This study of healthy 39-week-old infants, so-called term infants, and chronically stressed 42-week-old infants, so-called postmature infants, showed that sucrose was extremely effective in calming term infants but less effective in calming postmature infants. Results supported the hypothesis that sucrose engages an opioid system in infants. (BG)

Young children scream throughout their days and for different reasons. They may be hurt, frustrated or simply tired; caregivers can detect the cause of the scream. Several strategies are available for dealing with screamers; the most important approach is respecting the child by acknowledging the emotions behind the scream and helping the child…

Examined differences in acoustic characteristics of cries, both early and late, within a prolonged crying bout. Results indicated that late cries appeared to result from a smaller number of factors than did early cries. Results support notions that crying bouts settle into a regular cry with acoustic features matching a theoretical model of cry…

Naturalistically observed 52 preschoolers' responses to their crying peers. Found that variations in preschoolers' ways of responding were related to the children's temperament, friendship status, and interactive style with peers. (Author/BC)

The purpose of this study was to explore the quality of daycare by examining interactions between caregivers and young children. Across 49 Israeli daycare centers, 299 children aged 18-30 months were observed naturalistically in groups of four to eight, together with their main caregiver. Caregivers' behavior was defined in terms of mediation and…

Objective: To determine whether there is an age-specific incidence of hospitalized cases of Shaken Baby Syndrome (SBS) that has similar properties to the previously reported ''normal crying curve,'' as a form of indirect evidence that crying is an important stimulus for SBS. Design and setting: The study analyzed cases of Shaken Baby Syndrome by…

This book is the result of efforts by an expert study group, set up by the Association for Child Psychology and Psychiatry, to examine the relationships between infant crying, sleeping, and feeding problems, and to shed light on the developmental and regulatory mechanisms involved. It brings together research from a variety of professional…

Reports a study of 110 newborn infants' responses to the heelstick procedure to draw blood samples, and of the responses of 40 of those infants to their first inoculations at two months of age. Discusses measures of distress; stability of reactivity across time; and individual differences and health of the infant as factors in reactivity. (NH)

This case study presents a 9-year-old boy who exhibited severe stereotypic self-injurious behavior. An escalating differential-reinforcement-of-other-behavior schedule, mediated through token reinforcement, eliminated self-injurious behavior quickly for up to 30-minute periods, and was more effective than social reinforcement. Crying behavior…

Two experiments tested whether newborns could discriminate their own and another newborn's cry. Results indicated that awake newborns expressed facial distress more frequently and longer to another newborn's cry than to their own. Sucking decreased significantly between pretest phase and first minute of another infant's cry. Asleep infants'…

This study investigates individual differences in the contribution of specific maternal regulatory behaviors to the mother-infant dyad's regulation of infant distress response. Additionally, we examined the stability of infants' stress responses and the stability of specific maternal soothing behaviors. The sample included 128 mother-infant dyads…

Used multilevel analyses to examined the amounts of time infants spent asleep, awake, content, feeding, fussing, and crying at 2, 6, 12, and 40 weeks of age. Found that day-to-day fluctuations accounted for between 44 and 53% of the variance in amounts of time sleeping, fussing, and crying. (MDM)

Defines crying as a baby's tool of communication and suggests an alphabet of ideas that assist in interpreting reasons and developing solutions for a crying infant. (BAC)

Trained 3 month olds to move a 10-object mobile. Changing the mobile to two objects resulted in crying for half the infants. A retention test was given one and seven days later. All infants exhibited retention at one day but only noncriers at seven days. Criers displayed more anger than noncriers in the one-day retention test. (BC)

The potency of different sugars as calming agents in human infants was investigated in 2 experiments with 40 infants. Sucrose and fructose were equally effective calming agents, whereas glucose was less effective. Results indicate that the calming effects of milk lie in components other than its sugar. (LB)