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Sad Dads May Lead to Crying Infants
Don't automatically blame mom: A crying, colicky baby can be just as much the result of dad's state of mind.
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Posted Tuesday, June 30, 2009 --- 8:10 a.m.
This story appears in HealthDay News:
Don't automatically blame mom: A crying, colicky baby can be just as much the result of dad's state of mind, Dutch researchers report.
Other studies have found that depression among mothers can be related to excessive crying or colic, a common problem with newborns, but the researchers said that little was known about whether fathers' emotions and behavior also have an effect.
"Up to now, almost all attention went to the prenatal effects of maternal depression on child development, leading to the development of detection and treatment programs that focused on mental well-being of mothers," said lead researcher Dr. Mijke P. van den Berg, a psychiatrist at the Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam.
"This study showed the importance of taking paternal factors and well-being during pregnancy into account, next to maternal," she said.
The report is published in the July issue of Pediatrics.
