Infant crying and the calming response: Parental versus mechanical soothing using swaddling, sound, and movement.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Frequent infant crying is associated with parental exhaustion, depression, or even infant hospitalization and shaken baby syndrome. Effective prompt soothing methods are lacking for infants under 6 months. We examined whether swaddling, sound, and movement evoked an immediate calming response (CR) when parents soothed their infants and using a smart crib, and whether infant age affected the CR.

Methods

Infants' CR was assessed in a community sample of 69 infants (0-6 months) in a counterbalanced experiment with two conditions (parent, smart crib) each composed of three two-minute phases (baseline, supine, soothing). During baseline 1, parent and infant were sitting together; in supine 1, fussiness was elicited by putting the infant suddenly supine, followed by par

SUBMITTER: Moller EL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6481793 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature