Evaluation of interventions for parents of excessively crying infants
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Development and preliminary evaluation of an intervention package to support parents of excessively crying infants.
IRAS ID
152836
Contact name
Ian St James-Roberts
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
De Montfort University
ISRCTN Number
ISRCTN84975637
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 0 months, 0 days
Research summary
This research is a first step in developing and evaluating new evidence-based NHS services to support parents whose babies cry excessively. It is a feasibility study, designed to find out whether a large-scale study is justified.
In early infancy, around 20% of babies are reported to cry a lot without an apparent reason. This used to be known as ‘colic’ and attributed to indigestion pain. Research in the last 20 years has found that only 5-10% of infants taken to the doctor because of their crying are poorly. Most such infants are healthy and develop normally.
Although most babies who cry a lot are well, the crying can distress parents and many seek help from their Health Visitor or GP. The term ‘excessive crying’ refers to this parental judgement that a baby’s crying is a source of concern. This leads to a focus not just on the crying but on parents’ knowledge and vulnerabilities which affect their ability to provide care, and on subsequent outcomes. The crying can give rise to maternal depression, premature termination of breast feeding, poor parent-child relationships, problems with long-term child development, and infant abuse in a small number of cases. Yet, there are no tried and tested NHS practices for supporting parents in managing infant crying.
The first year of this study will use focus-group methodology to ask parents of previously crying babies about their experiences and to evaluate materials with some evidence of effectiveness in supporting parents of crying babies. We will then develop a new package of support materials. Likely components are information leaflets, website materials and consultations with an expert clinician. In year 2, Health Visitors collaborating in the study will invite parents whose baby is currently crying excessively to take part in evaluating the support package developed in year 1.REC name
East Midlands - Nottingham 2 Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
14/EM/1202
Date of REC Opinion
17 Nov 2014
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion