Share:
Study babies cry less in Germany than in other countries
Babies seem to cry less in Germany than in other countries such as Great Britain and the Netherlands. Scientists at the University of Warwick have come to this conclusion after analyzing data on crying out of thousands of children. According to the British experts, differences in maternity protection and social support, among other things, may be the reasons why children scream more in some countries than in others. The results of the study have now been published in the journal "The Journal of Pediatrics".
Screaming is normal in newborns
Whether hunger, fatigue or the need for closeness: crying babies in the first months is completely normal. But how much they scream can be very different from country to country, according to a new study. Researchers from the University of Warwick (England) found that children roar the most in the UK, Italy, Canada and the Netherlands. On the other hand, newborn babies were least likely to cry out in Germany, Denmark and Japan.
Researchers evaluate data from just under 8700 infants
Researchers led by psychologist Dieter Wolke have used a meta-analysis to evaluate several studies involving nearly 8,700 infants from nine different countries (such as Germany, Denmark, Japan, Canada, Italy, and the UK), Warwick University reports. They calculated how long babies in the first 12 weeks of life roam across different cultures on average within 24 hours.
It turned out that babies cry for an average of about two hours a day for the first two weeks of life. After six weeks, the value usually rises to about two hours and fifteen minutes a day, then gradually decreases in weeks 6 to 12 to an average of one hour and ten minutes. Researchers discovered children crying for less than 30 minutes in 24 hours and others crying for more than 5 hours.
Babies in the UK are often affected by colic
The differences between the countries were, however, in part enormous: while in Britain, Italy, Canada and the Netherlands relatively much was screamed, the babies in Denmark, Germany and Japan were comparatively quiet. For example, for Germany, the researchers calculated an average of just under 81 minutes a day for a three to four-week-old baby, while babies in Canada and the Netherlands registered 150 minutes of daily screaming.
The researchers continued to examine in which countries the children had the most common colic - defined as crying more than 3 hours a day for at least 3 days a week. The highest levels were found in the UK, where 28 percent of newborns were affected by colic in the first two weeks of life. In contrast, the lowest levels were found in Denmark (5.5% at 3-4 weeks) and Germany (6.7% at 3-4 weeks).
Bottle children cry less
The reasons for the country differences can only be speculated on by the research team. Possible causes are divergent economic conditions such. For example, less social inequality, as well as differences in care and in the care situation could play a role.
Furthermore, it is conceivable that genetic factors and the type of feeding could have an influence on the crying behavior of newborns. For children who were bottle-fed or breast-bottle-fed shouted less throughout the day (24 hours) than those who were exclusively breast-fed.
"Babies are very different in terms of how much they cry in their first weeks of life - there are big but normal deviations. We can learn more by looking at cultures where there is less crying and observing whether this is due to parenting or other factors related to pregnancy experience or genetics, "said Professor Wolke, according to the University's announcement.
Parents need more information
For the parents, it is important to know how much screaming is normal in the first few months of life. But often information would not even be conveyed in birth preparation courses. "Parents are often unprepared for how many babies scream or whimper in the first three months," Wolke told dpa news agency. In the first three months of life, about 40 percent of the roar could even not be calmed, explains cloud. "Parents often think they are doing something wrong or that something is wrong with the baby if they can not calm it down right away."
In some cases, the overburdening of parents is so massive that serious consequences arise. It is important to note that in more than 85 percent of shaking syndrome cases, the child's shaking was triggered by excessive crying, informs Cloud. About 30 out of every 100,000 babies were reportedly hospitalized due to severe shaking - usually with dire consequences such as disability or even death. "Therefore, parents' concerns about crying should be taken seriously," emphasizes the psychologist.
Perception of the mothers very subjective
From the point of view of Prof. Dr. med. med. Sibylle Koletzko from Dr. Ing. However, the results of the meta-analysis from the Hauner Children's Hospital of the Ludwig Maximilian University (LMU) should be treated with caution. Because, as the expert explained to the news agency, very different methods were used to collect shredding behavior. Furthermore, the assessment of crying by the mothers is very subjective, because it is cultural, to what extent this is considered "normal". (No)