For more information, please visit the The Canadian Healthy Infant Longitudinal Development (CHILD) Study website at www.canadianchildstudy.ca.

Visit the Mother Infant Wellness Lab at http://www.motherinfantwellness.ca/research-infant-sounds.html for more information.

The purpose of this study is to find out if providing information on the typical features of infant crying can reduce frustration and other distressing thoughts and feelings in first-time parents when they hear an infant crying. This will be accomplished by having all participants listen to an audio recording of an infant crying while continuously rating their level of frustration. Following this, we will ask our participants to complete a final questionnaire in which we ask about a range of emotional responses they may have had to the tape recorded sounds as well as strategies they think would help to sooth a crying infant or to help them cope with infant crying. We are also asking them about any unwanted thoughts of harm, related to the infant, that they may have experienced while listening to the tape recorded sounds.

At the conclusion of the study participants are provided with a $5 Starbucks gift card in appreciation of their time as well as parent educational materials about infant crying (The Period of PURPLE Crying DVD). We hope that this study will help us to understand maternal responses to infant crying and allow us to better help new mothers as they cope with infant crying.

This research has been approved by the University of British Columbia’s Behavioural Research Ethics Board. If you are interested in participating, please contact the survey at www.motherinfantwellness.ca.

This fascinating collection of scientific data, case studies and easy-to-implement therapeutic tools helps bring awareness to how your health is influenced by the period between the time you were conceived and your birth. It also shows how cultures the world-over seem to be playing out experiences learned during these early times. This is a great tool for your own introspection or can be used to assist you when interacting with your own clients, families or patients.