New research suggests a mother's childhood experiences could influence how they respond to their own babies.
Researchers found mothers whose childhood experience with caregivers was positive or who had come to terms with negative experiences were more infant-oriented when they were shown videos of babies crying and were more sensitive to the cries of their own child, the Society for Research in Child Development reported.
"Responding sensitively to infant crying is a difficult yet important task," said Esther M. Leerkes, professor of human development and family studies at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, who led the study. "Some mothers may need help controlling their own distress and interpreting babies' crying as an attempt to communicate need or discomfort. Home visiting programs or parenting classes that help parents become more aware of stress and teach ways to reduce it, as well as individualized parent education efforts, may help build these skills."
Mothers who experienced depression responded to the videos of babies crying by focusing on themselves as opposed to the needs of the infant. Mothers who had poor stress control were also more likely to focus on themselves and responded more negatively to the videos. Mothers who responded in this way were found to be less sensitive to the cries of their own children.
To make their findings the researchers looked at 259 first-time mothers and followed them throughout the first six months of their child's life. The mothers filled out a questionnaire about their personalities and were interviewed about their childhood experiences. The expectant mothers watched short videos of crying babies while the researchers monitored their heart rate and physiological reactions and followed up with an interview.
Mothers were considered infant-oriented if they reported empathy for the child and thought they were crying because they needed care while participants were considered mother-oriented if they saw the crying as a nuisance and thought the infant was doing it to be manipulative.
"This adds to evidence supporting the universality of the processes that promote mothers' sensitivity to distress," Leerkes said.
The study was published in a recent edition of the journal Child Development.
