Infant crying patterns in the first year: normal community and clinical findings.

To provide information about persistent infant crying, crying durations and patterns were measured at four age points (1-3, 4-6, 7-9 and 10-12 months) in normal community (N = 400) and clinical (N = 68) samples. The findings provide a range of prevalence figures and descriptive statistics which may be useful for parents and professionals faced with infant crying. A large developmental shift in crying amount, and two age-related changes of crying pattern, were found. Clinical infants showed the same crying profiles as the general community infants, but were found to cry substantially more. Although mothers of first-borns were more likely to seek clinical referral, there were no birth-order differences in crying amount or pattern. The findings' implications for studies of infant temperament and development are indicated.

[1]  B. Forsyth,et al.  Mothers' perceptions of problems of feeding and crying behaviors. A prospective study. , 1985, American journal of diseases of children.

[2]  B. Lester,et al.  Acoustic features and auditory perceptions of the cries of newborns with prenatal and perinatal complications. , 1978, Child development.

[3]  R. Illingworth.  Infantile colic revisited. , 1985, Archives of disease in childhood.

[4]  D. Wolke,et al.  Convergences and discrepancies, among mothers' and professionals' assessments of difficult neonatal behaviour. , 1988, Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines.

[5]  R. Hinde,et al.  Roundtable: what is temperament? Four approaches. , 1987, Child development.

[6]  T. Brazelton.  Crying in infancy. , 1962, Pediatrics.

[7]  I. James-Roberts.  Persistent crying in infancy. , 1989 .

[8]  A. Frodi.  When Empathy Fails , 1985 .

[9]  G. Gustafson,et al.  On the importance of fundamental frequency and other acoustic features in cry perception and infant development. , 1989, Child development.

[10]  I B Pless,et al.  Parental diary of infant cry and fuss behaviour. , 1988, Archives of disease in childhood.

[11]  R. Barr,et al.  Increased carrying reduces infant crying: a randomized controlled trial. , 1986, Pediatrics.

[12]  M. Ainsworth,et al.  Infant crying and maternal responsiveness. , 1972, Child development.

[13]  J. Bates.  Issues in the Assessment of Difficult Temperament: A Reply to Thomas, Chess, and Korn. , 1983 .

[14]  N. Richman.  A community survey of characteristics of one- to two- year-olds with sleep disruptions. , 1981, Journal of the American Academy of Child Psychiatry.

[15]  M. Berger.  7 – PSYCHOLOGY IN PAEDIATRICS AND CHILD CARE , 1977 .

[16]  R. Barr.  The Normal Crying Curve: What Do We Really Know? , 1990, Developmental medicine and child neurology.

[17]  R. Berkowitz,et al.  Activity level and behavioral style in young children. , 1985, Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines.

[18]  J. Bates,et al.  Measurement of infant difficultness. , 1979, Child development.

[19]  Barry M. Lester,et al.  Introduction: There’s More to Crying Than Meets the Ear , 1985 .

[20]  J. Kirkland,et al.  A multi‐axial scheme for assessment and intervention† , 1984 .