The potency of different sugars as calming agents in human infants was investigated in 2 experiments with 40 infants. Sucrose and fructose were equally effective calming agents, whereas glucose was less effective. Results indicate that the calming effects of milk lie in components other than its sugar. (LB)

This study examined whether cry acoustics enhance the prediction of developmental outcome in preterm infants, after accounting for medical and social variables. Selection criteria for 149 preterm subjects included being born at less than 35 weeks gestational age and less than 1,500 grams; for 25 term subjects, selection criteria included being…

Examined infant crying and resistant behavior in response to requests to clean up toys. Infants' irritability and outbursts peaked at 18-24 months. Although crying was a relatively rare phenomenon in the third year, resistance behavior was common. Decreases in crying may be linked to acquisition of language. (BG)

This study, involving 15 nonparental female clients, found that the perceived anxiety and arousal elicited by infant crying were significantly diminished after stress management training. Anxiety measures were strongly correlated with both perceived arousal and the clients' evaluation of infant crying. (Author/JDD)

Discusses the causes of shaken baby syndrome and how to recognize, respond to, and prevent it. Identifies horseplay to avoid and recommends never shaking baby even for apnea. Offers 12 tips for working with crying babies and includes ten discussion questions to test knowledge of the syndrome. (DLH)

Measured the neurobehavioral integrity of Irish infants and maternal alcohol consumption and cigarette smoking. Subjects were 127 primiparous mothers. Results demonstrated significant cry effects on infants of heavily drinking mothers, supporting the conclusion that newborn infants show functional disturbances in the nervous system resulting from…

Explores the characteristics and benefits of crying and how to handle appropriate and inappropriate crying episodes in young children. (HTH)

Parents with colicky and noncolicky infants answered questions about infant behavior expectations. Parents with colicky infants described infant behavior and expectations for infants at 3 months more negatively; there were no significant group differences for infants at the 8- to 11-month current situation. However, the amount of infant colicky…

The impact of differences in maternal self-efficacy and infant difficulty on mothers' sensitivity to small changes in the fundamental frequency of an audiotaped infant's cry was explored in 2 experiments. The experiments share in common experimental manipulations of infant difficulty, a laboratory derived measure of maternal efficacy (low,…

The authors document the conceptualization, over time, of "fussy baby syndrome" and the establishment of a Fussy Baby Clinic. Excessive infant crying (commonly called colic) typically subsides in the first 3 months but may set up a cycle of parent-infant distress. Families studied felt a high degree of emotional stress and physical exhaustion;…

Examined the feelings of mothers when temporarily leaving their infants--who were perceived to cry excessively--to other caretakers. Found through interviews that the mothers were anxious when separated from the infant, had an intensive perception of the infant's crying, and had difficulty sharing responsibility for the infant. (EV)

The behavioral and heart rate responses of 22 children (ages 3-4) with autism and 22 with other developmental disabilities were compared while they were watching videotapes of a baby either playing or crying. Both groups of children showed heart rate slowing when watching the video of the crying baby. (Contains references.) (Author/CR)

Evaluated the effect of pacifiers and sucrose stimulation on the heart rate, coordination, and behaviors of normal infants and infants born to methadone-maintained mothers. Found that pacifiers stimulated immediate changes in all behaviors, which returned to baseline levels when pacifiers were removed. Sucrose stimulation precipitated gradual…

Compared infants who had evidenced similar levels of crying as neonates but differed at five months of age. For initially high-crying infants, mothers' personality and marital quality, and infant variables discriminated stable from changing infants. Mother sensitivity and infant responsiveness at five months were related to continuity of infants'…

Examined cardiac response and ratings of subjective aversiveness to recordings of unfamiliar infant cries in 60 primiparous women at 32 weeks' gestation. Mothers who prenatally rated the crying recordings as more aversive postnatally described their infants as more fussy and unpredictable. Women who showed greater cardiac acceleration to the cries…