They say that having a baby is one of the best things to ever happen to you, but parents are often not fully prepared for the stresses they can face when dealing with a new born who never stops crying.
A major research project, the ‘Surviving Crying’ study, launched last year at De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) in collaboration with Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust (LPT), is exploring ways of supporting parents who are affected by their baby’s excessive crying. And, as part of that project, academics are now calling on parents with persistently crying babies aged less than six months to help with the research by testing out different support strategies.
The ‘Surviving Crying’ project is significant because there are currently no evidence-based NHS practices for supporting parents when dealing with excessive crying, and advice available to parents can be contradictory. Researchers hope the project will lead to better support within the NHS for parents coping with the stresses of persistent crying, which can lead to people questioning their parenting skills, as well as experiencing feelings of helplessness, isolation and depression, alongside the inevitable exhaustion.
LPT’s health visiting service has already helped identify parents who can contribute to the research, and is the only health visiting service in the country to be involved in the project.
Nicy Turney, health visiting professional lead for LPT, said: “Research has shown that around 20 per cent of babies aged between one and four months cry for long periods without apparent reason, and understandably parents worry and wonder why this is happening to their baby.
“It can be very distressing for parents, and may impact on the parent/infant relationship. This study aims to raise awareness of the support available to parents both at the antenatal contact and as part of the subsequent contacts that health visitors carry out as part of the Healthy Child Programme at 10-14 days after birth and then at six and eight weeks. This helps parents feel reassured and know that they are not alone.”
The first phase of the project involved researchers talking to parents in focus groups from a range of cultural backgrounds across Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland, who had experience of babies who cry excessively. Parents gave feedback on the impact the crying had had on their families, coping mechanisms they had used, support they had received, and told researchers what they would like to see made available to others in the same position.
This informed the development of a tailored package of support for parents in the form of a ‘Surviving Crying’ website, featuring examples of parents’ experiences and blogs alongside printed materials, and the option of one-to-one cognitive behaviour therapy sessions with a psychologist either over the phone or in person.
The current phase of the study aims, with the help of more parents of crying babies in our region, to test the usefulness and cost effectiveness of the package in order to make recommendations about its future application within the NHS.
Volunteers in this phase will be offered a selection of support including use of the website, booklets and face-to-face support, and will be asked to complete questionnaires and tell researchers if and how the support has helped them.
Professor Jayne Brown, project lead for DMU, said: “As a mother of four I am delighted not only to be able to offer parents of crying babies in our region some real support to help them get through these difficult times, but also to give them the opportunity to contribute to the research which aims to explore the most effective way of supporting all parents facing these challenges.”
‘Surviving Crying’ is being supported in part by University College London, Leicester and Middlesex Universities and the charities National Childbirth Trust (NCT) and Cry-Sis. It has been funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR).
Parents who are interested in participating in the research project should contact 0116 250 6518 and email survivingcrying@dmu.ac.uk
Posted on Monday 10 October 2016