Listening to Their Voices: Parents' Perspectives on Infant Crying

Abstract

Inconsolable infant crying is challenging to parents and a precipitating factor of shaken baby syndrome. This phenomenological study explored the parent's experience of infant crying, through in-depth interviews. Themes of “Constant crying … Why don't they stop?”: Longing for answers, “At my wit's end”: heightened emotions, and “comforting, coping, and time away”: Behavioral strategies emerged from the data. A discussion of occupational therapy's role in parent education, prevention programs, and future research is provided.

Keywords:

• Infant crying
• shaken baby syndrome
• parent education
• parent perspectives