Infant crying and abuse

Child abuse and neglect are important causes of child morbidity and death. We assessed potentially detrimental parental actions induced by infant crying in 3259 infants aged 1–6 months, in the Netherlands. In infants aged 6 months, 5·6% (95% CI 4·2–7·0) of parents reported having smothered, slapped,...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Lancet (British edition) 2004-10, Vol.364 (9442), p.1340-1342
Main Authors: Reijneveld, Sijmen A, van der Wal, Marcel F, Brugman, Emily, Hira Sing, Remy A, Verloove-Vanhorick, S Pauline
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Behavior
Child abuse & neglect
Child Abuse - statistics & numerical data
Crying
Data collection
Female
Humans
Infant
Infant Behavior
Infant, Newborn
Infants
Male
Netherlands - epidemiology
Parents & parenting
Parents - psychology
Prevalence
Risk assessment
Socioeconomic Factors
Statistical analysis
Surveys and Questionnaires
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Summary:Child abuse and neglect are important causes of child morbidity and death. We assessed potentially detrimental parental actions induced by infant crying in 3259 infants aged 1–6 months, in the Netherlands. In infants aged 6 months, 5·6% (95% CI 4·2–7·0) of parents reported having smothered, slapped, or shaken their baby at least once because of its crying. The risks of detrimental actions were highest for parents from non-industrialised countries, those with either no job or a job with short working hours, and those who judged their infant's crying to be excessive. Clinicians should be aware of the risks of abuse in children known to cry a lot and should target interventions at parents to help them cope with this crying.
ISSN:0140-6736
1474-547X
DOI:10.1016/S0140-6736(04)17191-2