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, 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.
Department of Health Sciences, Groningen University, PO Box 196, 9700 AD Groningen, Netherlands. s.a.reijneveld@med.rug.nl
Sijmen A
SA
Reijneveld
Marcel F
MF
van der Wal
Emily
E
Brugman
Remy A Hira
RA
Sing
S Pauline
SP
Verloove-Vanhorick
D002649:Child Abuse / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003448:Crying; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D018730:Infant Behavior; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D009426:Netherlands / Q000453:epidemiology; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology; D015995:Prevalence; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires