applied research to understand the process of parents’ adaptation to parenting.

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Crying in the first 12 months of life: A systematic review and meta‐analysis of cross‐country parent‐reported data and modeling of the “cry curve”

Cited by 18 publications

References 140 publications

Infant crying predicts real-time fluctuations in maternal mental health in ecologically valid home settings.

Infant crying predicts real-time fluctuations in maternal mental health in ecologically valid home settings.

The human fear paradox: Affective origins of cooperative care

Longitudinal changes in attention bias to infant crying in primiparous mothers

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