The Influence of preconception depression and postpartum depression upon parent-Infant bonding

 Depression occurring during adolescence can predict poorer emotional bonding between parent and infant many years later for both Men and Women. However, postpartum depression continues to have the largest impact on parent-infant bonding for both Mothers and Fathers, over and above depression occurring at any other time.

The role of the music therapist in promoting parent infant attachment

Abstract
This paper provides a brief overview of recent literature relating to infant musicality and its basis for effective parent-infant work in music therapy. Two strong trends are revealed: the international breadth of the developing work by music therapists within family-centred contexts of practice, especially work with infants and their parents in the early years; and the use oftheoretical principles of communicative musicality (Malloch &Trevarthen, 2008] combined with knowledge of early musical skills. This focus on musical perception and musical development (Briggs, 1991; Trehub, 2003] provides a rationale as to why musical interaction supported by a qualified music therapist can offer a potential pathway for improved attachment between the parent and infant when therapeutic support is indicated.

Parental decision-making surrounding complicated births: the impact on parent-infant and infant-marital relationships

This paper reviews current research regarding the impact of birth complications on parental decisionmaking, and the resulting effects on parent-infant and infant-marital relationships. It discusses the importance of informed decision-making on parental satisfaction of the birthing experience, and the benefits of certain strategies, such as kangaroo care, in the facilitation of greater levels of attachment and improved relationships. The paper concludes with suggestions for future research areas to focus on finding better ways to prepare and support parents in these situations, thus improving the quality of relationships between parents and with their child.

Parent cognitions and parent-infant interaction: the relationship with development in the first 12 months

This study examined parent cognitions and parent-infant interaction in terms of their contribution to infant development in the first 12 months. With a sample of 95 mother-infant dyads, results using structural equation modelling confirmed the expected finding that parent-infant interaction mediates the association between parent cognitions and infant development. An unexpected finding was that the direct association between parent cognitions and infant development was stronger than the direct association between parent-infant interaction and infant development. These findings are discussed with regard to the implications for preventative and early intervention models.

Predictors of postnatal mother-infant bonding: the role of antenatal bonding, maternal substance use and mental health

The emotional bond that a mother feels towards her baby is critical to social, emotional and cognitive development. Maternal health and wellbeing through pregnancy and antenatal bonding also play a key role in determining bonding postnatally, but the extent to which these relationships may be disrupted by poor mental health or substance use is unclear. This study aimed to examine the extent to which mother-fetal bonding, substance use and mental health through pregnancy predicted postnatal mother-infant bonding at 8 weeks. Participants were 372 women recruited from three metropolitan hospitals in Australia. Data was collected during trimesters one, two and three of pregnancy and 8 weeks postnatal using the Maternal Antenatal Attachment Scale (MAAS), Maternal Postnatal Attachment Scale (MPAS), the Edinburgh Antenatal and Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS), the Depression and Anxiety Scales (DASS-21), frequency and quantity of substance use (caffeine, alcohol and tobacco) as well as a range of demographic and postnatal information. Higher antenatal bonding predicted higher postnatal bonding at all pregnancy time-points in a fully adjusted regression model. Maternal depressive symptoms in trimesters two and three and stress in trimester two were inversely related to poorer mother-infant bonding 8 weeks postnatally. This study extends previous work on the mother’s felt bond to her developing child by drawing on a large sample of women and documenting the pattern of this bond at three time points in pregnancy and at 8 weeks postnatally. Utilising multiple antenatal waves allowed precision in isolating the relationships in pregnancy and at key intervention points. Investigating methods to enhance bonding and intervene in pregnancy is needed. It is also important to assess maternal mental health through pregnancy.

A qualitative study of the infant feeding beliefs and behaviours of mothers with low educational attainment

BACKGROUND: Infancy is an important period for the promotion of healthy eating, diet and weight. However little is known about how best to engage caregivers of infants in healthy eating programs. This is particularly true for caregivers, infants and children from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds who experience greater rates of overweight and obesity yet are more challenging to reach in health programs. Behaviour change interventions targeting parent-infant feeding interactions are more likely to be effective if assumptions about what needs to change for the target behaviours to occur are identified. As such we explored the precursors of key obesity promoting infant feeding practices in mothers with low educational attainment.

METHODS: One-on-one semi-structured telephone interviews were developed around the Capability Opportunity Motivation Behaviour (COM-B) framework and applied to parental feeding practices associated with infant excess or healthy weight gain. The target behaviours and their competing alternatives were (a) initiating breastfeeding/formula feeding, (b) prolonging breastfeeding/replacing breast milk with formula, (c) best practice formula preparation/sub-optimal formula preparation, (d) delaying the introduction of solid foods until around six months of age/introducing solids earlier than four months of age, and (e) introducing healthy first foods/introducing unhealthy first foods, and (f) feeding to appetite/use of non-nutritive (i.e., feeding for reasons other than hunger) feeding. The participants' education level was used as the indicator of socioeconomic disadvantage. Two researchers independently undertook thematic analysis.

RESULTS: Participants were 29 mothers of infants aged 2-11 months. The COM-B elements of Social and Environmental Opportunity, Psychological Capability, and Reflective Motivation were the key elements identified as determinants of a mother's likelihood to adopt the healthy target behaviours although the relative importance of each of the COM-B factors varied with each of the target feeding behaviours.

CONCLUSIONS: Interventions targeting healthy infant feeding practices should be tailored to the unique factors that may influence mothers' various feeding practices, taking into account motivational and social influences.

Mother–infant psychotherapy and perinatal psychiatry: current clinical practice and future directions

Objective: To explore trends in the practice of mother-infant psychotherapy among perinatal psychiatry clinicians based in Melbourne.Methods: A cross-sectional survey with a purpose designed self-report questionnaire was used to assess the attitudes and practices of 47 perinatal and infant psychiatry clinicians in their use and understanding of mother-infant psychotherapy.Results: Seventy per cent of clinicians in this field of psychotherapy who responded to the questionnaire subscribe to a psychodynamic model, although cognitive behavioural models are also used. The interventions were mostly used in conjunction with other interventions, would be more accurately described as 'parent-infant psychotherapy', and non-psychiatrists in the area tended to be more likely to be formally trained in psychotherapy, but only 4% were formally trained in specific mother-infant psychotherapy. There was a unanimous request for further clinical training in this area.Conclusions: The emerging field of perinatal psychiatry needs to develop coherent therapeutic models and conduct outcome trials on specific interventions. Specific trainings in these models, in assessment and in diagnostic frameworks are required to enhance clinical efficacy, for research and service development purposes.

A parent focused child obesity prevention intervention improves some mother obesity risk behaviors : the Melbourne infant program

Background

The diets, physical activity and sedentary behavior levels of both children and adults in Australia are suboptimal. The family environment, as the first ecological niche of children, exerts an important influence on the onset of children's habits. Parent modeling is one part of this environment and a logical focus for child obesity prevention initiatives. The focus on parent's own behaviors provides a potential opportunity to decrease obesity risk behaviors in parents as well.
Objective

To assess the effect of a parent-focused early childhood obesity prevention intervention on first-time mothers' diets, physical activity and TV viewing time.
Methods

The Melbourne InFANT Program is a cluster-randomized controlled trial which involved 542 mothers over their newborn's first 18 months of life. The intervention focused on parenting skills and strategies, including parental modeling, and aimed to promote development of healthy child and parent behaviors from birth, including healthy diet, increased physical activity and reduced TV viewing time. Data regarding mothers' diet (food frequency questionnaire), physical activity and TV viewing times (self-reported questionnaire) were collected using validated tools at both baseline and post-intervention. Four dietary patterns were derived at baseline using principal components analyses including frequencies of 55 food groups. Analysis of covariance was used to measure the impact of the intervention.
Results

The scores of both the "High-energy snack and processed foods" and the "High-fat foods" dietary patterns decreased more in the intervention group: -0.22 ([MINUS SIGN]0.42;-0.02) and [MINUS SIGN]0.25 ([MINUS SIGN]0.50;-0.01), respectively. No other significant intervention vs. control effects were observed regarding total physical activity, TV viewing time, and the two other dietary patterns, i.e. "Fruits and vegetables" and "Cereals and sweet foods".
Conclusions

These findings suggest that supporting first-time mothers to promote healthy lifestyle behaviors in their infants impacts maternal dietary intakes positively. Further research needs to assess ways in which we might further enhance those lifestyle behaviors not impacted by the InFANT intervention.

A parent-focused intervention to reduce infant obesity risk behaviors: a randomized trial

OBJECTIVE: To assess the effectiveness of a parent-focused intervention on infants’ obesity-risk behaviors and BMI.
METHODS: This cluster randomized controlled trial recruited 542 parents and their infants (mean age 3.8 months at baseline) from 62 first-time parent groups. Parents were offered six 2-hour dietitian-delivered sessions over 15 months focusing on parental knowledge, skills, and social support around infant feeding, diet, physical activity, and television viewing. Control group parents received 6 newsletters on nonobesity-focused themes; all parents received usual care from child health nurses. The primary outcomes of interest were child diet (3 × 24-hour diet recalls), child physical activity (accelerometry), and child TV viewing (parent report). Secondary outcomes included BMI z-scores (measured). Data were collected when children were 4, 9, and 20 months of age.
RESULTS: Unadjusted analyses showed that, compared with controls, intervention group children consumed fewer grams of noncore drinks (mean difference = –4.45; 95% confidence interval [CI]: –7.92 to –0.99; P = .01) and were less likely to consume any noncore drinks (odds ratio = 0.48; 95% CI: 0.24 to 0.95; P = .034) midintervention (mean age 9 months). At intervention conclusion (mean age 19.8 months), intervention group children consumed fewer grams of sweet snacks (mean difference = –3.69; 95% CI: –6.41 to –0.96; P = .008) and viewed fewer daily minutes of television (mean difference = –15.97: 95% CI: –25.97 to –5.96; P = .002). There was little statistical evidence of differences in fruit, vegetable, savory snack, or water consumption or in BMI z-scores or physical activity.
CONCLUSIONS: This intervention resulted in reductions in sweet snack consumption and television viewing in 20-month-old children.

Observation of inter- and intramolecular C---H...F hydrogen bonding in Gingras' salt: [n-Bu4N]+[Ph3SnF2]-

The crystal and molecular structure of Gingras' salt [n-Bu₄N]^₊ [Ph₃SnF₂]⁻ is reported, which reveals a variety of inter- and intramolecular C---H...F hydrogen bonding interactions. A ¹¹⁹Sn MAS-NMR spectrum was recorded and a tensor analysis has been performed according to the method of Herzfeld and Berger. The results are discussed in terms of the molecular structure and are compared with the parent compound Ph₃SnF as well as with Mes₃SnF (Mes=mesityl).

What about the mother and family when an infant doesn`t sleep?

Becoming a new parent is a time of enormous change in the lifestyle of women, particularly as women are expected to take on prime responsibly for caring for the child. Motherhood can be exhausting and lonely as women cope with the demands of a new baby. These demands are exacerbated when infants do not sleep. This causes many parents to seek professional intervention with persistent infant sleep problems. Through focus group interviews, this study sought to understand the experiences of 28 women and families in how they coped with and managed an infant with sleep problems. Results indicated that women experienced major role confusion as they internalised the image that 'a good mother does it all'. Persistent infant crying and their own sleep deprivation exacerbated their loss of identity and shattered their self image, and caused anger and confusion in some partners. Each woman sought primary health care support through a five day residential stay in an Early Parenting Centre in Victoria. The women found that this professional support facilitated confidence building and feelings of normality. Most important, staff encouraged the women to feel good about themselves and their ability to manage future sleep problems.