Infants with colic: A study of maternal stress and anxiety

The purpose of this article is to broaden our understanding of colic and to explore the effects of infant colic both on the mother's stress level and on her anxiety about separation from her infant. A “colic” group of 20 mother-infant dyads was compared with a second, control “noncolic” group of equal size. Significant group differences in the amount of time the infants cried, fussed, and were in a quiet/awake state were found. Although no difference in maternal trait anxiety was found, mothers in the colic group reported higher levels of stress associated with their infants' crying behavior. This stress was inversely related to the amount of time the infants slept during a 24-hour period. Mothers in the colic group also expressed significantly greater anxiety about separating from their infants for short periods of time; but the lack of freedom was significantly less of a problem for them than it was for mothers in the noncolic group. We conclude that mothers of difficult infants are more anxious about being separated from their infants, but do not appear to feel “trapped” by their extra maternal duties.