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Infantile persistent crying, state regulation, and intuitive parenting
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INFANTILE PERSISTENT CRYING, STATE REGULATION, AND INTUITIVE PARENTING Mechthild Papousek, University of Munich, Institute for Social Pediatrics and Youth Medicine, Heiglhof Str. 63, D - 81377 Munich, Germany The author reports on a clinical study of 60 1-to-6-month old infants who were referred to the Research and Intervention Program for Fussy Babies because of persistent crying, and 50 infants of the same age from a community sample. The same standardized diagnostic procedures were applied to examine infants and their families from both samples in order to elucidate the role of factors affecting selfregulation in infants and supportive, intituive interventions in parents. Peristent crying was significantly associated with disturbances of sleep-wake organization and temperament in infants. Most mother-infant pairs in the clinical group were able to co-regulate mutually rewarding, playful interchanges, at least during face-to-face interactions. However, parenting failures were found in two subgroups of mother-infant dyads, overrepresented in the clinical group: (1) in severely depressed mothers, and (2) in irritable/agitated mothers. In both subgroups, the dyadic communication deteriorated and stopped fulfilling its supportive role in infants’ self-regulatory capacities and state regulation.
INFANTILE PERSISTENT CRYING, STATE REGULATION, AND INTUITIVE PARENTING Mechthild Papousek, University of Munich, Institute for Social Pediatrics and Youth Medicine, Heiglhof Str. 63, D - 81377 Munich, Germany The author reports on a clinical study of 60 1-to-6-month old infants who were referred to the Research and Intervention Program for Fussy Babies because of persistent crying, and 50 infants of the same age from a community sample. The same standardized diagnostic procedures were applied to examine infants and their families from both samples in order to elucidate the role of factors affecting selfregulation in infants and supportive, intituive interventions in parents. Peristent crying was significantly associated with disturbances of sleep-wake organization and temperament in infants. Most mother-infant pairs in the clinical group were able to co-regulate mutually rewarding, playful interchanges, at least during face-to-face interactions. However, parenting failures were found in two subgroups of mother-infant dyads, overrepresented in the clinical group: (1) in severely depressed mothers, and (2) in irritable/agitated mothers. In both subgroups, the dyadic communication deteriorated and stopped fulfilling its supportive role in infants’ self-regulatory capacities and state regulation.