The Maternal Support Framework Studying Mothers' Perceived Understanding and Support During Excessive Infant Crying:
Oona Janssens1, Anna Galle1, Ineke De Kruijff2
1Department of Public Health and Primary Care, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium.
JMIR Pediatrics and Parenting
|October 28, 2025
Summary
Mothers experiencing excessive infant crying often feel unsupported by healthcare professionals and their personal networks. A new framework highlights the need for improved, family-centered support strategies from partners, networks, and healthcare providers.
Area of Science:
- Perinatal mental health
- Infant care practices
- Family support systems
Background:
- Excessive infant crying impacts 20% of families, causing parental distress and relationship strain.
- Many parents feel misunderstood and lack adequate support during challenging crying periods.
Purpose of the Study:
- To explore mothers' perceptions of understanding and support from partners, personal networks, and healthcare professionals regarding excessive infant crying.
- To develop a maternal support framework to guide future research and practice for supporting families with crying infants.
Main Methods:
- A qualitative approach combined with quantitative measures via an online survey.
- Inclusion of open-ended questions on ideal support and Likert scales on current perceived support from three stakeholder groups.
- Descriptive statistics and inductive thematic analysis to identify key support elements.
Main Results:
- 432 mothers participated; healthcare professionals and personal networks were perceived as least supportive.
- Partners were rated as the most supportive group, though gaps in understanding and support were still reported.
- A maternal support framework was developed, detailing 25 distinct support forms across partners, personal networks, and healthcare professionals.
Conclusions:
- Holistic, family-centered approaches are crucial for supporting families with excessively crying infants.
- The maternal support framework provides a foundation for developing tailored interventions to enhance maternal well-being.
More Related Videos
11:50Clinical Practice Protocol of Creative Music Therapy for Preterm Infants and Their Parents in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit
Published on: January 7, 2020
27.5K
07:56Assessing the Coherence of Parents' Short Narratives Regarding their Child Using the Five-Minute Speech Sample Procedure
Published on: September 19, 2019
10.6K
Related Concept Videos
01:20Attachment
490
Attachment is vital for infant development, as warm social interactions support growth and well-being. In a classic 1958 study by Harry Harlow, the significance of warmth and comfort in forming attachments was examined. Harlow separated newborn monkeys from their mothers and provided two artificial "mothers": one made of cold wire and the other covered in soft cloth. Despite the wire mother offering food, the infant monkeys preferred the comfort of the cloth mother, demonstrating that...
490
01:28Relationship with Parents: Attachment
217
Parent-child interactions lay the foundation for how we understand relationships throughout life. These interactions are not uniform across families; instead, they are shaped by a range of environmental, emotional, and behavioral factors unique to each caregiver-child dynamic. Social psychologists study these early relationships to understand how patterns formed in infancy influence social functioning and interpersonal behavior in adulthood.Attachment Theory and Early Relational ModelsJohn...
217
01:27Parenting Styles
578
Diana Baumrind's four parenting styles — authoritarian, authoritative, neglectful, and permissive — each influence children's socio-emotional development differently.
Authoritarian Parenting
This style is strict and controlling, with little room for open dialogue. Authoritarian parents demand obedience and often enforce rules with minimal warmth. Children raised this way may lack social skills and initiative, usually comparing themselves to others unfavorably.
Authoritative...
Authoritarian Parenting
This style is strict and controlling, with little room for open dialogue. Authoritarian parents demand obedience and often enforce rules with minimal warmth. Children raised this way may lack social skills and initiative, usually comparing themselves to others unfavorably.
Authoritative...
578
01:30Socioemotional Development during Infancy
423
Socio-emotional development in infancy is primarily shaped by early emotional responses and social connections, with temperament playing a central role. Temperament refers to the consistent patterns in an individual's emotional and behavioral responses, observable even in infancy. By examining temperament, researchers can better understand an infant's unique ways of interacting with the world, influencing subsequent personality and socio-emotional growth.
Primary Temperament Types
Primary Temperament Types
423
00:55Parental Care
12.6K
Many animals exhibit parental care behavior, including feeding, grooming, and protecting young offspring. Parental care is universal in mammals and birds, which often have young that are born relatively helpless. Several species of insects and fish, as well as some amphibians, also care for their young.
12.6K
03:34Theory of Romantic Attachment in Adulthood
48.6K
Attachment is a long-standing connection or bond with others. While Attachment Theory was conceived in developmental psychology to describe infant-caregiver bonding, it's been extended into adulthood to include romantic relationships.
48.6K