Excessive crying at 3 months of age and behavioural problems at 4 years age: a prospective cohort study

Abstract

BackgroundExcessive crying in early infancy has been associated with behavioural problems among preschool children from high income countries but studies in low income and middle income countries are scarce.MethodsThe 2004 Pelotas Birth Cohort is a population-based study planned to enrol all live births occurring in Pelotas that year and comprises 4231 children who so far have been followed up at 3, 12, 24, 48 and 72 months of age. Several familial, maternal and child characteristics were gathered in every follow-up. At the 3-month follow-up, infants whose mothers perceived them as crying more than others of the same age were classified as ‘crying babies’. Child behavioural problems were assessed through the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) applied to the mother at the 48-month follow-up. Crude and adjusted ORs with 95% CIs were calculated by logistic regression.ResultsPrevalence of excessive crying at 3 months was 11.9% (10.9% to 13.0%). Among children with excessive crying at 3 months the proportion in the clinical range for CBCL total, internalising and externalising problems at 4 years of age was 31.2%, 12.9% and 37.5%, respectively, against 20.6%, 6.8% and 29.6%, respectively, among non-crying babies. After controlling for confounders crying babies presented increased risk of being in clinical range of CBCL total (OR=1.34; 1.03 to 1.74), internalising (OR=1.55; 1.09 to 2.21) and externalising problems (OR=1.29; 1.01 to 1.64) than infants without excessive crying.ConclusionsExcessive crying in early infancy may represent one important risk factor for developing behavioural problems in later phases of early childhood.

The association of infant crying, feeding, and sleeping problems and inhibitory control with attention regulation at school age

“…Consistent with past research, child sex, family SES, and gestational age at birth affected attention regulation and inhibitory control (Jaekel et al., ; Reveillon et al., ; Williams & Sciberras, ), whereas crying, feeding, and sleeping problems were not affected by child sex, family SES, and gestational age. Previous studies reported mixed results, with some studies showing an association between crying, feeding, and sleeping problems and gestational age (Bilgin & Wolke, ; Schmid et al., ), family SES (Hyde et al., ; Santos et al., ) or sex (Schmid & Wolke, ; Sidor, Fischer, Eickhorst, & Cierpka, ), whereas other studies found no effects for gestational age and birthweight (Hyde et al., ; Santos et al., ), family SES (Schmid et al., ), or sex (Santos et al., ; Schmid et al., ) on crying, feeding, and sleeping problems. These inconsistent results may be explained by differences in sample size, study design, and definition of crying, feeding, and sleeping problems, and in particular, control for potential confounders, across studies.…”

“…Due to the lack of standardized definitions and different assessment methods across studies, prevalence rates of infant crying, feeding, and sleeping problems vary widely. Excessive crying persisting beyond 3 months of age has been reported in 6%-13% of infants (von Kries, Kalies, & Papousek, 2006;Santos, Matijasevich, Capilheira, Anselmi, & Barros, 2015;Schmid et al, 2010;Wake et al, 2006). The prevalence of feeding and eating problems has been reported in 10%-50% of children (Bilgin & Wolke, 2017a;Schmid et al, 2010;Wright, Parkinson, Shipton, & Drewett, 2007).…”

Mother-child bed-sharing trajectories and psychiatric disorders at the age of 6 years

“…The child excessive crying, that has been associated with behavioral problems in childhood and maternal mental symptoms (Hemmi et al, 2011, Staehelina et al, 2013, Santos et al, 2015), was assessed at the 3-month visit by asking the mother whether “compared to babies of the same age, her baby cried more, less or as the same”.…”

Review shows that parental reassurance and nutritional advice help to optimise the management of functional gastrointestinal disorders in infants

“…Behavioural problems such as difficulty with emotional regulation, frequent temper tantrums, or a more impulsive cognitive style in individual studies with 3, 4, 8 and 10 years of follow‐up, respectively 6, 49, 50, 51, 52 …”