DO INFANTS OF DEPRESSED MOTHERS CRY MORE THAN OTHER INFANTS

Objective: This study compared the crying behaviour of infants of depr essed and non-depressed mothers at 3 and 6 months of age. Methodology: Twenty-nine depressed and 44 non-depressed mothers, their infants and partners participated in this study. Mothers were asked to complete 2 4-hour diaries of the amount their infants cried for 1 week. Results: The diurnal variations in crying patterns of infants of depressed and non-depressed mothers were not significantly different. However, infan ts of depressed mothers were found to cry significantly more in total per day than infants of nondepressed mothers at 3 months of age, but n ot at 6 months. The results could not be explained by differences in i nfant temperament. Conclusion: Maternal depression may be a contributo ry factor to infant crying at 3 months of age.