Could Depressed Dads Be The Reason For Colicky Babies?

July 5, 2009 by tiffanyb
Filed under: News

A new study that was released in July by Pediatrics says that chronically depressed fathers may be at fault for babies developing colic.

No mother likes to have a colicky baby, but now could she possibly be able to blame it on the baby’s father? A colicky baby is defined as a baby who cries for more than three hours a day at least three days a week between the ages of three weeks and three months.

In a new issue of Pediatrics, they released a study done on the correlation between colicky babies and dads-to-be who were depressed throughout the whole pregnancy.

The study said:

“Paternal depressive symptoms during pregnancy might be a risk factor for excessive infant crying. This finding could be related to genetic transmission, interaction of a father with lasting depressive symptoms with the infant, or related indirectly through contextual stressors such as marital, familial, or economic distress.”

This new study followed 7,600 babies and their parents through pregnancy and the first months of the babies’ lives. They screened the couple halfway through the pregnancy and then again two months after the baby was born.

In cases were the fathers of the baby were found to be depressed, there was a 1.29% higher risk that the baby would suffer from colic. The researchers noted that the study was definitive but definitely presented an interesting concept.