Adapted from Human Givens Volume 30 No 2 2023
Frequent or persistent crying in babies after three months of age, and sleeping and feeding problems after six months of age, are associated with an increase in mood disorders in young adulthood.
The affected adults also report less likelihood of social support from friends and contemporaries.
This association was found in data from Finnish and German longitudinal studies. (BMC Psychiatry 2023).
My comment: Looking after a new baby is spectacularly boring, demanding, and relentless. Time seems to slow down to a snail’s pace. Night after night you hope for a better night than the last one, only to face a long day ahead and another long, long night. We don’t know why some babies are easier or worse than others.
Is it personality differences due to genetics? Parenting problems? The wrong milk? Breastfeeding problems? Colic? Heartburn? Why do such miserable babies have a higher chance of becoming miserable adults? Does the fractured sleep of the parents affect how they react to the baby? Does this affect future childhood interactions? Are miserable people just born miserable?
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