Citation

Reijneveld SA, van der Wal MF, Brugman E, Hira Sing RA, Verloove-Vanhorick SP. Ned. Tijdschr. Geneeskd. 2004; 148(45): 2227-2230.

Vernacular Title

Prevalentie van gedragingen van ouders om het huilen van zuigelingen te

Affiliation

TNO Preventie en Gezondheid, Leiden. s.a.reijneveld@med.rug.nl

Copyright

(Copyright © 2004, Erven Bohn)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

15568629

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To estimate the prevalence of parental actions to stop infant crying that may threaten infant health, and to determine specific risk groups regarding these actions. DESIGN: Descriptive. METHOD: Before their visit to a well-baby clinic in the Netherlands, parents of 3345 infants aged 1-6 months (96.5% response) filled out an anonymous questionnaire on actions that they undertook to stop their child crying. RESULTS: At 6 months, 5.6% (95% confidence interval: 4.2-7.0%) of all the parents reported having smothered, slapped, or shaken their infant at least once because of its crying. The highest risks for detrimental parental actions were run by infants of parents from non-industrialised countries, of parents with no or only a part-time job, and of parents who had judged their infant's crying as excessive. CONCLUSION: Clinicians should be aware of the observed risk factors for abuse of young children known to cry a lot, in order to help parents to cope with this crying.

Language: nl