Issues and concern to mothers of new babies

Although the literature reports the birth of a baby to be a time of stress for parents, their day-to-day experience with the baby in the early months is an understudied area. In this study logs were kept by 62 mothers of newborns (38 primiparas and 24 multiparas), who identified approximately 9,800 issues noted during their babies's first 91 days as well as help used in problem solving. Mothers described their days by recording stressors and supports. Although the perceptions of mothers regarding life with their infants was highly variable from mother to mother, pattern and consistency were demonstrated. Categories of issues changing significantly in frequency over time included development, baby care, parenting, stressors, and illness, the latter dropping steadily across the baby's first three months. Approximately 6 percent of the issues concerned the mother herself in relation to the baby. Illness was the reason for 42 percent of the occasions of help seeking, with clinicians (family physicians and nurses) providing 62 percent of this help. Mothers reported as many supports as stressors and identified both stressors and supports in all categories, using the same set of categories for both. Parity did not influence numbers of issues reported. Primiparas sought help about 1.5 times as frequently as did multiparas.