COLUMBUS, Ohio -- New research suggests that mothers who give birth prematurely are more likely to have negative perceptions of their baby's temperament than are moms who give birth after a full nine months.
Researchers asked mothers of 4-month-old infants to rate how often their babies showed negative behaviors, such as fussing at bedtime. The mothers were also asked to give their general perception of their infants' temperament.
Results showed that 82 percent of the mothers giving birth to full-term infants perceived their baby's general temperament as easier than average, while only 34 percent of mothers of preterm babies described their babies this way.
"In general, mothers perceive preterm infants to be more negative in mood and more difficult overall than full-term babies," said Diane Langkamp, assistant professor of pediatrics at Ohio State University and study co-author.
The study appears in a recent issue of the Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics.
Langkamp and her colleagues compared the temperaments of 36 babies born before 34 weeks with 39 infants carried a full nine months -- about 40 weeks. The preterm infants were patients at the University of Wisconsin Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and were hospitalized for at least 14 days. The researchers excluded premature infants with severe neurological problems.
The researchers collected information on the infants and their mothers via two questionnaires filled out by each mother during a pediatric visit. The Early Infancy Temperament Questionnaire measured each mother's ratings and perceptions of her baby's behavior while the Maternal Social Support Index determined the quality and quantity of the mother's social network.
Results showed that mothers of preterm infants rated their children as more difficult than did mothers of full-term babies. For example, ratings of mood showed that pre-term infants showed negative moods more often. "However, we found that mothers of pre-term infants perceive their infants to be more difficult than the ratings would indicate," Langkamp said.
Mothers of pre-term infants may have more misperceptions of temperament because of the prolonged separation when the newborn was hospitalized after birth. Also, parents may not recognize the subtle behavioral cues of pre-term infants, she said. Whatever the reason, Langkamp said the negative perceptions were evident in the findings.
None of the mothers who carried their babies full term perceived their child as more difficult than average, while 6 percent of the pre-term moms did.
The research showed that moms with little or no community involvement rated their babies' behaviors more negatively than did the mothers involved in social, religious and other community organizations. In addition, mothers of pre-term babies had less community involvement. "The moms who perceived their infant's general temperament as easier than average usually had more community involvement than did the moms with the other perceptions," Langkamp said.
Involvement in community groups may provide mothers with a more balanced perspective because they have the opportunity to talk to other moms and recognize that individual differences should be expected, Langkamp said. A mom who is isolated may become desperate if her child is difficult and tend to see her child's behavior in a less-balanced way.
Study co-authors include Young Kim, who was a medical student at Ohio State at the time of the study and currently is a resident in pediatrics at Cornell University Medical Center, and John Pascoe of the department of pediatrics at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. The research was funded by a grant from the Perinatal Foundation in Madison, Wis.
Written by Holly Wagner, 614-292-8310; Wagner.235@0su.edu
Journal
Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics