Infant crying and maternal holding in the first two months of age: An Italian diary study

This study aims to confirm previous North American and North European findings about the normal developmental pattern of infant crying by studying the crying of Italian babies. A cohort of 70 healthy, full-term Italian infants was assessed longitudinally at 2, 5 and 8 weeks of age. Mothers were asked to fill in 24-hour behaviour diaries for three consecutive days at each age. Results show significant differences in the amount of daily crying between 2 and 8 weeks and between 5 and 8 weeks. Differently from some other similar studies, no significant cry peak at 5 weeks was found in the Italian babies, but the amount of time Italian mothers spent holding their babies showed a peak at 5 weeks. Infants cried more during the evenings and mothers carried them most during this part of the day. Significant correlations between maternal holding and infant crying were found both concurrently and predictively. The amount of infant crying at 2 weeks predicted the amount of holding at 5 weeks. Results confirmed previous findings about the individual stability of daily crying in the first 8 weeks of age but future research should take account of cultural variations in maternal holding in studying infant crying in different societies.