Do infants of depressed mothers cry more than other infants?

Abstract

This study compared the crying behaviour of infants of depressed and non-depressed mothers at 3 and 6 months of age. Twenty-nine depressed and 44 non-depressed mothers, their infants and partners participated in this study. Mothers were asked to complete 24-hour diaries of the amount their infants cried for 1 week. The diurnal variations in crying patterns of infants of depressed and non-depressed mothers were not significantly different. However, infants of depressed mothers were found to cry significantly more in total per day than infants of non-depressed mothers at 3 months of age, but not at 6 months. The results could not be explained by differences in infant temperament. Maternal depression may be a contributory factor to infant crying at 3 months of age.