Infant crying patterns in Manali and London

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Abstract
This study sought to assess the generalizability of the crying 'peak' previously found in Western infants at around 6 weeks of age. To this end, maternal reports and audiorecordings were used to compare the crying patterns of 2, 6 and 12-week-old infants in two cultures expected to differ in their approaches to babycare. As anticipated, Manali mothers were less inclined to leave their babies to cry, took them into their own beds more often, were more likely to be breastfeeding and breastfed their babies to an older age. In spite of these differences, both Manali and London mothers reported their babies to have an evening crying peak, most pronounced at 6 weeks, during this age-range; indicating that this is a general feature of infant development rather than a reflection of Western methods of babycare. Although the maternal reports suggested lower incidences of crying in the Manali infants, the study failed to produce convergent, tape-recorded evidence that this was the case. The definitional and methodological implications of the findings are discussed.

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