Responding to a crying infant - you do not learn it overnight: a phenomenological study

to examine the views and practices of first-time and experienced mothers in response to infant crying during the first 12 weeks post birth.

longitudinal, qualitative study using an interpretive, phenomenological approach.

postnatal hospital and home settings in Switzerland.

maximum variation sampling of 15 new mothers of diverse parity and educational background who had given birth to a full-term healthy neonate.

participant observations in the postnatal ward and two narrative interviews at participants' homes at 6-8 and 12-14 weeks post partum. Data analysis used interpretive approaches of case analysis, thematic analysis and exemplars.

first-time mothers showed some soothing skills from the beginning, but fine-tuned their practices of handling the crying infant and managing their own reactions. With growing experience mothers acquired a differentiated understanding of the crying's reason and urgency and used more successful soothing techniques. At the same time they learned to assess and mitigate their own stress reactions by self-soothing and adopting realistic expectations of normal infant behaviour. Experienced mothers knew the infant's frequent crying would diminish after a while whereas first-time mothers coped without this positive expectation.

with increasing child-care experience mothers' skills and attitudes towards crying changed, leading to a calmer and less escalating response to their crying infant.

inexperienced mothers need information on neonatal crying behaviour and on parents' stress response. They should be taught how to recognise and respond to the new-born's signals, and how to cope with their own stress. Postnatal care should provide novice mothers to learn from experienced role models.