Mothers' perception of excessive crying in infancy in south eastern Nigeria

Excessive infant crying, though usually benign, can be very troublesome to parents with unwanted consequences on the child. Previous reports had shown cultural and racial differences in it's perception by mothers. We undertook this study to determine the prevalence of excessive crying in our area of practice and also determine associated factors.

This was a cross sectional, questionnaire based descriptive study on mothers' perception of their infants' crying. Subjects were mother/infant pairs attending the well baby clinics at the Institute of Child Health, University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Enugu, Mother of Christ Specialist Hospital, Enugu and the Ebonyi State University Teaching Hospital, Abakaliki.

Four hundred and eighty mother/infant pairs participated in the study. Seven point nine percent of the mothers reported excessive crying in their infants. There was no significant diurnal variation in the rate of excessive crying among these infants. Educated mothers (P = 0.008) reported excessive crying less frequently than the uneducated ones. Other maternal and infants demographic factors did not have any influence on mothers' perception of excessive crying in their infants.

Excessive crying among infants is more commonly perceived by uneducated mothers. This group should be identified and counselled about excessive crying to prevent untoward consequences.