Remembering the Chaos - But Life Went on and the Wound Healed. A Four Year Follow Up with Parents having had a Baby with Infantile Colic

Kajsa Landgren, Anita Lundqvist, Inger Hallström, Kajsa Landgren, Anita Lundqvist, Inger Hallström

Abstract

Objective: To elucidate parent´s experience of having had a baby with colic four years previously and of how the colic and care influenced the family in a long-term perspective.

Methodology and participants: A qualitative inductive follow-up study with 13 individual and one focus group interview including four parents. Altogether ten mothers and seven fathers representing 12 families, who had been interviewed when they were in the midst of the colicky period four years ago, were in the present study interviewed between December 2010 and May 2011. Parents' narratives were analysed using content analysis.

Results: Parent´s memories of the exhausting colic period were vivid, but when the colic had healed the family relationships also healed. Although it had taken longer time for some parents to attach to their child they now experienced a close relationship with their four year old child and felt confident in their role as parent. The colic scream was still unbearable and evoked negative feelings in the parents. Parents had decreased confidence in Child Health services and made suggestions for improvements in the health care approach. Most of all they wished for an effective treatment of infantile colic.

Conclusion: The family relationships were healed and the colic left only few residual symptoms but parents still had decreased confidence in the Child Health Center. Consequently, there is a need to raise awareness to parents' situation when having a child with infantile colic.

Keywords: Baby; content analysis; crying; infantile colic; interviews; long term effects; parents’ experiences..

References

    1. Canivet C, Jakobsson I, Hagander B. Colicky infants according to maternal reports in telephone interviews and diaries a large Scandinavian study. J Dev Behav Pediatr. 2002;23(1 ):1–8.
    1. Zeskind PS, Barr RG. Acoustic characteristics of naturally occurring cries of infants with "colic". Child Dev. 1997;68(3 ):394–403.
    1. Long T, Johnson M. Living and coping with excessive infantile crying. J Adv Nurs. 2001;34(2 ):155–62.
    1. Keefe MR, Froese-Fretz A. Living with an irritable infant maternal perspectives. MCN Am J Matern Child Nurs. 1991;16(5 ):255–9.
    1. Megel ME, Wilson ME, Bravo K, McMahon N, Towne A. Baby lost and found mothers' experiences of infants who cry persistently. J Pediatr Health Care. 2011;25(3 ):144–52.
    1. Helseth S. Hjelp i skrikende stund. Utvikling av en modell for helsesöster-tilnaerming til foreldre og barn når spedbarnet har kolikk.: Oslo Universitet. 1999.
    1. Ellett ML, Swenson M. Living with a colicky infant. Gastroenterol Nurs. 2005;28(1 ):19–25.
    1. Ellett ML, Appleton MM, Sloan RS. Out of the abyss of colic a view through the fathers' eyes. MCN Am J Matern Child Nurs . 2009;34(3 ):164–71.
    1. Landgren K, Hallstrom I. Parents' experience of living with a baby with infantile colic - a phenomenological hermeneutic study. Scand J Caring Sci. 2011;25(2 ):317–24.
    1. Bateson G. Mind and Nature - a necessary unity. New York: Bantam New Age; 1979.
    1. Raiha H, Lehtonen L, Huhtala V, Saleva K, Korvenranta H. Excessively crying infant in the family: mother-infant, father-infant and mother-father interaction. Child Care Health Dev. 2002;28(5 ):419–29.
    1. Clifford TJ, Campbell MK, Speechley KN, Gorodzinsky F. Sequelae of infant colic: evidence of transient infant distress and absence of lasting effects on maternal mental health. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2002;156(12 ):1183–8.
    1. Talvik I, Alexander RC, Talvik T. Shaken baby syndrome and a baby's cry. Acta Paediatr. 2008;97(6 ):782–5.
    1. Wright L, Lehey M. Nurses and families. A guide to family assessment and intervention . 00. Philadelphia: F.A. Davis Company; 2005.
    1. Trivette C, Dunst C, Hamby D. Influences of Family-Systems Intervention Practices on Parent-Child Interactions and Child Development. Topics Early Child Spec Educ. 2010:3–19.
    1. Iacovou M, Ralston RA, Muir J, Walker KZ, Truby H. Dietary Management of Infantile Colic a systematic review. Matern Child Health J. 2011 Jun 28; [Epub ahead of print]
    1. Lucassen PL, Assendelft WJ, Gubbels JW, van Eijk JT, van Geldrop WJ, Neven AK. Effectiveness of treatments for infantile colic: systematic review. BMJ. 1998;316(7144 ):1563–9.
    1. Perry R, Hunt K, Ernst E. Nutritional supplements and other complementary medicines for infantile colic a systematic review. Pediatrics. 2011;127(4 ):720–33.
    1. Reinthal M, Andersson S, Gustafsson M, et al. Effects of minimal acupuncture in children with infantile colic - a prospective, quasi-randomised single blind controlled trial. Acupunct Med. 2008;26(3 ):171–82.
    1. Landgren K, Kvorning N, Hallstrom I. Acupuncture reduces crying in infants with infantile colic a randomised controlled, blind clinical study. Acupunct Med. 2010;28(4 ):174–9.
    1. Reinthal M, Lund I, Ullman D, Lundeberg T. Gastrointestinal symptoms of infantile colic and their change after light needling of acupuncture a case series study of 913 infants. Chin Med. 2011;6:28.
    1. Keefe MR, Barbosa GA, Froese-Fretz A, Kotzer AM, Lobo M. An intervention program for families with irritable infants. MCN Am J Matern Child Nurs. 2005;30(4 ):230–6.
    1. Dihigo SK. New strategies for the treatment of colic modifying the parent/infant interaction. J Pediatr Health Care. 1998;12(5 ):256–62.
    1. Parkin PC, Schwartz CJ, Manuel BA. Randomized controlled trial of three interventions in the management of persistent crying of infancy. Pediatrics. 1993;92(2 ):197–201.
    1. Rautava , Lehtonen , Helenius , Sillanpaa nfantile colic: child and family three years later. Pediatric. 1995;96:43–7.
    1. Lehtonen , Korhonen , Korvenranta Temperament and sleeping patterns in colicky infants during the first year of life. J Dev Behav Pediatr. 1994;15(6 ):416–20.
    1. Ellett M, Schuff E, Davis JB. Parental perceptions of the lasting effects of infant colic. MCN Am J Matern Child Nurs. 2005;30(2 ):127–32.
    1. Canivet C, Jakobsson I, Hagander B. Infantile colic. Follow-up at four years of age: still more "emotional". Acta Paediatr. 2000;89(1 ):13–7.
    1. Stifter C, Braungart J. Infant colic a transient condition with no apparent effects. J Appl Dev Psychol. 1992;13:447–62.
    1. Stifter CA, Bono MA. The effect of infant colic on maternal selfperceptions and mother-infant attachment. Child Care Health De. 1998;24(5 ):339–51.
    1. Sandelowski M. Whatever happened to qualitative description? Res Nurs Health. 2000;23(4 ):334–40.
    1. Krueger R, Casey M. Focus groups: a practical guide for applied research. Thousand Oaks, London, New Delhi: Sage Publications Inc; 2000.
    1. Association TWM. The World Medical Association. Association TWM The World Medical Association. World Medical Association Declaration Of Helsinki. Ethical Principles for Medical Research Involving Human Subjects. 2007.
    1. Graneheim UH, Lundman B. Qualitative content analysis in nursing research concepts procedures and measures to achieve trustworthiness. Nurse Educ Today. 2004;24(2 ):105–12.
    1. Kvale S. Den kvalitativa forskningsintervjun Lund: Studentlitteratur. 1997.
    1. Sou SC, Chen WJ, Hsieh WS, Jeng SF. Severe obstetric complications and birth characteristics in preterm or term delivery were accurately recalled by mothers. J Clin Epidemiol. 2006;59(4 ):429–35.
    1. Catherine NL, Ko JJ, Barr RG. Getting the word out: advice on crying and colic in popular parenting magazines. J Dev Behav Pediatr. 2008;29(6 ):508–11.
    1. Levitzky S, Cooper R. Infant colic syndrome--maternal fantasies of aggression and infanticide. Clin Pediatr (Phila) 2000;39(7 ):395–400.
    1. Helseth S, Begnum S. A comprehensive definition of infant colic: parents' and nurses' perspectives. J Clin Nurs. 2002;11(5 ):672–80.
    1. Wade K, Black A, Ward-Smith P. How mothers respond to their crying infant. J Pediatr Health Care. 2005;19(6 ):347–53.
    1. Keefe MR, Lobo ML, Froese-Fretz A, Kotzer AM, Barbosa GA, Dudley WN. Effectiveness of an intervention for colic. Clin Pediatr (Phila) 2006;45(2 ):123–33.
    1. LaGasse LL, Neal AR, Lester BM. Assessment of infant cry: acoustic cry analysis and parental perception. Ment Retard Dev Disabil Res Rev. 2005;11(1 ):83–93.
    1. Andersson L, Sundstrom-Poromaa I, Bixo M, Wulff M, Bondestam K, Strom M. Point prevalence of psychiatric disorders during the second trimester of pregnancy: a population-based study. Am J Obstet Gynecol. 2003;189(1 ):148–54.
    1. Landgren K, Hallström I. Akupunkturbehandling vid spädbarnskolik - föräldrars upplevelser av barnets beteende före och efter behandling. Vård i Norden. 2005;1 :26–31.
    1. Simkin P. Just another day in a woman´s life? Part II: Nature and consistency of women´s long term memories of their first birth experiences . Birt. 1992;19(2 ):64–81.
    1. Waldenström U. Why do some women change their opinion about childbirth over time? Birth. 2004;31(2 ):102–7.
    1. Limacher LH, Wright L. Commendations: Listening to the silent side of a family intervention. J Fam Nurs. 2003;9:130–5.
    1. Feeley N, Gottlieb L. Nursing approaches for working with family strengths and resources. J Fam Nurs. 2000;6(1 ):9–24.

Source: PubMed

Sponsorit ja yhteistyökumppanit

Sairaudet

Huumeiden interventiot

3
Tilaa