Association between life stress during pregnancy and infant crying in the first six months postpartum: A prospective longitudinal study

Crying and Feeding Problems in Infancy and Cognitive Outcome in Preschool Children Born at Risk: A Prospective Population Study

“…112,113 It has been shown that women who experienced stress and emotional problems during pregnancy were at increased risk for having an excessively crying infant at 3 to 6 months of age. 114,115 However, we did not assess maternal stress during pregnancy, and …”

Regulatory Problems in Very Preterm and Full-Term Infants Over the First 18 Months

“…Mother-infant interaction problems, maternal stress and maternal anxiety have been suggested as critical factors in developing crying and feeding problems. [55][56][57][58][59][60][61] Future research may take into account the impact of maternal mental health and/or mother-infant interaction in alleviating or leading to crying and feeding problems.…”

The psychology of infant colic: A review of current research

“…Sondergaard et al (2003) found a threefold increase of having an infant with colic if the mother reported general stress during pregnancy, and twice as likely if they reported psychological stress; however, as the data were collected retrospectively, it has been suggested that the mothers' reports of stress might be heightened if dealing with a crying baby, and so no causal relation can be certain (St James-Roberts & Conroy, 2005). More recently, Wurmser et al (2006), carried out a prospective longitudinal study and found that those mothers who reported higher levels of stressful life events during pregnancy had infants who cried more within the first 6 months of life than did mothers with lower stress scores. Wurmser et al suggested that parental stress during pregnancy and the associated increase in infant fussing compromise the mother's competence; consequently, a negative infant-mother reciprocity arises.…”